Hugh Thomson Boeken

Classic fiction. Readers will love reading their favourite classics in this new Collins Classics series.

Jane Austen's sparkling and witty novels continue to entrance readers today--as proven by the rapturous reception given the many film and TV adaptations of her work. Pride and Prejudice, Austen's most well-loved story, tells of Lizzy Bennet and her five sisters as they search for true love-a love Lizzy nearly loses because of pride. Fanny, of Mansfield Park, comes to live with her aunt and uncle in their elegant mansion. But she finds herself both out of place and in love with her handsome cousin Edmund. Can shy Fanny win him from the outgoing and charming Miss Crawford? Persuasion, Austen's last final novel, explores the consequences of giving in to the opinions of others, rather than following one's own heart. Delightfully illustrated with delicate line drawings.

Introduction and Notes by Professor Stephen Arkin, San Francisco University. 'Young women who have no economic or political power must attend to the serious business of contriving material security'. Jane Austen's sardonic humour lays bare the stratagems, the hypocrisy and the poignancy inherent in the struggle of two very different sisters to achieve respectability. Sense and Sensibility is a delightful comedy of manners in which the sisters Elinor and Marianne represent these two qualities. Elinor's character is one of Augustan detachment, while Marianne, a fervent disciple of the Romantic Age, learns to curb her passionate nature in the interests of survival. This book, the first of Austen's novels to be published, remains as fresh a cautionary tale today as it ever was.

When Rosalind is banished by her uncle, who has usurped her father's throne, she flees to the forest of Arden where her exiled father holds court. There, dressed as a boy to avoid discovery, she encounters the man she loves - now a fellow exile - and resolves to remain in disguise to test his feelings for her.

What does persuasion mean - a firm belief, or the action of persuading someone to think something else? Anne Elliot is one of Austen's quietest heroines, but also one of the strongest and the most open to change. She lives at the time of the Napoleonic wars, a time of accident, adventure, the making of new fortunes and alliances. A woman of no importance, she manoeuvres in her restricted circumstances as her long-time love Captain Wentworth did in the wars. Even though she is nearly thirty, well past the sell-by bloom of youth, Austen makes her win out for herself and for others like herself, in a regenerated society.

Based on three Elizabeth Gaskell novels, The Cranford Chronicles follows the small absurdities and major tragedies in the lives of the people of Cranford, a small Cheshire market town, during one extraordinary year. In this witty and poignant story the railway is pushing its way relentlessly towards the town from Manchester, bringing fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law and order. The arrival of handsome young Doctor Harrisons causes yet further agitation not just because of his revolutionary methods but also because of his effect on the hearts of the ladies. Meanwhile Miss Matty Jenkyns nurses her own broken heart after she was forced to give up the man she loved when she was a young girl.

This book is intended for students of English literature, Shakespeare, 16th- and 17th-century drama/comedy from A-level up; actors, directors, playgoers.

This edition is a new collection of Hugh Thomson illustrations selected from the edition of Pride and prejudice originally published in 1894 by George Allen.

Po své vysoce ceněné Bílé skále, v níž se zabývá říši Inků, se tento britský vědec a badatel tentokrát pouští napříč dějinami Peru. Popisuje rozmach a pád předinckých civilizací a provází tak čtenáře pěti tisíciletími peruánské historie – od teprve nedávno objevené caralské kultury přes pyramidy v Moche, chavínský labyrint a gigantické obrazce civilizace Nazca až po inckou pevnost Llactapata, ležící nedaleko Machu Picchu, kterou kdysi sám pomáhal znovuobjevovat. Erudici svých pětadvaceti let bádání a výzkumů začleňuje do čtivého, vzrušujícího příběhu vlastních průzkumných cest, čerstvých archeologických objevů a odhalených tajemství dávné minulosti Peru. Jak říká jeden z archeologů: „Představte si, že by v Egyptě ke všem významným objevům došlo teprve nedávno – přesně taková situace je dnes v Peru.“ Podle časopisu National Geographic patří Hugh Thomson ke vzácnému druhu badatelů; je to spisovatel, který bádá a nikoli badatel, který píše. Navíc dokáže psát s nebývalou a velmi sympatickou pokorou i o svých významných objevech a úspěších; během výprav do peruánských And se mu v nepřístupném terénu Vilcabamby podařilo nejen znovuobjevit na dlouhá desetiletí ztracenou pevnost Llactapata, ale i dosud neznámé skalní město Cota Coca, kam se Inkové pravděpodobně uchýlili po příchodu Španělů.