The Story of Gilgamesh

The long siege is ended. Troy lies in ashes. The black ships of the Greek war-host set sail for home – but for King Odysseus of Ithaca, the return voyage holds hazards far greater than any he faced in the Trojan War. A sequel to Black Ships Before Troy, Rosemary Sutcliff’s retelling of The Odyssey transforms Homer’s complex epic poem into a traveller’s tale with a cast of men, magicians and monsters: the flesh-eating Cyclops, the deadly enchantment of Circe and Odysseus’s battle to regain his wife and long-lost kingdom.

Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom in ancient Egypt, under the rule of Queen Hatshepsut. Mara is not like other slaves; she can read and write, as well as speak the language of Babylonian. So, to barter for her freedom, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies—each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt. Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters, the noble Sheftu, and she starts to believe in his plans of restoring Thutmose III to the throne. 

A masterly retelling of Homer’s epic poem 'The Iliad' recreates the age of heroes in this spellbinding introduction to the Greek Classics.

The crow crossed the sky, slow-beating her wings. Beat, beat, beat. It was night, not yet morning, and her feathers were so black that she coasted the air invisible above the city wall. Thus begins Ali Smith's retelling of Sophocles' tragedy, about a young Theban princess who decides to bury her dishonoured brother Polynices, against King Creon's express orders, with heart-breaking consequences.

Raskolnikov is a poor student living in St Petersburg. Desperate to escape his poverty, he kills two people and flees with a few watches and some jewelry. Although at first nobody suspects him, his own conscience plagues him, and it isn't long before an intelligent police detective by the name of Petrovich begins to have his doubts about Raskolnikov's innocence and is determined to make him confess.