Showing results for "The Story" in Dark Humour

H.H. Munro (Saki) is one of the undisputed masters of the short story. In this complete compendium, the full gamut of his subjects and themes is experienced. His stories are imbued with humorous satire, biting irony, and often the macabre, all of which have one target: the stupidities and hypocrisies of Edwardian upper-class society.

Penguin presents, the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Course of Love by Alain de Botton, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt. SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER From one of our great thinkers on modern life and the human condition - an unforgettable story of love and marriage from the...

Nora Lange's debut novel, Us Fools, was praised as the "Great American Novel" by Molly Young in the New York Times, and "a razor-sharp critique of American capitalism" by Michael Schaub at NPR. Now, she turns her eye toward the daily exercise of getting by. In "Heart Beats," Carol and David...

Louisiana gravedigger Noah Evans’s Valentine’s night shift takes an unexpected turn when his high school crush starts screaming from her freshly dug grave. Whoever tried to bury Emma six feet under is in for a nasty surprise—they should have checked for a pulse because she’s got unfinished business, starting with the hot gravedigger who just saved her life. As they unearth a deadly family conspiracy, Noah and Emma discover that old flames burn even hotter the second time around—especially when someone’s trying to kill them.

Taut, brooding and densely atmospheric, these stories show us the ways in which murder can arise out of boredom, perversity can result from adolescent curiosity and sheer evil might be the solution to unbearable loneliness.

It's late one night at the Spanish port of Algeciras, and two fading Irish gangsters are waiting on the boat from Tangier. A lover has been lost, a daughter has gone missing, their world has come asunder - can it be put together again? Night Boat to Tangier is a novel drenched in sex and death and narcotics, in sudden violence and old magic, but it is obsessed, above all, with the mysteries of love. A tragicomic masterwork from a multi-award-winning writer, Night Boat to Tangier is both mordant and hilarious, lyrical yet laden with menace.

A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN TIME, VOX, AND VULTURE 'Batty and brilliant' THE TIMES 'Truly original . . . deeply weird, deeply funny and deeply felt' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Very strange and very funny' GUARDIAN 'Audaciously imagined. Slyly executed. Surprisingly tender. Deliciously weird' RACHEL YODER...

AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 'What a joy it is to read' Michael Magee, author of Close to Home 'I couldn't put this book down' Sheena Patel, author of I'm A Fan 'Powerful, moving...

A palm reader notifies Lord Arthur that murder is in his future. But not his murder - he’s the murderer. This really throws a wrench into his wedding plans, for Lord Arthur is soon to be married to the most beautiful lady in London. In fact he loves her so much, he decides to postpone the wedding until his business is done. Now, for a tasteful homicide....

Brought to you by Penguin. A deliciously dark collection of love stories to sink your teeth into, from the prizewinning author of NOW SHE IS WITCH Can 'no' be a declaration of love? What happens when love is savage, dangerous and all-consuming? In this gorgeous and unsettling collection, women...

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "BEST HORROR FICTION OF 2024" From Eliza Clark, the author of the brilliant novels Boy Parts and Penance and one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, comes a fierce, visionary and darkly comic story collection. A woman welcomes a parasite into her body. A...

A new collection of short stories examining the extraordinary shades of ordinary life, from the prize-winning fiction writer Richard Bausch (“A master of the short story" —The New York Times Book Review) In these twelve new stories, Richard Bausch explores the passions of men and women...

Incendiary Girls explores our baser instincts with vivid imagination and humor. In these stories, our bodies become strange and unfamiliar terrain, a medium for transformation. In "Fundamental Laws of Nature", a doctor considers her legacy, both good and bad, when she discovers that her mother has been reincarnated as a thoroughbred mare. In the title story, a mischievous angel chronicles the remarkable life of a girl just beyond death’s reach.

Bobby Gold is a lovable criminal. After nearly ten years in prison, he’s no sooner out than he’s back to work breaking bones for tough guys. His turf: the club scene and restaurant business. It’s not that he enjoys the job—Bobby has real heart—but he’s good at it, and a guy has to...

Size does matter in these delightfully tiny tales populated with narcoleptic drivers, bickering backers, suspicious spouses, and other memorable characters. Full of dark humor, intrigue, and absurdity, this collection of slightly sinister (and occasionally sweet) stories delivers a bite-size listening experience to satisfy any literary craving.

Brought to you by Penguin. An uplifting true story of finding love after the horrors of war. For fans of THE TATTOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, SCHINDLER'S LIST and THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS It's 1945, and Miklos is looking for love... He whistles up a list if 117 Hungarian women from his village, and...

One ordinary morning, Laurie's husband, Mark, vanishes, leaving behind his phone and wallet. For weeks, she tells no one, carrying on her job as a cleaner at the local university, visiting her tricky, dementia-suffering father and holing up in her tower-block flat with a bottle to hand. When she finally reports Mark as missing, the police are suspicious. Why did she take so long? Wasn't she worried? It turns out there are many more mysteries in Laurie's account of events, though not just because she glosses over the facts. 

In these wonderfully funny and poignant stories, Willett’s eccentric, complex characters think and do the unconventional. Soft, euphonic women gradually grow old; weak, unhappy men confront love and their own mortality; and abominable children desperately try to grow up with grace. With a unique voice and dry humor, Willett gives us a new insight into human existence, showing us those specific moments in relationships when life suddenly becomes visible. Critically acclaimed when it was first published, Jenny and the Jaws of Life is being brought back due to popular demand.

A customer service assistant spends her long workdays printing letters. Her one friend is the printer and, in the dark confines of her office, she begins to open up to him, talking about her fears, her past, her hopes and dreams. To her, it seems like a beautiful friendship is blossoming. To her boss, it seems like she’s losing her mind.

Brought to you by Penguin. Surreal, darkly comic and achingly tender, Myriam Lacroix's exuberant debut sees a queer love story play out in many alternate realities What if you had the chance to rewrite the course of your relationship, again and again, in the hopes that it would work out? When...