Valancourt Books

Taking as its point of departure the alleged inaccuracy of the chronicles of Matthew Paris, Hubert's Arthur presents an alternative retelling of English history from the point of view of Hubert de...

"So remarkable in truth is this novel that I cannot understand why it is not universally known and admired." - Hugh Walpole "I Am Jonathan Scrivener remains a tantalizing, highly diverting...

One of the earliest "New Woman" novels, Ideala (1888) tells the story of a woman who, after making a bad marriage, must decide whether to leave her husband for another man or embrace a feminist...

'Martyn Goff handles his theme sensitively and calmly, developing the entangled relationships skilfully and credibly.' - Books and Bookmen 'Mr Goff writes well. His concern is to show the...

'Mr Clarke is familiar with school-life, and writes about it amazingly well. The book deserves the attention of all those who care for the finer qualities of fiction. It is a remarkable book.' - The...

C. L. Jubb is thirty-six, married, gainfully employed, and active in his community, both in local government and as a volunteer youth leader working with disadvantaged boys. But as he narrates the...

"Claude Houghton's novels are always interesting . . . Julian Grant Loses His Way is the best book of his that I have read . . . Houghton's talent is at its best." - Graham Greene, The Spectator ...

"A great read-evocative of another era, engrossing from the first page, chilling." - Publishers Weekly "McDowell must now be regarded as the finest writer of paperback originals in America." -...

When Kleinzeit, an advertising copywriter whose name means either 'hero' or 'smalltime', depending on who you ask, picks up a sheet of yellow paper in the London Underground, he doesn't suspect that...

The year is 1633. Tensions are running high in the small German city of Klosterheim. The Thirty Years' War rages on, as the Emperor contends with invading Swedish forces, and, closer to home, the...

Business is slow at the provincial bookshop owned by young Michael Ransome, which suits him fine, since he'd rather be asleep or drunk than at work anyway. Unfortunately, there's the small problem of...

"Grips the reader . . . The story has pace and excitement, unforced sentiment and wholly unaffected gaiety." - Times Literary Supplement "He knows how to build a story mounting page by page in...

Henry Summersett, the author of a number of extremely scarce Gothic romances with lurid, alluring titles like Mad Man of the Mountain, Final Retribution, and The Wizard and the Sword, is one of the...

In his Bibliography of Prohibited Books (1885), Henry Ashbee, the noted Victorian collector of erotic literature, described Letters from Laura and Eveline as follows: "There is a boldness in the...

"It deserves its success. It is very far from being a mere frivolous bestseller." - Anthony Burgess, Observer "Alive from the first moment to the last." - Listener "John Braine has brilliantly...

"In this remarkable first novel Mr. Baxter does a great deal more than show promise; if there is any justice in the world he has arrived." - Times Literary Supplement "A first novel of more than...

In these exsanguinating stories, Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes masterfully reinvents the vampire genre as he introduces the reader to a cleaning woman who discovers she is working for Dracula's son; a couple...

'This is a fascinatingly extraordinary book which combines the force of Decline and Fall, the Gothic enormities of the Powys brothers, and conveys them with that innate compassion for adolescence...

Thomas Bailey sighs over a portrait of his adored Ethelinda Tit, but he faces an insurmountable obstacle to his passion: Ethelinda died two hundred years ago! Yet things appear to be looking up for...

Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) was the most popular and best-selling novelist of her time, earning a widespread readership and previously unheard-of sums of money for her Gothic novels The Mysteries of...

Once upon a time Fernando Roncorone was a happy youth with a loving family, friends, and the affection of his beloved Rosolie. Now he lives alone, a hermit, and a terror to the local villagers, who...

'One of the more earnest and interesting writers of his generation.' - The Guardian 'Mr Wilson's vitality comes through. He writes a clear, light prose, and he makes his interests, however bizarre,...

"The great English prose work has been written and perfectly written and you and I would do well to lay down our pens. . . . I believe that the worst page of prose Pater wrote is better than the best...

The "fatal error" to which the title refers is Marmaduke Herbert's inadvertently occasioning the death of his wife's sister by causing her to fall off a cliff. This accident leads to misery, setting...

Domestic tranquillity reigns at the castle of Lord Alwynd, where the noble lord lives in happiness with his two adopted children, William and Agatha, his cousin Celwold, and Celwold's ward, Edward...

Matchbox Theatre presents a sketch show in miniature: thirty short entertainments by Michael Frayn, author of Skios and Noises Off, 'the funniest farce ever written' (New York Times). Thirty...

'A remarkable novel. Witty, even cynical, observation leads to a conclusion profoundly moving.' - Graham Greene 'Read is undoubtedly one of the most talented novelists of our generation.' - Francis...

"It is highly readable and offers the right combination of imaginative fantasy and reality." - Olivia Manning, The Spectator "A writer of distinction." - E. M. Forster "A piece of imaginative work...

'An entertaining confidence game, which seduces, startles, and ... assuredly succeeds in engaging one's interest.' - Kirkus Reviews '[Wilson] continues to try to find out what is really important in...

This collection of 37 stories by a master of the form features tales that are sometimes funny, sometimes violent, and sometimes weird and nightmarish: in short, it is quintessential Gerald Kersh...