Best Selling Books by Will Jonson

Sidney''s sonnet cycle, consisting of 100 sonnets, followed by 11 Songs, is, after Shakespeare''s, the finest sonnet cycle in the English language. Sidney explores all the aspects of what it means to be in love and does so in language that is memorable and striking. All lovers of poetry will enjoy exploring this classic work from the Elizabethan era. Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk

The companion volume to Will Jonson''s first novel ''Keep it Dark''.

The authoritative guide to the AQA A Level English poetry anthology (pre-1900). This book provides students and teachers with invaluable guidance on each of the 14 poems, each of which is printed in full. With an illuminating and perceptive introduction to the study of poetry, a full glossary and detailed commentaries on all fourteen poems, this is the best guide on the market. For first teaching from September 2015. Intended for A Level students.

''Keep It Dark'' might change the way you look back on the past. It is certainly a novel which defies genre. In 1964 when he is seven, Tommy sees his Uncle Jack sobbing copiously - and, as he grows up, spends the rest of his life finding out the reasons for Uncle Jack''s tears. Tommy''s odyssey takes him to Scotland, to Spain, to Poland and to Russia as he gradually peels away the layers of the past and discovers all that has been kept dark. He also learns about himself and copes with a tumultuous private life while piecing together his uncle''s wartime experiences. This novel juxtaposes scenes from modern life in the UK with horrific descriptions of war in Spain, in Stalingrad during the Second World War, the Holocaust and then the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But it is not a war story: it''s about lost love, the past, politics, fatherhood, betrayal, memory and even language itself. The strength and endurance of the human spirit shines through. It is an ambitious pan-European novel packed with literary allusions, but it tells a very simple human story about love and loss, suffering and redemption, and human resilience in the face of evil. It''s a serious novel, but full of humour and jokes, and is an emotive story of lives blighted by history and separation which works on different levels. The juxtapositions of the chapters from Tommy''s life with those from the past throw up some interesting and unexpected parallels. The structure of the whole novel is unique - reminiscent of ''Catch 22'' and ''Small Island'' - but very different from either. As Tommy himself might put it, "If you wanna get technical, and believe me, sunshine, I always DO wanna get technical, this is a bildungsroman that turns out to be a kunstlerroman. Un-bleeding-believable!" Nominated for the Goldsmiths Prize 2013. Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk

''The Seagull''is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896.The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Tréplev.

Khalil Gibran''s ''Broken Wings'' is a poetic novel of tragic love, set in turn-of-the-century Beirut. Selma Karamy is betrothed to a prominent religious man''s nephew but meets a young man and they fall in love. They begin to meet in secret, are discovered, and Selma is forbidden to leave her house. ''Broken Wings'' highlights the social issues of the time in the Eastern Mediterranean, including religious corruption, the rights of women and of wealth and happiness

''The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'' is the most overt statement Blake ever wrote in prose of his beliefs and the radical, revolutionary part of this text are ''The Proverbs of Hell.''''No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings. You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. Prisons are built with stones of Law, brothels with bricks of Religion. Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by Incapacity. Exuberance is Beauty. ''A superb insight into Blake''s beliefs and essential for a full understanding of ''The Songs of Innocence and Experience.''

Frank Norris is best known for his realist novels, but these stories show that he was a master of the short story form too. These stories evoke superbly the atmosphere and characters, as well as the dangers and hazards, of life in the 19th century in the American West. And, like all Norris''s writing they exude humanity, wit and compassion. Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk

Sioux writer and activist Zitkala-Sa (1876-1938) was born in the year of the infamous Battle of Little Big Horn--her people''s last victory over the invasion forces that would soon force them onto reservations, on one of which she grew up under a regime of forced assimilation. Her writing career blossomed early, with stories published in the Atlantic Monthly when she was in her early twenties. She could have been a mere exotic, but she found a way to capture the interest of non-Indian readers, who preferred the romanticized noble savage to the often-sad reality of Indian life, and to give voice to her threatened culture. Her work, surprisingly, seems undated, perhaps because, unfortunately, the situation of Indian people has changed so little. Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk

Is there a better English love poet than John Donne?By turns erotic and passionate, scathing and acerbic, sentimental and emtoive, playful and loving, Donne covers all facets of love in this remarakble colllection.

Christopher Marlowe, based on the German story Faust, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power, experience, pleasure and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe''s death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play. It is the most controversial Elizabethan play outside of Shakespeare, with few critics coming to any agreement as to the date or the nature of the text. Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk.

Aeschylus (525-456 BC) brought a new grandeur and epic sweep to the drama of classical Athens, raising it to the status of high art. ''The Suppliants'' tells the story of the fifty daughters of Danaus who must flee to escape enforced marriages.

The three seminal texts of Confucian thought in one handy and economical edition.

Aesop''s celebrated collection of fables has always been popular with both adults and children. These simple tales embody truths so powerful, the titles of the individual fables - the fox and the grapes, the dog in the manger, the wolf in sheep''s clothing and many others - have entered the languages and idioms of most European tongues.

In the ''Book of Thel'' The first part of the poem shows the good part of life as in Songs of Innocence whereas the concluding part shows that life is full of sorrows where smiles are never seen, as in Songs of Experience. ''Tiriel'' is the first poem in which Blake used free septenaries, which he would go on to use in much of his later verse. ''The Book of Ahania'' consists of six chapters. The content concerns Fuzon, a son of Urizen, a Zoa or major aspect in Blake''s mythology.Ahania of the title is Urizen''s female counterpart. ''The Book of Los'' is related to the Book of Urizen; it is essentially a retelling of Urizen from the point of view of Los. The book has been described as a rewriting of the ancient myth of creation that equates Fall with the loss of spiritual vision brought about by selfhood. ''The Book of Urizen'' describes Urizen as the "primeaval priest" and tells how he became separated from the other Eternals to create his own alienated and enslaving realm of religious dogma. Los and Enitharmon create a space within Urizen''s fallen universe to give birth to their son Orc, the spirit of revolution and freedom.

One of the most famous and celebrated collections of poetry in English - now available in this dual-language version. William Blake was not only a proud patriot, but also a political radical and this is perhaps the most radical collection of poems in the English language. Blake''s loathing of all forms of authority and oppression is brilliantly and superbly captured in the ''Songs of Experience''.

Here in one economical volume are Ida B. Wells-Barnett''s three celebrated anti-lynching tracts: ''Southern Horrors'', ''The Red Record'' and ''Mob Rule in New Orleans''. Wells-Barnett''s courageous campaign to raise awareness of the appalling state of extra-judicial murder in the southern USA retains its power to shock and appall. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the social history of America and the experiences of African Americans in the periods after the abolition of slavery. Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk