'No man is free of his own history' Hartmann and Fibich came to England on the kindertransport. As orphans of the war they were strangers in a strange land. Together, they survived. And in adulthood they have been unable to separate, sharing a successful business. Yet Hartmann's carefully polished manners conceal the past he refuses to think about. While Fibich, a mass of fears and neuroses, can do nothing but remember. Together these two men seek to build a future from the shaky foundations of their own pasts…

'He was haunted by a feeling of invisibility, as if he were a mere spectator of his own life, with no one to identify him in the barren circumstances of the here and now.' Paul Sturgis is a retired banker manager who lives alone in a dark little flat. He walks alone and dines alone, seeking out and taking pleasure in small exchanges with strangers: the cheerful Australian girl who cuts his hair, the lady at the drycleaners. His only relative, and only acquaintance, is a widowed cousin by marriage - herself a virtual stranger - to whom he pays ritualistic visits on a Sunday afternoon. Trying to make sense of his current solitary state, and fearing that his destiny may be to die among strangers, Sturgis trawls through memories of his failed relationships and finds himself longing for companionship, or at the very least a conversation. But then a chance encounter with a stranger - a recently divorced and demanding younger woman - shakes up his routine and when an old girlfriend appears on the scene, Sturgis is forced to make a decision about how (and with whom) he wants to spend the rest of his days . . .

Kitty Maule wants to be 'totally unreasonable, totally unfair, very demanding, and very beautiful.' Instead, she is clever, hesitant and too patient for her own good. For years, she has been in love with her colleague Maurice Bishop, a charming English lecturer who seems not to notice her feelings. But when there comes a chance to accompany Maurice to France on a study of French cathedrals, Kitty sees an opporunity to be the woman she has always wanted to be as well as at last make the man she wants fall in love with her. But why is that the closer she gets to Maurice, the more elusive he seems to become?

'The Hotel du Lac was a dignified building, a house of repute, a traditional establishment, used to welcoming the prudent, the well-to-do, the retired, the self-effacing, the respected patrons of an earlier era' Into the rarefied atmosphere of the Hotel du Lac timidly walks Edith Hope, romantic novelist and holder of modest dreams. Edith has been exiled from home after embarrassing herself and her friends. She has refused to sacrifice her ideals and remains stubbornly single. But among the pampered women and minor nobility Edith finds Mr Neville, and her chance to escape from a life of humiliating loneliness is renewed…

'Once a thing is known it can never be unknown.' By day Frances Hinton works in a medical library, by night she haunts the room of a West London mansion flat. Everything changes, however, when she is adopted by charming Nick and his dazzling wife Alix. They draw her into their tight circle of friends. Suddenly, Frances' life is full and ripe with new engagements. But too late, Frances realises that she may be only a play thing, to be picked up and discarded once used. And that just one act in defiance of Alix's wishes could see her lose everything . . .

Winner of the Booker Prize, the beautiful, romantic and gorgeously philosophical Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner is part of our Penguin Essential series which spotlights the very best of our modern classics 'The Hotel du Lac was a dignified building, a house of repute, a traditional establishment, used to welcoming the prudent, the well-to-do, the retired, the self-effacing, the respected patrons of an earlier era' Into the rarefied atmosphere of the Hotel du Lac timidly walks Edith Hope, romantic novelist and holder of modest dreams. Edith has been exiled from home after embarrassing herself and her friends. She has refused to sacrifice her ideals and remains stubbornly single. But among the pampered women and minor nobility Edith finds Mr Neville, and her chance to escape from a life of humiliating loneliness is renewed . . .

'Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.' Ruth Weiss, an academic, is beautiful, intelligent and lonely. Studying the heroines of Balzac in order to discover where her own childhood and adult life has gone awry, she seeks not salvation but enlightenment. Yet in revisiting her London upbringing, her friendships and doomed Parisian love affairs, she wonders if perhaps there might not be a chance for a new start in life...

'It was at Millie's party, on that Friday evening, that she met her second husband, my stepfather-to-be, and thus changed both our lives . . .' Zoe is delighted when her widowed mother marries Simon, a generous older man who owns a villa in Nice. However, the long enchanted visits to France she enjoys come to an abrupt end when Simon suffers a bad fall. Zoe and her mother, finding themselves surrounded by well-meaning strangers, must learn how and how not to trust appearances . . .

Холдер для кофемашины Lelit, Pavoni Корзина в комплекте на 2 порции Подходит для моделей:LELIT:PL041, ANITA (PL042EM 2012), ANITA (PL042EM 2013), ANITA (PL042EMI), PL042QE 2009, PL042QE 2013, ANITA (PL042TEMD), ANNA (PL41E), ANNA (PL41EM), ANNA (PL41LEM), ANNA (PL41QE), ANNA (PL41TEM 2010), ANNA (PL41TEM 2013), PL50N, DIANA (PL60 2012), DIANA (PL60 2013), SILVANA (PL61)

Название принта: Пляж это мое счастливое место. Автор принта: Anita Ryabova. Сумка шоппер, 100% хлопок, джерси Пляж это мое счастливое место Anita Ryabova

Название принта: Пляж это мое счастливое место. Автор принта: Anita Ryabova. Сумка шоппер, 100% хлопок, джерси Пляж это мое счастливое место Anita Ryabova

Название принта: Пляж это мое счастливое место. Автор принта: Anita Ryabova. Сумка шоппер, 100% хлопок, джерси Пляж это мое счастливое место Anita Ryabova

Название принта: Пляж это мое счастливое место. Автор принта: Anita Ryabova. Сумка шоппер, 100% хлопок, джерси Пляж это мое счастливое место Anita Ryabova

Название принта: Пляж это мое счастливое место. Автор принта: Anita Ryabova. Сумка шоппер, 100% хлопок, джерси Пляж это мое счастливое место Anita Ryabova

Фильтр на 2 чашки для кофеварки LELIT/PAVONI d64,5x24 ммФильтр сито сетка корзина для кофеварок LELITPL041, ANITA (PL042EM 2012), ANITA (PL042EM 2013), ANITA (PL042EMI), PL042QE 2009, PL042QE 2013, ANITA (PL042TEMD), ANNA (PL41E), ANNA (PL41EM), ANNA (PL41LEM), ANNA (PL41QE), ANNA (PL41TEM 2010), ANNA (PL41TEM 2013), PL50N, DIANA (PL60 2012), DIANA (PL60 2013), SILVANA (PL61)PAVONI DOMUS BARMC002 LELITS0107977 GEVLF 5047959

Обрамление Anita в цвете белый дуб с патиной. Шпонированное МДФ позволяет создать достоверную имитацию натурального дерева. Простой, при этом эффектный очаг прекрасно подходит к обрамлению Anita.