This superb new translation of the Qurʼan is written in contemporary language that remains faithful to the meaning and spirit of the original, making the text crystal clear while retaining all of this great work's eloquence. The translation is accurate and completely free from the archaisms, incoherence, and alien structures that mar existing translations. Thus, for the first time, English-speaking readers will have a text of the Qurʼan which is...

Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857) is a pioneering biography of one great Victorian woman novelist by another. Gaskell was a friend of Bronte's and, having been invited to write the official life, determined to both tell the truth.

"Between the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates lies the rich alluvial land of Mesopotamia (now in modern Iraq), which supported a complex and prosperous society over 4,000 years ago." "The stories translated here are all of ancient Mesopotamia, and include not only myths about the Creation and stories of the Flood, but also the longest and greatest literary composition, the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the story of a heroic quest for fame and immortality,...

"Saint Bartholomew's Day 1572. Paris is awash with the blood of Huguenots slaughtered by order of Charles IX. Or perhaps of Catherine de Medicis, one of history's greatest monsters? Or the ambitious Duke de Guise? Or the Duke d'Anjou, soon to be the reluctant King of Poland? It takes an iron nerve and a cool head to survive. Young Henry of Navarre has both in abundance, but he has more: he has his Queen, the beautiful, cultured Margot who stakes all...