The Canons

The Canons are books without boundaries. Some are classics already, the rest will be soon.

The Witch of Exmoor by Margaret Drabble cover
A spellbinding portrait of a troubled family and wry dissection of middle-class sentiment around legacy and social ambition
The Garrick Year by Margaret Drabble cover
A sharp and merciless dark comedy about marriage, motherhood and the pull of ambition
The Realms of Gold by Margaret Drabble cover
A luminous story of love, purpose and regret, and captures the essence of what it means to be a woman at a crossroads
To Tell a Story by John Berger, Susan Sontag, Benoît Bourreau cover
Published for the first time, John Berger and Susan Sontag’s collaboration and correspondence across a quarter-century offers a rare glimpse into the minds of two intellectual giants of the twentieth century
Capital by Rana Dasgupta cover
Capital is Rana Dasgupta’s Orwell Prize-shortlisted non-fiction debut: an unsparing, lyrical portrait of class and wealth disparity in Delhi
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard cover
A slim volume that bursts with insight by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard, illuminating the creative process and the trials of a writer’s life
Words Are My Matter by Ursula K. Le Guin cover
A manual for investigating the depth, breadth and importance of contemporary fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin, Words Are My Matter collects one of our foremost literary intellectual’s best writing on literature
How to Lose a Country by Ece Temelkuran cover
An urgent call to action from one of Europe’s most well-regarded political thinkers and a field guide to spotting the insidious patterns and mechanisms of the populist wave sweeping the globe – with a new foreword to the 2024 edition
Poetry Unbound by Pádraig Ó Tuama cover
A beautiful book of immersive poetry, based on the much-loved Poetry Unbound podcast downloaded more than 6 million times
Blues People by LeRoi Jones cover
A rousing exploration of the blues and jazz music that formed much of American popular music culture, penned by the iconic Beat writer and critic
Straight Life: The Story Of Art Pepper by Art Pepper, Laurie Pepper cover
The story of Art Pepper
Walking Through Clear Water In a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller cover
A new edition of the cult classic, with over two dozen additional stories, from the godmother of autofiction
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki cover
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, this is a timeless and compassionate novel about what it means to be human
The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh cover
The award-winning and atmospheric crime cult classic from bestselling author Louise Welsh – ‘Unputdownable’ Sunday Times
The Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren cover
This modern American classic is an unflinching look at post-war America; introduced by Irvine Welsh and afterword by Kurt Vonnegut
Lanark by Alasdair Gray cover
40th anniversary commemorative hardback edition of the modern classic
Dubliners by James Joyce cover
Joyce’s brilliantly vivid portrait of Dublin, introduced by Colm Tóibín
The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill cover
A wry and lyrical take on what it means to be an outsider through the lens of one of mythology’s most monstrous creatures: the Minotaur
Pimp: The Story Of My Life by Iceberg Slim cover
The perennial cult classic, introduced by Irvine Welsh
Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith cover
The powerful retelling of the Celtic myth of Angus, god of dreams, from the number one Sunday Times bestselling author
Suicide Blonde by Darcey Steinke cover
The intensely-erotic feminist cult classic. Introduced by Maggie Nelson
Orlando by Virginia Woolf cover
Virginia Woolf’s seductive, provocative masterpiece is a whirlwind adventure through time, gender and identity. Introduced by Tilda Swinton
Life Of Pi by Yann Martel cover
The phenomenal, Man Booker Prize-winning, international bestseller
Sex & Rage by Eve Babitz cover
A rediscovered classic: Eve Babitz’s wry, tender coming-of-age tale of 1970s LA