Virago Modern Classics

  Discover a lost masterpiece Gayl Jones was only 26 when Corregidora was published in 1975. Toni Morrison was her editor, before she began her own writing career, and this influential, searing novel was hailed as a masterpiece by writers such as James Baldwin, Maya Angelou and John Updike. Corregidora spurred a new wave in […]

Discover Dorothy West   This August we published Dorothy West’s The Wedding and The Richer, The Poorer, with a wonderful new introduction by Diana Evans, author of Ordinary People.   ‘A writer of huge compassion and acute observation, and also of dazzling style . . . Her work is more relevant than ever’ Diana Evans […]

  Gentleman Jack has been such a resounding success that BBC/HBO have already commissioned the second series – welcome news indeed. It’s a satisfying period drama but with a modern twist in both its subject and approach: tantalisingly, the wealthy landowner in search of a wife is a woman; and playfully, this thoroughly modern woman […]

by Grace Paley Virago Modern Classics Book Club May 2019 The Collected Stories of Grace Paley   This May our Virago Modern Classics Book Club selection is The Collected Stories of Grace Paley. Regarded as one of the finest American short story writers and admired by George Saunders, Susan Sontag and Salman Rushdie, this collection […]

  Virago Modern Classics Book Club APRIL 2019 Memento Mori by Muriel Spark   For our April Book Club we are diving in to Muriel Spark’s unforgettable novel, Memento Mori.Witty, poignant and wickedly hilarious, Memento Mori may ostensibly concern death, but it is a book which leaves one relishing life all the more.     Remember you […]

  As part of our Virago Modern Classics 40th anniversary celebrations, the Virago team have each chosen a favourite title from the #VMC40 series. Each month, we will introduce the book and share with you why we love it.   This February our #VMC40 book of the month is The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond […]

  As part of our Virago Modern Classics 40th anniversary celebrations, the Virago team have each chosen a favourite title from the #VMC40 series. Each month, we will introduce the book and share with you why we love it. This January our #VMC40 book of the month is Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault Fire from Heaven By Mary Renault Fire from […]

Virago Modern Classics Book Club January 2019 Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault   A new year and a new collection of Virago Modern Classics for your reading pleasure. We are kicking off our 2019 Virago Modern Classics Book Club with Mary Renault’s classic: Fire From Heaven. In the first novel of her stunning trilogy, Mary Renault […]

In 2018 we celebrated 12 fantastic classics, from Susan Ferrier’s Marriage through to Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith. Did you pick-up any of our Book Club picks?

  What a year 2018 has been! We’ve had so much to celebrate, from anniversaries to awards, here are a few highlights: . 45 Years of Virago . 40 Years of Virago Modern Classics . 74 Books published . 80 Years of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca . 100 Years of Muriel Spark . 85 years since Testament of […]

  As part of our Virago Modern Classics 40th anniversary celebrations, the Virago team have each chosen a favourite title from the #VMC40 series. Each month, we will introduce the book and share with you why we love it. This November, in honour of the 100th anniversary of armistice our #VMC40 book of the month […]

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ‘I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship’   Little Women is 150 years old, yet it remains as relevant and inspiring as ever. Every generation takes something new from the novel, reading it in the context of its time, and every […]