Three novellas filled with “gallows humor and a sense of real peril,” by the acclaimed author of The Book of Strange New Things (The New York Times). The bestselling author of The Crimson Petal and the White “draws his characters with assured comic efficiency” (The Guardian), using “evocative language” to offer up “intriguing glimpses of unfamiliar worlds” (Los Angeles Times), in these acclaimed novellas. In “The Courage Consort,” an a cappella vocal ensemble is sequestered in a Belgian château to rehearse a monstrously complicated new piece, but competing artistic temperaments and sexual needs create as much discordance as the avant-garde music. In “The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps,” a lonely woman joins an archaeological dig at Whitby Abbey and unearths a mystery involving a long-hidden murder. And in “The Fahrenheit Twins,” strange children, identical in all but gender, are left alone at the icy zenith of the world by their anthropologist parents to create their own ritual civilization. From a wildly inventive author whose novel The Book of Strange New Things was named one of 2014’s best reads by everyone from the New Yorker to io9, The Courage Consort is an eclectic collection of well-told tales, in which Michel Faber “marches on, establishing himself as one of the most versatile fiction writers working today” (Kirkus Reviews). “Readers will again be immersed in the intense worlds he creates.” —Publishers Weekly

Sian, tired of nightmares in which she meets a grisly end, decides she needs to get out more, so she joins an archaeological dig at Whitby Abbey. What she finds is a mystery involving a long-hidden murder, a man with big hands, a fragile manuscript in a bottle, and a rather attractive dog called Hadrian. Faber's dazzling novella takes us up the 199 steps in Whitby that link the 21st century with the ruins of the past. Equal and indissoluble parts thriller, romance, historical/ghost story and meditation on the nature of sincerity, this is an ingenious literary page-turner. Atmospheric photographs complement the text beautifully. This book, like Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, deploys a masterful sense of ambiguity, outstanding narrative power, works on many levels and, as always with Faber's writing, is elegant, thought-provoking, distinctive and compelling.

When she first entered the palace, Lan Qi was just an unremarkable little palace maid who had always been meticulously serving her master. She had never thought that there would be a day when she would fly onto a branch.Xuan Ye's sad figure for his dead wife had remained in her heart during that heavy rain.Many times, many things had their own arrangements.In order to protect her master, Wu Yayanqi did not hesitate to frame him.The young Emperor only wanted to scare this young palace maid who didn't know the limits of the heavens and earth. Unexpectedly, that pair of eyes that were filled with kindness and gentleness deeply pierced his heart."Your servant wants to ..." On the dragon bed, Wu Yalan Qi could not help but stare at the emperor closely, as if she wanted to carve him into her eyes. "You can even shoulder the burden of the river and the mountains. It's nothing to bear the blame for once."

These stories go deeper into the Victorian world and lives of the acclaimed international bestseller, The Crimson Petal and the White. Michel Faber’s tale of love and lust in the Victorian Era, The Crimson Petal and the White, was hailed as “a Dickensian novel for our times.” Now a major BBC TV drama, the saga of a prostitute named Sugar and the man who longs to possess her captured hearts and left readers desperate for more (The Guardian, UK). In The Apple, Faber returns to Silver Street to find it still teeming with life, and conjures further tantalizing glimpses of Sugar, Clara, William, Mr. Bodley and many other favorites. For both fans of the novel and newcomers to this rich and historically vivid world, The Apple confirms that “Michel Faber is a master of the short-story form” (The Times Literary Supplement, UK). “This book will be read in a sitting. unless of course you are admitted to Accident and Emergency, having come over queer, huffing with laughter, or dizzy with envy at Faber’s talent. Or probably both.”—The Scotsman, UK

Hailed as "original and unsettling, an Animal Farm for the new century" (The Wall Street Journal), this first novel lingers long after the last page has been turned. Described as a "fascinating psychological thriller" (The Baltimore Sun), this entrancing novel introduces Isserley, a female driver who picks up hitchhikers with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny--like a kid peering up over the steering wheel. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she listens to her hitchhikers as they open up to her, revealing clues about who might miss them if they should disappear. At once humane and horrifying, Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory--our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion. A grotesque and comical allegory, a surreal representation of contemporary society run amok, Under the Skin has been internationally received as the arrival of an exciting talent, rich and assured.

"Qingyou, my Queen, admit defeat!" Sikong Xuan narrowed his eyes and smiled gracefully at the woman who had a pale face and messy hair. The lips of the once most stubborn girl quivered. She was now in a miserable state and her legs were weak as she knelt on the ground."If I had known earlier, why would I have done what I did today, Qingyou!"Sikong Xuan's mocking heart was practically at its limit. This cold, stubborn woman kneeling down and submitting in front of him, was such a satisfying thing!"The Consort is a toothless animal kept in captivity by the emperor. I beg the emperor to release Qingmu!"Qing You gritted her teeth as she stood up. Her hands trembled as she pulled down her clothes. Her bright and pure body was like that of a newborn baby! What he wanted was only mediocre.A naked woman was kneeling on the ground in the Second Palace. When her head knocked against Sikong Xuan's toes ..."Scram ...!" Furious, Sikong Xuan kicked the lowly woman who was kneeling on the ground!He flicked his sleeve and left. However, he had forgotten that there was a lady lying at the corner of the wall like a rag, with traces of Yan Hong flowing between her legs. However, the corner of her mouth was free of that bewitching smile. Not a virgin Yan Hong, so miserable!

She was the direct daughter of the House of the Marquis. She was raped and colluded, and her entire family died horribly. She was poisoned to death in the cold court of the Palace. A wisp of wronged soul had yet to disperse, carrying with it a heart full of hatred at the time before she was reborn. In this life, she would not repeat the same mistakes again and again. She casually caught a grandson of the Black Emperor and found him pleasing to the eye, so she decided to help you ascend to the throne. In this life, to be gentle and virtuous, to be kind, to hell with it! In a conspiracy, what could be wrong with being ruthless and merciless! Anyone who dares to provoke this lady will absolutely not take revenge overnight!

I am with you always, even unto the end of the world . . . Peter Leigh is a missionary called to go on the journey of a lifetime. Leaving behind his beloved wife, Bea, he boards a flight for a remote and unfamiliar land, a place where the locals are hungry for the teachings of the Bible—his "book of strange new things." It is a quest that will challenge Peter's beliefs, his understanding of the limits of the human body and, most of all, his love for Bea. The Book of Strange New Things is a wildly original tale of adventure, faith and the ties that might hold two people together when they are worlds apart. This momentous novel from the author of The Crimson Petal and the White sees Faber at his expectation-defying best.

One of the most talked-about novels of the year, this international bestseller gives new meaning to the term “unputdownable.” Reviewers and readers everywhere have been eagerly abandoning their everyday lives for days and even weeks on end, refusing to leave Michel Faber’s vividly realized fictional world. They are captivated by Sugar, an enigmatic nineteen-year-old prostitute whose story begins in a hellish nineteenth-century London brothel. Struggling to lift her body and soul out of the gutter, Sugar claws her way up the social ladder to gain refuge in the wealthy family of her besotted lover, William Rackham, unwilling heir to a perfumery. Now in the popular Perennial format, The Crimson Petal and the White is a gripping tale, extraordinarily rich, intricate and intoxicating to the final page.