Author:Margery Kempe,Barry Windeatt

'And then he, completely astonished at her words, left off his lewdness, saying to her as many a man had done before, "Either you are a truly good woman or else a truly wicked woman." '
Brave, outspoken and guaranteed to annoy people wherever she went - including exasperated fellow pilgrims in Jerusalem and her long-suffering husband - Margery Kempe was one of the most vivid and unforgettable voices of the Middle Ages. Whether travelling alone, getting herself arrested or having visions of marrying Jesus, Margery repeatedly defied feminine convention - and also managed to compose the first autobiography in English, despite being unable to read or write.
One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.
Osborne’s brilliance as a travel writer places his web of deceit, greed and need … in a world conjured up with dazzling immediacy … Sumptuous and sinister, languorous and tense, this is a novel that gives Osborne’s remarkable talents haunting scope
—— Peter Kemp , Sunday TimesIf the purpose of a novel is to take you away from the everyday and show you something different, then Osborne is succeeding, and handsomely. Hunters in the Dark is a novel of immersion… shaped like a quiet dream. As such, it’s an unqualified success, and I hope it enjoys a wide readership
—— Lee Child , New York TimesCambodia…comes splendidly to life in Osborne’s prose… This is a tip-top thriller. Osborne knows how to keep the pages turning; he is a name to watch
—— Ian Thomson , IndependentEdgy and gripping … Written with unfailing precision and beauty, Hunters in the Dark stakes out territory different to the many writers to whom Osborne has been compared.
—— Neel Mukherjee , GuardianBesides being a gripping thriller, it's a fine meditation on luck, fate and chance and a wonderful evocation of Cambodia, a country of ghosts, spirits and shadows
—— Sebastian Shakespeare , Daily Mail, Books of the YearFans of Lawrence Osborne’s excellent, sour-tasting novels will recognize several ingredients in this latest… The novel’s power lies in Osborne’s needling descriptions of hedonism and decay in a country haunted by history, superstition and curdled dreams
—— Claire Allfree, 4 stars , MetroOsborne is definitely still in the game
—— Paul Dunn , The TimesIn Hunters in the Dark, Osborne has created a wonderful evocation of Cambodia, that most haunted, seductive country – haunted both by the spirits always believed by its people to have inhabited every part of the land and buy the dreadful crimes committed so recently by the Khmer Rouge, who killed a quarter of the population in three years. … Hunters in the Dark is itself pitilessly good. Those comparisons with Graham Greene aren’t even flattering anymore
—— David Sexton , Evening StandardSteeped in the menacing, fatalistic atmosphere of a country with a bloody recent past, this is a terrific novel with an ending that is utterly gripping and satisfying
—— Mail on SundayHunters in the Dark is Lawrence Osborne’s third strong novel in a row and this rare achievement is made all the more impressive because each of these three novels has improved on the last … The literary thriller is an awkward genre, usually lacking in either thrills or quality of prose, but with Hunters in the Dark, Osborne has proved once again that he can handle both and with aplomb
—— Sunday ExpressThe much-travelled Osborne delivers on a load of levels, not least his characters, who can ooze silky menace, or be totally soulless, desperate or lost. All are convincing in the setting of the exotic, once-deadly country. And with his easy and vivid descriptions, this masterpiece will give you prickly heat rash
—— 5 stars , Sunday SportDramatic and involving, an exhilarating adventure crafted in crisp, sharp prose. Osborne gives us rich swathes of local colour … Most of all, it is Robert and his precarious fate that keep us rapt. On the first page he is described as having ; "the aura of poverty about him"; roughly two hundred pages later his beloved Sophal tells him he is spooking people: "They say you have an aura of disaster about you." He does and it’s powerful; once the novel’s momentum kicks in, we’re with him all the way until the bitter end
—— Literary ReviewMesmerising
—— TatlerThe man making writing dangerous again
—— ShortlistVery fine...an excellent addition to the literature of personal displacement. Grappling with manifold questions about identity and the tragic futility of material aspirations in a ruthless, brittle world, this novel draws you into a sun-struck realm where the survival of the fittest is more predicated by chance and where violence is a sudden, opportunistic enterprise
—— Douglas Kennedy , New StatesmanThe best writer you’ve never heard of, Osborne is hitting mean form as a writer of exotic literary thrillers. … Sensual, dream-like and gripping
—— MonocleThis is an elegantly told story that will keep you intrigued until you hit the back cover
—— Emerald StreetAn atmospheric read
—— Robert Dex , UK Press SyndicationIt’s with expert control of the narrative here that [Osborne] captures a life adrift
—— Anita Sethi , ObserverDark, teasing, elegantly written book
—— Harriet Fitch Little , Financial TimesDarkly sinister, threatening and compelling, this is one you’ll come back to again and again
—— Chris Kirkman , ShortlistAlive with malice and grace, this is a taut tale reminiscent of the nightmares of Patricia Highsmith
—— MrsD-DailyPrey and predators circle in lush southeast Asian settings that gleam with Osborne’s dazzling skill as a travel-writer
—— Peter Kemp , Sunday TimesIt shines with intrigue, with investigations into the nature of the non-rational, and evil, wrapped up in taught plotting
—— Arifa Akbar , IndependentOne of Britain’s most accomplished novelists.
—— Ed Cumming , ObserverAn ingenious and atmospheric novel.
—— Simon Shaw , Mail on SundayLawrence Osborne is an experienced, competent author with an impressive knowledge of Asia… Comparisons with Graham Greene seem to be generously offered by other reviewers and I’ve already alluded to Conrad and a Patricia Highsmith yet my impression is that Mr. Osborne has a style all of his own.
—— Gill Chedgey , NudgeMcCarthy has put his finger on something, and he’s nailed it very precisely. It’s how we live now. All the information we process every day. What it’s doing to us.
—— William Leith , Evening Standard






