Metroland. Before Meeting Her. Flaubert's Parrot

Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes — a contemporary English classic, “the most elegant stylist and the most unpredictable master of all conceivable literary forms” (The Scotsman) — will celebrate his 80th birthday in January 2026 with the release of his new (and possibly last) book “Exodus(s)”. It's time to remember how it all began, and this volume includes the first three novels of “the best and most subtle among our literary heavyweights” (The Independent), as well as two of his rare early stories (for the first time in Russian).

We present to your attention:

“Metroland” — “a masterpiece of nostalgic provocation” (Vogue) and at the same time “one of the best descriptions of family happiness in world literature” (Lev Danilkin), the story of people who tried to change the world and did not notice how the world changed them (the novel is published with additional materials — a preface to the anniversary edition, a deleted scene);

“Before Meeting Her” — “a ruthlessly brilliant novel about relationships ruined by jealousy, full of subtle observations about the nature of love” (Metro);

“Flaubert's Parrot” — the first of Barnes' books to make it to the Booker Prize shortlist, “a delightful novel that nourishes the mind and the soul” (Joseph Heller), in which through the prism of Flaubert's biography, Barnes attempts to answer the question: what is more important for us, readers — the author's books or his life?..