Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience – classics which will endure for generations to come.

‘Magnificent…It’s one of the greatest ghost stories in the language, but it’s far more than just a ghost story – it’s a novel of desperate truthfulness – a majestic work, truly’ Philip Pullman ‘Sparkling, sinister and supremely original’ Sunday Telegraph ‘As black as a tar barrel and very, very funny’ The Times ‘Laceratingly observant, a masterpiece of wit, heavy with atmosphere. It is also gloriously insolent and slyly funny: full of robust, uncluttered prose and searing moments' Independent ‘Pins elusive Middle England to the page in all its creepiness: a place blank and disconnected, yet fatally self-absorbed’ Rachel Cooke, Observer ‘An elegant, atmospheric tale and a nuanced portrait, full of ironies’ Tatler 'Chilling, creepy and endlessly inventive' Kate Saunders, The Times ‘Hilary Mantel has done something extraordinary. She has taken the ethereal halfway house between heaven and hell, between the living and the dead, and nailed it on the page’ Fay Weldon, Guardian ‘Has the kind of gallows humour that makes you laugh out loud…A real page-turner, a darkly humorous take on the enduring effects of childhood trauma’ Mslexia 'A deep, disturbing, violently amusing and subversive work’ Daily Telegraph

A novel of suspense and secrets by the author of the Booker Prize-winning and bestselling Wolf Hall trilogy • A eerie, sinister tale of life of a medium and the traumatic and unsettling life she leads as she practises her trade around suburban England. • Hilary Mantel is one of Britain’s finest and most respected writers. • ‘Beyond Black’ is Hilary Mantel’s latest novel to appear since publication of ‘Giving Up the Ghost’, her much praised memoir. • ‘Beyond Black’ has sold over 80,000 copies in the UK since publication. • ‘Beyond Black’ received rave reviews and was longlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize for fiction Competition: wolf hall;bring up the bodies;mirror and the light;giving up the ghost;mantel pieces;every day is mother’s day;change of climate;vacant possession;eight months on ghazzah street;marriage plot;small things like these. jon mcgregor;maggie ofarrell;ian mcewan;julian barnes;elizabeth strout;claire keegan