British Literature

1984 (also published as Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel) was originally published in 1949. It was written by Indian-born English novelist and critic Eric Arthur Blair under the pen name George Orwell. Writing as Orwell, the author was known for social and political criticism in his work. He supported democratic socialism and opposed totalitarianism—political stances that come through in the themes of his most well-known works.Edition note: This novel is available in the public domain in... Read 1984 Summary

Published in 1962, during the height of Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the West, Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange reflects the anxieties and paranoia of the era. It is a dystopian novel about a roving gang of teenagers who instill fear in and inflict violence on the populace. The novel is known for its invented language, called Nadsat, which is an amalgam of Russian-influenced slang and Cockney dialect. The protagonist, the gleefully... Read A Clockwork Orange Summary

Written in 2017 by Ken Follett, A Column of Fire is a historical fiction novel and the third book in his Kingsbridge series, following The Pillars of the Earth (1989) and World Without End (2007). This novel is a loose sequel to the previous two books and is set against the backdrop of 16th-century Europe. Spanning both decades and continents, it follows the lives of a cast of characters who are caught in the conflict... Read A Column of Fire Summary

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Agnes Grey is the first novel by Anne Brontë (1820-1849), the youngest of the three celebrated Brontë sisters, who all wrote novels now considered classics of English literature. Anne drew on her experience as a clergyman’s daughter and as a governess in telling the story of a young woman looking for her place in the world. Published in 1847 under the pseudonym Acton Bell, Agnes Grey was read as an incisive commentary on the status... Read Agnes Grey Summary

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All Creatures Great and Small is the first in a series of fictionalized memoirs by Yorkshire veterinarian James Alfred “Alf” Wight (1916-1995), writing under the name James Herriot. Originally published in the UK as two shorter volumes, If Only They Could Talk (1970) and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet (1972), the US publisher released them as a single volume in 1972 under a new title drawn from the Anglican hymn “All Things Bright and... Read All Creatures Great and Small Summary

All’s Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare (1582-1616), one of the most influential writers in the English language. The date of composition is not known, but All’s Well That Ends Well was first performed between 1598 and 1608. It was published in 1623, in the First Folio. Shakespeare’s work is part of Early Modern English literature, alongside playwrights like Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe, during which time the play and theater... Read All's Well That Ends Well Summary

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic play by William Shakespeare that was likely first written and performed around 1600. The first certifiably recorded performance took place in 1604. Set in the Greek city-state of Athens, the play centers on an impending marriage. Before the wedding, the characters find themselves in a forest where a group of fairies manipulates and tricks them. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and most performed... Read A Midsummer Night's Dream Summary

A Month in the Country is a fiction novel published in 1980 by the British author J.L. Carr, a retired schoolteacher and publisher. The novel tells the deceptively spare tale of Thomas Birkin, a veteran of World War One who, having just returned from overseas, accepts summer employment to restore a mural. Dating back nearly five centuries, the mural adorns the wall of an old country church in northern England. During the weeks he painstakingly... Read A Month in the Country Summary

First published in 1950, A Murder Is Announced is a mystery novel by one of the leading writers of the Golden Age of detective fiction: Agatha Christie, “Queen of Crime.” Although best known for her Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot novels, Christie also published short story collections and wrote the world’s longest-running play—The Mousetrap (1952). Her fiction has inspired numerous film and television adaptations. A Murder Is Announced was Christie’s fourth novel featuring the amateur sleuth... Read A Murder Is Announced Summary

Published in 1945, Animal Farm by George Orwell (1903-1950) achieved immediate success and remains one of Orwell’s most popular works. A political satire in the guise of a moving and whimsical animal fable, the novella is about a group of farm animals who overthrow their owner, Mr. Jones, and establish animal rule. Although the animals start out with high hopes for Animal Farm as a harmonious and just utopia where “all animals are equal” (19)... Read Animal Farm Summary

An Inspector Calls is a three-act play written by J. B. Priestley, first performed in 1947. In the play, an inspector questions a wealthy family about the death of a young woman who worked at the family’s factory. An Inspector Calls first premiered in Moscow in 1945 before showing in England. The play has been adapted for film, television, and radio, and a 1992 stage revival won a Laurence Olivier Award, a Drama Desk Award... Read An Inspector Calls Summary

A Pale View of Hills (1982) is Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel. Born in Nagasaki in 1954, Ishiguro immigrated with his family to the United Kingdom when he was five years old. Despite his family’s Japanese origins, the author frequently states in interviews that his experience with Japanese culture is very limited, as he spent all his adult life in England. Simultaneously, however, growing up in a Japanese family developed in Ishiguro a different perspective compared... Read A Pale View of Hills Summary

E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India, published in 1924, tells a story of the power of colonialism, the tension between spirituality and morality, and the inescapability of evil. Forster wrote this novel after traveling to India in 1912 and volunteering in Egypt during World War I. A film adaptation of the novel directed by David Lean premiered in 1984 and received multiple Academy Award nominations. This summary uses the 75th Anniversary edition of A... Read A Passage to India Summary

Arcadia by Tom Stoppard was first performed on April 13, 1993, at the Royal National Theatre in London. In 2006, the Royal Institution of Great Britain named it one of the best science-related works ever written.The play has dual plot lines, one historical and one modern, which share the same physical setting. In the 19th century, the play follows the young Thomasina, a mathematical genius far ahead of her time, and her tutor, Septimus Hodge... Read Arcadia Summary

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A Tale of Two Cities, published in 1859, is a historical drama written by Charles Dickens. The backdrop of the novel takes place in London and Paris prior to the French Revolution. The novel, told in three parts, has been adapted into numerous productions for film, theater, radio, and television.In 1775, a banker named Jarvis Lorry travels to Dover, where he meets a young, half-French woman named Lucie Manette. Together, the pair travel to Paris... Read A Tale of Two Cities Summary

Atonement (2001) is an award-winning novel by British author Ian McEwan that spans the last two-thirds of the 20th century. The novel was a New York Times Bestseller for seven straight weeks and shortlisted for the Booker Prize for fiction in 2001. The 2007 film adaptation won an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and a BAFTA Award. McEwan is critically acclaimed with over a dozen novels and other works of fiction to his name, as... Read Atonement Summary

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Originally published in 1963 in the short story collection A Man and Two Women, “A Woman on a Roof” by Doris Lessing emerged during a time of social and political upheaval in the Western world. Like many of Lessing’s other works, the story explores the effects of class inequality and the misunderstandings between men and women that arise in a patriarchal culture. Lessing was born in former Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and moved to London... Read A Woman on a Roof Summary

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Beowulf is an epic poem written in Old English by an anonymous author around the year 1000 CE. While most of the poem was discovered intact, some of it had been destroyed, likely burned in a fire. The 1999 translation by the acclaimed Irish poet Seamus Heaney won the Whitbread Award, and was praised for its freshness and accessibility.This summary refers to the 2000 Farrar, Straus, and Giroux edition. Please note that the poem is... Read Beowulf Summary

Bleak House is a novel by English Victorian author Charles Dickens, published between 1852-1853. The expansive narrative covers many plots, including the first-person account of the life of Esther Summerson and an ongoing court case concerning a large inheritance thrown into chaos by the existence of contradictory wills. Bleak House has been adapted for the theater, radio, film, and television (most recently in 2005) and is considered among Dickens’ greatest novels. This guide uses an... Read Bleak House Summary

Blithe Spirit is a 1941 farce written by the English playwright, composer, and actor Noël Coward. Known for his wit and style, Coward’s theatrical career lasted for nearly six decades. Blithe Spirit, one of his most popular and enduring works, was first performed in the West End, running for 1,997 performances, before transferring to Broadway for 657 performances. It was adapted into the musical High Spirits in 1964. To this day, the play continues to... Read Blithe Spirit Summary

Brave New World, a dystopian novel published in 1932, is perhaps Aldous Huxley’s most famous and enduring work, consistently ranked among the top-100 English-language novels by entities such as the Modern Library, BBC, and The Observer. The novel opens with a tour of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, in which the Director explains the foundational ideas of society’s “stability,” which stems from the production-line uniformity of its citizens. People in the World State... Read Brave New World Summary

Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memoirs of Captain Charles Ryder (1945) is the ninth published novel by British novelist Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, who published under “Evelyn Waugh.” It chronicles the life and relationships of Charles Ryder, particularly his complex friendship with the aristocratic Flyte family, during the interwar period in England. The novel was an immediate success, and, despite his later dislike, Waugh referred to it as his “magnum opus.” It has been... Read Brideshead Revisited Summary

American author Karen Cushman’s middle grade novel, Catherine, Called Birdy, explores the life of a young woman in 13th-century England. Published in 1994, the book won the Newbery Honor the following year. It is currently being adapted for the screen by actor, writer, and director Lena Dunham. This detailed work of historical fiction immerses the reader in the very different world of medieval England, with its emphasis on religion as the organizing force behind daily... Read Catherine, Called Birdy Summary

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) is a fantasy children’s novel by renowned British author Roald Dahl, a man known for his strange and wondrous imagination. The story follows Charlie Bucket, who wins a tour in a chocolate factory owned by the eccentric Mr. Willy Wonka. In the years following publication, the novel became a classic and spawned two major film adaptations, one starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka (1971) and a remake starring Johnny... Read Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Summary

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a key figure in the British Romantic Era of poetry wrote the Gothic narrative poem “Christabel” in two parts, the first in 1797, and the second in 1800. Though it was still unfinished, “Christabel” was published in 1816.“Christabel” is Coleridge’s longest poem, at almost 700 lines. It is also the least edited of Coleridge’s work. Most of the poem contrasts the innocent piety of Christabel with the experience and supernatural abilities of... Read Christabel Summary

Coming Up For Air is an interwar novel written by British author George Orwell shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Originally published in 1939, the novel was written in Morocco while Orwell was recovering from injuries received while fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Set in the late 1930s, the novel follows a middle-aged insurance salesman named George Bowling as he struggles with anxieties about the coming war. Like Orwell’s more famous novels... Read Coming Up for Air Summary

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Crooked House is a crime fiction novel by mystery writer Agatha Christie, and its title was inspired by the house in the nursery rhyme, “There Was a Crooked Man.” The novel was first published in the US in 1949 by Dodd, Mead, and Company, and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in the same year. Crooked House is one of Christie’s favorites among her own work. The novel takes place in post-World War... Read Crooked House Summary

Daniel Deronda is the last novel by George Eliot, published in 1876. The novel satirizes Victorian society, and its sympathetic portrayal of Jewish culture and ideas garnered controversy at the time of publication. It has been adapted for stage, television, and film.This guide is written using the 2014 Oxford World’s Classics edition.Content Warning: This guide contains references to a suicide attempt and antisemitism and antisemitic language that feature in the source text.Plot SummaryDaniel Deronda begins... Read Daniel Deronda Summary

Dracula is a gothic novel by Bram Stoker published in 1897. Stoker tells the story of the fight against the vampire Dracula in an epistolary format. The story comprises various letters, telegrams, journal entries, and newspaper articles written by the main characters. Dracula explores the classic theme of good versus evil, but the novel also illuminates the relationships between religion and reason, the East and the West, the modern age versus the old world, and... Read Dracula Summary

Emma is a fiction novel published in 1815 by the English author Jane Austen. The book centers on the character development of its eponymous protagonist, a genteel young woman on a country estate who meddles in the love lives of friends and neighbors. Jane Austen was conscious that Emma’s snobbery, vanity, and meddling might make her a “heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” (Austen-Leigh, James Edward. A Memoir of Jane Austen. London:... Read Emma Summary

Erewhon: or, Over the Range is a satirical novel detailing the adventures of an unnamed narrator into the fictional country of Erewhon. The novel was written by Samuel Butler, though it was published anonymously in 1872. Butler was known for his controversial views on religion and science, wavering between support of and condemnation of both the Church of England and the Darwinian scientists. As such, his own views influence the satire of the novel, and... Read Erewhon Summary

Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy’s fourth novel, originally published in 1874 as a serial for Cornhill Magazine. Hardy was a Victorian poet and novelist writing in the Realist tradition. The novel is the first to be set in Hardy’s Wessex, a fictitious region of England modeled after his own Dorset and named after the early Saxon kingdom in the same region. Like much of Hardy’s work, the novel explores rural, Victorian-era English... Read Far From The Madding Crowd Summary

IntroductionIn his introduction to Flatland: a Romance of Many Dimensions (1884), British mathematician Banesh Hoffmann describes the novel as “a stirring adventure in pure mathematics” and emphasizes the fundamentally fantastical nature of the story (iii). He also says that author Edwin A. Abbott intended the novel to be instructional. Both the surreal nature of Flatland and its didactic elements are plain, but there is disagreement among scholars and readers on the question of exactly what... Read Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Summary

First published in 1818, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Shelley. It is written in the tradition of Romanticism, a late 18th-century and early 19th-century movement that responded to the Enlightenment. Rejecting rationalism, Romantic literature often celebrated the power of nature and of the individual. Frankenstein is also considered a Gothic novel because of its emphasis on darkness, the sensational, and the wildness of nature.Shelley was the daughter of political philosopher... Read Frankenstein Summary

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Goodbye, Mr. Chips, James Hilton’s novella about a mild-mannered teacher at a fictional British boys’ school, originally appeared in 1933 as a supplement to the British Weekly, an evangelical newspaper. Its popularity, however, led to its reprinting in the April 1934 issue of the American magazine Atlantic Monthly and later, its publication as a book by Little, Brown and Company in the US and by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom. An instant bestseller... Read Goodbye, Mr. Chips Summary

Good Omens, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is a darkly comic novel originally published in 1990. It is a satirical imagining of the Biblical apocalypse featuring angels, demons, humans, and the hosts of Heaven and Hell.Pratchett is well known for his ˙comic fantasy Discworld series, which spans 41 books. Gaiman is the author of, among other titles, Stardust, American Gods, and the graphic novel series... Read Good Omens Summary

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Great Expectations is the 13th novel written by Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial in Dickens’s periodical, All the Year Round, Great Expectations, and Chapman and Hall published the novelized version in October of 1861. The novel is widely considered to be a classic example of the bildungsroman, or coming-of-age genre, and it has been adapted into numerous plays, films, and television series.Plot SummaryGreat Expectations tells the story of an orphan named... Read Great Expectations Summary

First performed in 1609, Hamlet is one of the best-known and most influential works of the playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616). This summary refers to the 2001 Pelican edition of the play.Plot SummaryOn a dark night, sentinels see a ghost stalking the battlements of Elsinore Castle, the royal seat of Denmark. It is the dead king, who has returned to tell his son Hamlet to avenge him. He was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who then... Read Hamlet Summary

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Hard Times is an 1854 novel by Charles Dickens. The 10th book of Dickens’s career, Hard Times is notably shorter than his other works and is one of the few that isn’t set in London. Instead, Hard Times provides a satirical examination of the fictitious industrial city of Coketown, England. The novel has been adapted numerous times for radio, television, theater, and film.This guide is written using an eBook edition of the 2003 Penguin Classics... Read Hard Times Summary

Heart of Darkness is an 1899 novel by Joseph Conrad detailing the story of Marlow, the captain of a steamboat, who travels up the Congo River to find a man named Kurtz. This guide uses the 2003 Barnes & Noble Classic edition.Plot SummaryThe novel is structured as a story Marlow tells his friends onboard a boat on the Thames. As the sun sets, Marlow becomes introspective and begins to reminisce about the time when, struggling... Read Heart of Darkness Summary

Henry IV, Part 1 is the second play in English playwright William Shakespeare’s Henriad tetralogy, preceded by Richard II. The play was written sometime prior to 1597, and it was a hit with critics and audiences. Henry IV, Part 1 introduces Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare’s most enduringly popular characters, who also appears in Henry IV, Part 2 and The Merry Wives of Windsor. The play follows the wayward Prince Hal, the son of... Read Henry IV, Part 1 Summary

Henry V is a play by English playwright William Shakespeare, believed to have premiered in 1599. It is best preserved in the 1623 publication of Shakespeare’s work known as the First Folio. Shakespeare’s surviving work includes 10 history plays focusing on the history and kings of England 1399-1485 and based on actual events. Henry V is the fifth of these chronologically and focuses on King Henry V of England, specifically on the events surrounding the... Read Henry V Summary

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Hannah Hurnard’s 1955 novel Hinds’ Feet on High Places is an allegorical portrayal of purgation, progress, and ascent within the spiritual life. Born to Quaker parents, Hurnard struggled with her faith in her youth but experienced a powerful conversion at the age of 19. In the wake of this newfound inspiration, she gained theological training in England and went on to author almost two dozen books over the course of her life.Of those, Hinds’ Feet... Read Hinds’ Feet on High Places Summary

E. M. Forster’s Howards End (1910) tells the story of two families, the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes, who represent different aspects of society in Edwardian England. Specifically, it follows the Margaret Schlegel, the novel’s protagonist, amid her attempts to manage her own family as she becomes engaged to and marries the widowed Mr. Wilcox. In 1992 it was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, directed by James Ivory, and in 2017 it was adapted into... Read Howards End Summary

How Green Was My Valley is a historical novel by Richard Llewellyn published in 1939. The book tells the story of a working-class Welsh family working in a mining town called the Valley. Though Llewellyn claimed that the novel was based on his personal experiences as a young man, this was later found to be untrue. The novel has been adapted for film and television.This guide refers to the 1981 Michael Joseph Ltd. edition.Plot SummaryHuw... Read How Green Was My Valley Summary

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I Capture the Castle is a young adult novel published in 1948 by Dodie Smith. It follows the fictional journal of aspiring author Cassandra Mortmain as she writes about her family’s rise from poverty to wealth through their association with the Cotton brothers. The novel discusses themes of authorship, history, and the multiplicity of feminine identities. I Capture the Castle was adapted for film in 2003 by director Tim Fywell. This summary uses the St... Read I Capture the Castle Summary

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Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Walter Scott, first published in 1819. The novel or “romance” is a fanciful account of English life in the 12th century, during the time of King Richard I (Richard “Coeur de Lion”). The protagonist of the story is Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a knight returning home from fighting in the Third Crusade. His journey weaves together historical events, religious conflict, and Medieval folklore and explores themes of Chivalry as... Read Ivanhoe Summary

Jamaica Inn (1936) is a period piece thriller written by Daphne du Maurier. Inspired by her stay at the eponymous inn—which still stands and hosts visitors today—du Maurier’s novel is set in the early 1800s and centers on the infamous underbelly of smuggling in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Jamaica Inn follows the protagonist, Mary Yellan, as she navigates the unfamiliar world of the moorlands, where life is harsh, and the ever-present proximity of the moors and... Read Jamaica Inn Summary

Jane Eyre: An Autobiography is a bildungsroman, or coming of age novel, written by Charlotte Brontë and originally published in 1847 under the male pseudonym Currer Bell by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. Through Jane’s life and experiences, Brontë examines social issues including religious hypocrisy, class discrimination, and sexism. Many literary theorists and biographers—including Brontë’s friend and fellow novelist Elizabeth Gaskell—have also noted numerous similarities between the novel’s events and Brontë’s personal history. The... Read Jane Eyre Summary

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a history play and tragedy written by William Shakespeare and first performed in 1599. The play dramatizes the events surrounding the 44 BC assassination of Julius Caesar, a Roman general and statesman. Shakespeare’s main source material for the play was Plutarch’s Lives, a series of biographies of famous men, published in the second century, and translated into English by Thomas North in 1579. Shakespeare sometimes deviated from his source... Read Julius Caesar Summary

Keep the Aspidistra Flying was first published in 1936. Written by George Orwell (whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair), it is not as well-known as other works like 1984 and Animal Farm, nor was it well received when it was released. Like much of Orwell’s other fiction, though, it is a social criticism novel; it examines and critiques social, political, and economic issues contemporary to the time of its writing. In 1997, Robert Bierman... Read Keep the Aspidistra Flying Summary

Kim is a novel by the prolific author and poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), who was the first English-language recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. The novel was originally released in a serialized version in 1900-1901, after which it was published in book form. It offers a wide-ranging view of the cultural and religious diversity of British India in the late-19th century, as perceived through the experience of an Indian-enculturated Irish boy named Kim. Along... Read Kim Summary

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a Modernist novel by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It was written between 1926 and 1928, while Lawrence was living in Italy, and first published privately in 1928. Since it was considered scandalous and obscene, the novel was not widely available in America or the United Kingdom until the 1960s. The novel was controversial because of its explicit sexual content, as well as its depiction of an adulterous affair between... Read Lady Chatterley's Lover Summary

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Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim is an iconic story about the height—and folly—of the British imperial enterprise. Published as a serialized novel between October 1899 and November 1900, it details the adventures of a sailor turned trade agent who seeks his fortune and reputation on the outskirts of empire. After an incident with the Patna, one of the ships on which he sails, Jim flees to avoid the stain on his reputation. Eventually, he arrives in... Read Lord Jim Summary

Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel-prize winning British author William Golding. Golding was knighted in 1988 and was a fellow in the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times named him third on their list “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.”The title of Golding’s young-adult fiction novel is a reference to Beelzebub, a prince of hell.During a wartime evacuation, an airplane crashes on a remote island. The only survivors... Read Lord of the Flies Summary

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Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most celebrated plays. Classified as a tragedy and thought to be performed for the first time in 1606, it tells the story of a Scottish nobleman who becomes obsessed with power and is driven mad by guilt.Plot SummaryThe play opens with three witches, who make plans to meet again. In a military camp, King Duncan of Scotland hears the news of his generals’ success. Macbeth and Banquo have defeated... Read Macbeth Summary

Maisie Dobbs is the first installment in Jacqueline Winspear’s historical mysteries featuring the eponymous private detective. Winspear was born and grew up in England with a grandfather who was a World War I veteran. His experiences inform some of the background of Maisie Dobbs. Several installments of the series have been New York Times bestsellers or finalists for Agatha or Macavity Awards, which signal achievements in the mystery genre. This guide refers to the Kindle... Read Maisie Dobbs Summary

Mansfield Park (1814) is the third novel by English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817). Set in Regency-era England, Mansfield Park is a bildungsroman, charting the life of Fanny Price from childhood to adulthood. At the age of 10, Fanny is sent from her poverty-stricken home to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram. The narrative follows the protagonist’s struggles adjusting to life at Mansfield Park, her moral challenges, and her secret... Read Mansfield Park Summary

Maurice (1971) is a coming-of-age novel and love story by English author E. M. Forster. Like much of Forster’s work, it straddles the realist and modernist eras; stylistically, it resembles the literature of the 19th century, but its themes—in particular, its depiction of unconscious experience—anticipate the work of writers like Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence. Drafted between 1913 and 1914, it was not published until 1971—one year after Forster’s death—because of its subject matter;... Read Maurice Summary

“Meg Merrilies” (sometimes titled “Old Meg she was a gipsy” or simply “old Meg”) is a short, playful ballad by the English Romantic poet John Keats. It was written on Keats’s walking tour of northern England and Scotland in 1818. At the time, Keats was worried about the health of his brother, Tom, and about his own health; the tuberculosis that would soon kill Tom had already begun to manifest in Keats. While his doctor... Read Meg Merrilies Summary

Middlemarch or Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a Victorian realist novel by George Eliot (the penname of Mary Ann Evans). Published over the course of 1871-72, the novel depicts the trials and tribulations of life in the small English town of Middlemarch. The novel has been hailed as one of the greatest works of English literature and has been adapted for radio, television, theater, and opera. This guide uses an eBook version of... Read Middlemarch Summary

Published in 1722, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe tells the life story of a woman who carves her own path through late 17th-century England and North America. Like Defoe’s first novel, Robinson Crusoe, this work also tells the tale of a singular individual who overcomes adversity—in her case, extreme poverty—to become considerably wealthy. Moll Flanders is a wife, a thief, a sex worker, and an impresario. She is... Read Moll Flanders Summary

Penelope Lively’s 1987 novel Moon Tiger is a work of historical fiction. Set primarily in England and Egypt during the 20th century, the novel is a frame story that joins protagonist Claudia Hampton on her deathbed as she reflects on the relationships, memories, and historical forces that shaped her life. The author was awarded the 1987 Booker Prize for the novel. Moon Tiger explores the subjective nature of memory, the difference between lived and linear... Read Moon Tiger Summary

Mothering Sunday is a 2016 novella written by British author Graham Swift. Like much of Swift’s writing, it has a psychological bent, exploring the relationship between history and memory. Swift won the Booker Prize for his 2006 novel Last Orders and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This guide uses the 2016 Scribner edition of the text.Plot SummaryIt is March 30, 1924 in the upper-middle-class house of Beechwood in Berkshire, Southern England... Read Mothering Sunday Summary

Mrs. Dalloway, one of Virginia Woolf’s best-known novels, was published in 1925. The entirety of the novel takes place over the course of one day in London, in June of 1923. At the start of the novel, in the morning, Clarissa Dalloway, the protagonist, makes last-minute preparations for her party scheduled for that evening. As the day progresses, readers meet various characters, major and minor, and learn about their thoughts and feelings about the past, present... Read Mrs. Dalloway Summary

Murder at the Vicarage, a 1930 detective novel by legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie, concerns the murder of Colonel Lucius Protheroe, a man so despised that multiple people confess to the crime after the fact. The novel stars the elderly spinster detective Miss Marple in her first of many appearances in Christie's collection of mysteries.Parishioners in the small town of St. Mary Mead gather after church to gossip about numerous things, including the possible indiscretions... Read Murder at the Vicarage Summary

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Never Let Me Go is a 2005 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro set in an alternative dystopian version of Great Britain in the 1990s in which cloning technology allows for the mass proliferation of organ donation. Medical problems like cancer are cured because organs are harvested from clones through a state-sanctioned program. The cloned “donors” have their organs taken one at a time until they die. The novel is narrated by Kathy, a clone who works... Read Never Let Me Go Summary

New Atlantis is an unfinished novel published posthumously in 1626 by the English philosopher Francis Bacon. It details the customs and culture of a utopian island society known as Bensalem, at the center of which lies a science and research institution called Salomon’s House. The work expresses many of Bacon’s scientific, philosophical, political, and religious ideas, though its unfinished status has made it the subject of intense scholarly debate over the novel’s meaning and themes... Read New Atlantis Summary

Nicholas Nickleby is Victorian writer Charles Dickens’s third novel. Published through serialization in 1838, it first appeared in its novel form in 1839. The novel has been adapted for the stage and for the screen several times, the first theatrical version appearing in 1838, before the novel was even finished. Dickens wrote Nicholas Nickleby with the intention of exposing the abuses of for-profit boarding schools in England. In focusing on the titular hero, Nicholas, Dickens’s... Read Nicholas Nickleby Summary

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Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” is an exemplary piece of Romantic Era poetry. It explores such themes as personal freedom, creation and the craft of poetry, and the role of the poet in 19th-Century British society, among other themes. The speaker makes use of apostrophe and personification to paint a picture of the West Wind’s awesome powers. Moving through the tight terza rima form with playful alliteration, grandiose imagery gradually gives way... Read Ode to the West Wind Summary

Of Human Bondage is a 1915 novel written by the British author W. Somerset Maugham. The novel follows the maturation of a young man named Philip Carey as he grows up in England at the very end of the 19th century. The novel incorporates elements of both realism and modernism and has been interpreted as having some autobiographical inspiration drawn from Maugham’s own life. By describing events from Philip’s life, Maugham develops themes related to... Read Of Human Bondage Summary

Oliver Twist is Charles Dickens’s second novel. First published in serial form in 1837, the work was later compiled into a novel. The novel has been adapted into many a screenplay and movie, and is often referenced in popular culture. Oliver Twist follows the life of the titular Oliver on the streets of London in the early 19th century.Orphaned at birth, Oliver is raised in numerous government and church-run workhouses. There, Oliver is subjected to... Read Oliver Twist Summary

On Beauty by the celebrated British author Zadie Smith was published in 2005. On Beauty was shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction. Smith is known for writing novels and essays that analyze the intersections of identity in the contemporary world with nuance, clarity, and empathy. She is also known to be influenced by the classic English author E.M. Forster. On Beauty is loosely based on Forster’s masterpiece... Read On Beauty Summary

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On Liberty is a philosophical essay on ethics, society, and politics published in 1859 by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill. His work on the subject matter extended back several years, through an illustrious career as a politician and philosopher. Mill’s ideas center on the concept of utilitarianism, which emphasizes efficiency and collective well-being. The book remains in print in the 21st century.SummaryOn Liberty is divided into five chapters: an introduction; “On the liberty of... Read On Liberty Summary

Orlando: A Biography is a novel published in 1928 by the English author Virginia Woolf. It tells the story of Orlando, a member of the English nobility who is born a male in 16th century England. Around the age of 30, Orlando mysteriously changes into a woman and lives for centuries without visibly aging. Author Jeanette Winterson called Orlando “the first trans novel in English.” (Winterson, Jeanette. “’Different sex. Same person’: How Woolf’s Orlando became... Read Orlando Summary

William Shakespeare’s Othello is a tragedy written in approximately 1603 and published in 1622. The play begins in Venice, where Iago, a subordinate of Othello’s and a captain in the Venetian defense forces, tells Roderigo that Othello has passed him over for promotion. Instead, Othello, a Moor, has chosen the noble and popular Michael Cassio to be his lieutenant. Iago tells Roderigo that he will have his revenge on Othello but behave as a loyal... Read Othello Summary

Our Mutual Friend is a Victorian Realist novel by Charles Dickens, published in serial form from 1864 to 1865. The novel is notable among Dickens’s work for its scathing satire of social conditions in London during the era. Our Mutual Friend has been adapted for film, television, and radio and explores themes of The Tension Between Poverty and Dignity, The Relationship Between Names and Identity, and The Rigidity of Social Class.This guide uses the 2008... Read Our Mutual Friend Summary

IntroductionPamela is an epistolary novel (told through letters), written by Samuel Richardson and first published in 1740. It is considered one of the first novels written in English, and significantly contributed to the development of this genre. Richardson, a 51-year-old printer when the novel was published, began the project to provide moral instruction to young women who might find themselves vulnerable to seduction while employed by wealthy men. The novel advocates for the importance of... Read Pamela Summary

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Persuasion is the last novel completed by Jane Austen (1775-1817) before her death. Written between the years 1815-1816 and published posthumously, the Regency-era novel centers on the engagements and marriages of a small circle of middle-class families, with particular attention to the social and private lives of women. Echoing character dynamics found throughout Austen’s works, the romantic protagonists must confront the nature of their individual pride before fully realizing their relationship. This guide references the... Read Persuasion Summary

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Published anonymously in 1813 by English author Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice is an example of a “novel of manners,” which presents a realistic picture of society through the customs and manners of everyday life. By depicting complex relationships between landowners and tradesmen, those with old money and the nouveaux riche, and men and women, Pride and Prejudice offers a glimpse into the social structures of early 19th-century England. The novel’s primary focus is marriage... Read Pride and Prejudice Summary

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw was first published in 1914, with an updated version published in 1941. The play was Shaw’s most popular and most critically acclaimed work. It inspired the heavily romanticized musical and movie adaptation My Fair Lady, which won both a Tony for Best Musical and an Oscar for Best Picture.Shaw began his career as a novelist, but his novels were largely unsuccessful. After he moved from Dublin to London, he shifted... Read Pygmalion Summary

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Rebecca, a bestselling novel by famed English writer Daphne du Maurier, was published in 1938, and has never gone out of print. The winner of the National Book Award for favorite novel of 1938, Rebecca has been adapted numerous times, including Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film version, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and a 1997 television miniseries. It was most recently adapted for a Netflix film in 2020 by the same name. Rebecca... Read Rebecca Summary

The Tragedy of King Richard II is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably first performed in 1595, and published in 1597. The play covers the last two years of Richard II’s life, from 1398 to 1400, during which he was deposed by Henry Bolingbroke, who became Henry IV in 1399. The play explores Richard’s growing unpopularity and ineffective leadership, leading to his overthrow by Bolingbroke, who not only has a taste for power... Read Richard II Summary

Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare written between 1592 and 1594. It is one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays and his second longest. The play depicts the rise of King Richard III of England, also known as Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Shakespeare portrays Richard as a Machiavellian tyrant who uses lies and violence to unjustly seize the throne during a politically turbulent period of England’s history known as the Wars of the Roses... Read Richard III Summary

Romeo and Juliet is one of William Shakespeare’s best-known plays. First performed before 1597 (the date of its earliest known printing), it has been popular and influential ever since.This summary refers to the 2011 Folger Shakespeare Library edition. Your edition’s line numbers may vary slightly.Plot SummaryA feud between two noble families, the Montagues and the Capulets, is tearing apart the city of Verona. Young men allied with these households fight each other in the streets... Read Romeo and Juliet Summary

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a three-act play by the English playwright Tom Stoppard. It is an existentialist, absurdist satire featuring characters and events from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. First performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead enjoyed critical success, winning The New York Drama Critics’ Circle’s Award for Best Play and four Tony Awards in 1968. Since then, the play has been adapted into several radio plays and a... Read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Summary

Famed 17th-century English poet and pamphleteer John Milton published Samson Agonistes (a Greek word that can mean “struggle”) in 1671. The work is a dramatic poem and a tragic drama—though Milton announces that it isn’t for the stage. Milton’s work is informed by one episode in a story from the Old Testament, in which the superhuman hero Samson is betrayed by his wife Dalila, loses his strength, and is imprisoned by his foes, the Philistines... Read Samson Agonistes Summary

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Saturday is a novel by Ian McEwan, first published in 2005 by Jonathan Cape. Ian McEwan is an acclaimed British author who has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. In Saturday, McEwan delves into the inner life of a single individual, Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon living in London. The novel takes place over the course of a single day, February 15, 2003, against the... Read Saturday Summary

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Sense and Sensibility (1811) was the first published novel of British writer Jane Austen (1775-1817). Still a widely read author today, Austen published six complete novels and became famous for documenting the interior lives of young women in addition to the social mores of her time. She developed a distinctive form of narrative voice that oscillated between omniscient narration and free indirect discourse, which employs a third-person perspective but closely mirrors the consciousness of individual... Read Sense and Sensibility Summary

Shirley is a historical novel by Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855). Written in 1849, it is Brontë’s second novel and followed the overwhelming success of Jane Eyre (1847). It was also very popular when it was published. Set in Yorkshire in 1812-1813, a time of financial depression, its setting engages directly with the Luddite uprisings in the North of England, when textile workers protested the unemployment caused by new mechanical equipment in mills and factories. Shirley follows... Read Shirley Summary

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a chivalric romance of unknown authorship. Written sometime in the late-14th century, the work employs a complex metrical scheme that involves several lines of pentameter punctuated by a “bob and wheel”: a two-syllable “bob” followed by a rhyming quatrain of six-syllable lines. The bob and wheel structure is fairly typical of Middle English verse, as is the alliterative verse used throughout the sections written in pentameter. Its subject... Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Summary

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Sweet Tooth is a 2012 novel by Ian McEwan. Set in the 1970s, it tells the story of one woman’s involvement with MI5 and the world of literature. Themes include the balance of power, navigating lies and deceit, and conditional versus unconditional acceptance.Plot SummarySerena Frome grows up in a small, uninteresting English city. In the 1960s, her mother encourages her to study mathematics at Cambridge University even though Serena (a keen reader) would rather study... Read Sweet Tooth Summary

Swing Time (2016) is renowned author Zadie Smith’s fifth novel. Inspired by classic movie musicals and Smith’s childhood passion for musical theater, Swing Time is a story about women, how forms of privilege warp our worldviews, and the ways in which history informs our present. The novel is divided into seven parts, each narrated by the same unnamed protagonist sometimes as a child and sometimes as an adult.One of the most respected literary voices of... Read Swing Time Summary

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“The Battle of Maldon” is a heroic poem, also classified as an epic, dating from the 10th century. Originally written in Old English, the text details a violent battle between the Anglo-Saxon warriors and the raiding Vikings. The Anglo-Saxons are led by Earl Byrhtnoth, who held land in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Essex and fought for his ruler, King Æthelred the Unready. The poem depicts some of the central tenets of Anglo-Saxon culture, praising loyalty... Read The Battle of Maldon Summary

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Harold Pinter (1930-2008) had an extensive career as an activist and as one of the most significant English playwrights of the 20th century. The Birthday Party, his first full-length play, was first performed at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge in 1958, under the direction of Pinter himself. The play toured to positive reviews, landing on the West End in London with a different director the following month, where reception was significantly chillier.The Birthday Party closed... Read The Birthday Party Summary

The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, published in 1993 by Harvard University Press, combines historical, social, political, and cultural dimensions to reconceptualize the contours of Western modernity. Paul Gilroy, noted sociologist and cultural historian, proposes that modernity can be better understood through the analytical frame of the Black Atlantic, a transnational, intercultural, fractal structure of Black political and expressive cultures in the West. Reflections of experiences of modernity by early Black Atlantic intellectuals and... Read The Black Atlantic Summary

Introduction Written by British author Mary Norton in 1952, The Borrowers is the first in a five-part series along with The Borrowers Afield (1955), The Borrowers Afloat (1959), The Borrowers Aloft (1961), and The Borrowers Avenged (1982). The book follows the story of the Clock family, a trio of tiny people who live beneath the kitchen floorboards in a large house in the British countryside. Norton was born in London in 1903 and grew up... Read The Borrowers Summary

Written in the late 1300s, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is one of the greatest surviving works of Middle English literature, and was a huge influence on later writers from Shakespeare to Keats, among many others.This guide refers to Neville Coghill’s modern English translation (Penguin, 2003).Plot SummaryThe Canterbury Tales tells the story of a group of pilgrims traveling from London to Canterbury to visit the holy shrine of St. Thomas Becket. This is a story... Read The Canterbury Tales Summary

The Castle of Otranto, first published in 1764 by English author Horace Walpole (1717-1797), is considered the first supernatural work of Gothic fiction, influencing many well-known 19th century writers such as Clara Reeve, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson.The five-chapter long novella revolves around the mysterious supernatural events at the titular castle, whose owner goes to villainous lengths to maintain control of it. Walpole introduces Gothic elements that drive the... Read The Castle of Otranto Summary

The Changeling is a Jacobean tragicomedy written in collaboration between established playwrights Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. It was first performed in 1622 and published in 1653. The play is adapted from John Reynolds’s 1621 story collection titled The Triumphs of Gods Revenge Against the Crying and Execrable Sinne of Willful and Premeditated Murther.The play has two plots: a tragic main plot and a comedic subplot. Scholars believe Middleton wrote the majority of the main... Read The Changeling Summary

The Children of Men is a dystopian 1992 science fiction novel by P.D. James set in 2021, years after the onset of a mass infertility epidemic. Unless scientists can discover a cure, there will be no more births and the human race will go extinct when the youngest generation dies. This scenario allows James to explore many themes, including existentialism, the meaning of a good life, and the corrupting nature of power. The novel switches... Read The Children of Men Summary

The Collector is English author John Fowles’s debut novel, published in 1963. The story follows a 20-something lepidopterist, Frederick Clegg, who becomes obsessed with a beautiful art student named Miranda Grey. After winning a fortune, Frederick kidnaps Miranda and imprisons her in his cellar, keeping her like a rare butterfly. Fowles combines psychological thriller, romance, and dark comedy genres into a tale that satirizes romances such as Shakespeare’s The Tempest by exposing their psychological and... Read The Collector Summary

In the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher Boone, a brilliant teenage boy with Autism, sets out to solve the murder of his neighbor’s dog. Written by Mark Haddon and published in 2003, the book has become a prize-winning bestseller translated into three-dozen languages. Already considered a classic, the work has been adapted as a stage play and is performed internationally. The e-book edition is the basis for this study... Read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Summary

Content Warning: This guide features discussion of wartime violence, relationship abuse, sexuality, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and demon possession.Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) was a notable Irish English writer of novels and short stories dealing with Irish life as well as the lives of Londoners in the 1940s. She is also famous for her ghost stories. “The Demon Lover,” one of Bowen’s most famous works, was published in 1945 in the United Kingdom in a collection called... Read The Demon Lover Summary

“The Destructors” is a frequently anthologized short story by Graham Greene (1904-1991) originally published in 1954. Greene is often regarded as one of the greatest British writers of the 20th century. His work was commercially and critically successful and was frequently adapted into films and television shows. An adaptation of “The Destructors” was included in the 1970s television series Shades of Greene. His work often reflects his Catholic values as well as his life-long battles... Read The Destructors Summary

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Set in early 20th-century London, “The Duchess and the Jeweller” (1938) is a short story by Virginia Woolf that explores themes such as Materialism and Greed, Authenticity Versus Deceit, and Social Climbing and Class. The story focuses on a fragment of jeweller Oliver Bacon’s day and describes an important meeting between him and the Duchess of Lambourne. Though the plot is simple—a jeweller meets a client at his shop to potentially buy some gems—the focus... Read The Duchess and the Jeweller Summary

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First published in 1954, The Eagle of the Ninth is the first of three novels constituting English author Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman Britain trilogy, all of which are connected through the emerald ring belonging to the family of Marcus Flavius Aquila. A work of historical fiction, The Eagle of the Ninth draws upon two historical events. One is the disappearance of the Ninth Legion of the Roman Army around the year AD 117 after they departed... Read The Eagle of the Ninth Summary

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Edmund Spenser, who went from an impoverished upbringing to a celebrated English poet, is the author of The Faerie Queene. The epic, as the word implies, is long. The first three books came out in 1590, and the next three books arrived in 1596. The work is an allegory; each book symbolizes one of the moral virtues advocated by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. At the same time, the poem qualifies as a quest narrative and... Read The Faerie Queene Summary

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The French Lieutenant’s Woman is a 1969 historical novel by English author John Fowles. The novel provides a postmodern exploration of Victorian society, telling a story from the era in a manner which also function as a social critique. The French Lieutenant’s Woman was widely praised on release and in the decades after. In 1981, it was adapted into a film of the same name.This guide was written using the 2004 Vintage edition of the... Read The French Lieutenant's Woman Summary

M.R. Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts began as a short story (“Iphigenia in Aulis”) and was adapted into a 2016 film for which Carey also wrote the screenplay. The novel, which Carey wrote concurrently, was published in 2014. It is a post-apocalyptic horror tale that fits uneasily into the zombie/science fiction literary genre. While The Girl with All the Gifts incorporates plenty of genre tropes—cannibalism, disease, high-speed chases, feeding frenzies—the core of the... Read The Girl with All the Gifts Summary

Considered the most influential of Doris Lessing’s many novels, The Golden Notebook explores the development of a young writer. Anna Wulf has published one novel, Frontiers of War, to great acclaim, but she now finds herself uncomfortable with what she sees as its sentimentality and romanticization of war. Thus, she remains mired in a kind of writer’s block. She still writes in her notebooks, but she cannot bring herself to return to writing novels—especially in... Read The Golden Notebook Summary

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The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel (2013) is a middle grade historical fiction novel by American author Deborah Hopkinson. Hopkinson is a prolific writer of books for young readers and has published over 70 books, including biographies, picture books, middle grade historical fiction, and long-form nonfiction. The Great Trouble explores themes of class disparity and scientific inquiry and is set against the background of the 1854... Read The Great Trouble Summary

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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) is a Southern Gothic novel written by Carson McCullers, one of the most prominent American literary voices of the 20th century. Set in a small unnamed town, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures the spiritual isolation and loneliness of five ordinary people in the deep American South in the 1930s. McCullers is known for her contributions to the development of the Southern Gothic subgenre, and her novels... Read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Summary

Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter was published in 1948 and is one of his most famous Catholic-themed novels. These novels comprise the majority of his literary oeuvre and underscore a recurring theme in Greene’s works: moral crisis and true faith. Greene’s iconoclastic views of Catholicism are explored through complex protagonists like Henry Scobie, the flawed hero of The Heart of the Matter, who are torn between passion and faith.The Heart of the Matter... Read The Heart of the Matter Summary

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a Sherlock Holmes novel written by his creator, the British author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle, and published in 1902. The book presents the eerie tale of terrifying deaths at a country estate beset by a ferocious giant dog, and Holmes’s ingenious proof that the legend of a canine monster is merely a pretext for murder. Arguably history’s most storied detective, Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed on film, TV... Read The Hound of the Baskervilles Summary

The Humans is a contemporary novel by Matt Haig. First published in 2013, the book follows an alien visitor, inhabiting a dead human’s body, who explores what it means to be human, and the true meaning of life. The book received multiple award nominations, and critics praise it for its unusual blend of science fiction, humour, and domestic life. Haig is the internationally bestselling, award-winning author of adult and children’s books. He’s best known for... Read The Humans Summary

Published in 1980, the fantasy novel The Indian in the Cupboard tells the story of a small cabinet that converts a boy’s plastic toy figures into real, if tiny, people, and the misadventures the boy and his best friend have with those visitors. The first of five novels about the magic cabinet, The Indian in the Cupboard has sold more than 10 million copies and been made into a motion picture. Author Lynne Reid Banks... Read The Indian in the Cupboard Summary

H. G. Wells is one of the earliest science fiction authors, sometimes referred to as the father of the genre. His 1897 novel, The Invisible Man, follows an albino scientist who discovers the secret to turning himself invisible. The novel’s blend of fantastical science and realistic, mundane detail is a signature of Wells. This novel has influenced generations of writers and artists, both through its powerful prose and fascinating plot, as well as for its... Read The Invisible Man Summary

The King’s Speech is a 2010 non-fiction book about King George VI and how he was treated for a speech impediment by the Australian Lionel Logue. Their unlikely friendship is credited for saving the British monarchy during a difficult time in world history. The King’s Speech was co-authored by Mark Logue (grandson of Lionel Logue) and Peter Conradi (an accomplished author of historical nonfiction) as an accompaniment to the Oscar-winning 2010 film of the same... Read The King's Speech Summary

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The Last Letter from Your Lover is a 2010 romance novel by British journalist and writer Jojo Moyes. It centers on the interconnected lives and romances of two women living in London at different times. The first, Ellie Haworth, is a journalist in 2003 who comes across a set of love letters while researching the 1960s. The letters tell the story of Jennifer Stirling, the wife of a wealthy industrialist, and her intense affair with... Read The Last Letter From Your Lover Summary

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is a nine-volume novel published between 1759 and 1767 by English novelist Laurence Sterne. The novel is considered by many scholars as an early forerunner of postmodern literature due to its metafictional commentary on its own narrative. Contemporary critics did not view the novel favorably, though its humor and sentimentalism helped it find an audience. The novel has been adapted for radio and opera and as a... Read The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Summary

James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) is often considered to be one of the finest pieces of biographical writing in the English language. Samuel Johnson was an English poet, essayist, and lexicographer who produced a pioneering and influential Dictionary of the English Language. However, he is less well-known today for his writings than as the biographical subject for Boswell, a lawyer from Scotland who first met Johnson in 1763. During their 21-year friendship... Read The Life of Samuel Johnson Summary

The London Eye Mystery (2007), by Siobhan Dowd, is a novel for young readers about a boy named Ted who teams up with his sister to figure out how their cousin disappeared while riding a giant Ferris wheel.The novel was nominated for a Carnegie Medal, was listed as a 2008 Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice title, and a School Library Journal Best Book of 2008. It was also shortlisted for many English awards, including the Red... Read The London Eye Mystery Summary

Published in 1948, The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy by English writer Evelyn Waugh is a short satirical novel that lampoons both the Los Angeles funeral industry and the Hollywood film business. British expatriates and Americans clash in this morbid but merry tale of smiling corpses and lavish pet funerals. Waugh wrote it after a trip to Hollywood during which he visited the Forest Lawn Cemetery. The book inspired the 1965 film The Loved One... Read The Loved One Summary

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The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character (1886) is a novel by Thomas Hardy. Taking place in a fictional town in rural England sometime in the 1840s, the story follows young hay trusser Michael Henchard as he traverses English social life and struggles to improve his standing. One of the foremost authors of the Victorian period, Hardy is known for his psychologically and morally complex portrayals of rural English... Read The Mayor of Casterbridge Summary

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