Publication year 1925
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Power & Greed, Colonialism, Social Class, Marriage, Gender Identity
Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, British Literature, Colonialism & Postcolonialism, Regency Era, World History
British Literature
There's a lot of ground to cover when it comes to British literature, and we've tried to make things easier by gathering study guides on iconic and frequently taught texts such as A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, and plays by William Shakespeare. We couldn't ignore contemporary novels, like White Teeth by Zadie Smith and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, so we didn't leave those out!
Sanditon
Saturday
Secrets of a Charmed Life
Selling Manhattan
Sense and Sensibility
She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways
She Stoops to Conquer
She Walks in Beauty
She Was a Phantom of Delight
Shirley
Shrines of Gaiety
Silas Marner
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Orfeo
Slam
Slow Horses
Sonnet 43
Sons and Lovers
Spare
Stig of the Dump
Publication year 1925
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Power & Greed, Colonialism, Social Class, Marriage, Gender Identity
Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, British Literature, Colonialism & Postcolonialism, Regency Era, World History
Publication year 2005
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Fear, Apathy, Family, Community, Art, Science & Technology, Order & Chaos, Death, War
Tags Historical Fiction, British Literature, Iraq War, Modern Classic Fiction, World History
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
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Siblings, Conflict, Perseverance, Forgiveness, Mental Health, Childhood & Youth, Death, War, Safety & Danger
Tags Historical Fiction, World War II, British Literature, Military & War, World History
Secrets of a Charmed Life is a historical fiction novel written by Susan Meissner and published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Random House, in 2015. The book follows two sisters in wartime England, Emmeline and Julia Downtree, who are separated from each other during the Blitz. The book also follows an interview between American Oxford student Kendra Van Zant and Blitz survivor and artist Isabel MacFarland. The novel explores the themes of... Read Secrets of a Charmed Life Summary
Publication year 1987
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Colonialism, Good & Evil, Power & Greed, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Conflict
Tags Poetry: Dramatic Poem, British Literature
Publication year 1811
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Beauty, Power & Greed, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Shame & Pride, Perseverance, Conflict, Social Class, Economics, Gender Identity
Tags Romance, Romanticism, British Literature, Relationships, Social Class, Gender & Feminism, World History, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction
Sense and Sensibility (1811) was the first published novel of English writer Jane Austen (1775-1817). She published it anonymously, identifying herself only as "a lady." It tells the story of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, who find love after their father dies and they are plunged into a more modest lifestyle. Sense and Sensibility’s continual presence in the cultural imagination is evident in its numerous film and TV adaptations, including the award-winning 1995 version... Read Sense and Sensibility Summary
Publication year 1800
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Plants, Beauty, Femininity, Literature, Death, Grief, Apathy, Loneliness
Tags Lyric Poem, Romanticism, Grief & Death, British Literature
Publication year 1773
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Social Class, Marriage, Truth & Lies, Wins & Losses
Tags Humor, Classic Fiction, Comedy & Satire, British Literature, World History, Dramatic Literature
She Stoops to Conquer is a play by British writer Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in 1773. The play is a comedy of manners and a romance set in 18th-century England. Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish poet and dramatist and this play is his most popular and well-known work, with performances still regularly occurring in the 21st century. In 1778, John O'Keeffe wrote a successful sequel to the play, entitled Tony Lumpkin in Town. She Stoops to... Read She Stoops to Conquer Summary
Publication year 1814
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Love, Beauty, Appearance & Reality
Tags Lyric Poem, Romanticism, Education, Education, British Literature, Gothic Literature, World History, Romance, Classic Fiction
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Love
Tags Lyric Poem, Love & Sexuality, British Literature
“She Was a Phantom of Delight” is a short lyric poem by the English poet William Wordsworth. Often regarded as the greatest of the English Romantics, Wordsworth composed “Phantom” in 1804 and published it in his 1807 collection Poems, in Two Volumes. He wrote it in praise of his wife Mary (née Hutchinson), whom he first met in 1787 and married in 1802. The poem explores three stages of development in William and Mary’s relationship... Read She Was a Phantom of Delight Summary
Publication year 1849
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Femininity, Friendship, Community
Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Historical Fiction, Romance, Gender & Feminism, British Literature, World History, Victorian Era
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
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Roaring Twenties, British Literature, World History
Publication year 1861
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Loneliness, Social Class, Religion & Spirituality, Family
Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Historical Fiction, Industrial Revolution, Education, Education, British Literature, World History, Victorian Era
Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is the third novel by Mary Ann Evans, published under the pseudonym George Eliot. The realist novel portrays the life of a weaver in 1800s England against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution. The novel has been adapted into films, radio plays, theatrical productions, and television shows.This guide refers to the 2021 Alma Classics edition. Content Warning: This guide discusses addiction and depression, which feature in Silas Marner.Plot SummarySilas... Read Silas Marner Summary
Publication year 1397
Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction
Themes Masculinity, Fear, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Classic Fiction, Narrative Poem, Medieval, British Literature
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
Publication year 1329
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Love, Loyalty & Betrayal, Grief, Beauty, Music
Tags Narrative Poem, Fairy Tale & Folklore, Classic Fiction, Medieval, Education, Education, British Literature, Fantasy
Publication year 2007
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Future, Coming of Age, Fathers
Tags Magical Realism, Coming of Age, Humor, British Literature, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Slam (2007) is a young adult novel written by Nick Hornby. It tells the story of Sam Jones, a skateboarder who finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant when they are both 16 years old—his mother’s age when she had him. The novel explores themes such as Navigating Teenage Parenthood, How a Few Seconds Can Change Everything, and Relationships, Wisdom, and Growing Up.Nick Hornby is a renowned English writer known for his humorous fiction about... Read Slam Summary
Publication year 2010
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Teamwork, Nation, Loyalty & Betrayal, Wins & Losses
Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, British Literature
Publication year 1609
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Love, Loyalty & Betrayal, Loneliness, Memory, The Past
Tags Lyric Poem, British Literature
Publication year 1913
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Mothers, Daughters & Sons, Social Class, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Classic Fiction, Life-Inspired Fiction, Psychological Fiction, British Literature, World History, Romance
Sons and Lovers is a 1913 novel by English author D. H. Lawrence. The novel explores the relationship between Gertrude Morel and her son Paul, who live in a small mining town in North England at the turn of the 20th century. Though met with a lukewarm response on release, Sons and Lovers has since been critically reappraised as one of Lawrence’s most important works and has been adapted for film and television.Other works by... Read Sons and Lovers Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Family, Perseverance, Conflict, Grief, Hope, Loneliness, Love, Shame & Pride, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Self Discovery, Social Class, Colonialism, Politics & Government, Truth & Lies, Trust & Doubt, Loyalty & Betrayal, Justice, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger
Tags European History, Politics & Government, British Literature, Animals, Grief & Death, Depression & Suicide, Social Class, Relationships, Journalism, Bullying, World History, Biography
Publication year 1963
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship, Childhood & Youth, The Past, Environment
Tags Children`s Literature, Fantasy, Classic Fiction, Action & Adventure, British Literature