Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Guilt, Childhood & Youth, Social Class
Tags Science Fiction, Symbolic Narrative, Social Class, Parenting, Science & Nature, Relationships, Futurism, Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy
Class
This thematic collection covers texts that investigate the particularly fraught dynamics and divisions of class, including Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Ernesto Galarza's Barrio Boy.
Klara and the Sun
Lady Tremaine
Land of Milk and Honey
Landscape with Invisible Hand
Lapvona
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Last Night in Brooklyn
Lawn Boy
Lázár
Lazarillo De Tormes
Leaf Storm
Le Père Goriot
Les Belles Soeurs
Less Than Zero
Letters to a Young Teacher
Let The Circle Be Unbroken
Lies and Weddings
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina
Little Dorrit
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Guilt, Childhood & Youth, Social Class
Tags Science Fiction, Symbolic Narrative, Social Class, Parenting, Science & Nature, Relationships, Futurism, Modern Classic Fiction, Fantasy
Publication year 2026
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Femininity, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Family, Marriage, Mothers, Social Class
Tags Fairy Tale & Folklore, Fantasy, Romance
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Fear, Guilt, Hope, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Gender Identity, Language, Race, Sexual Identity, Future, Animals, Climate, Environment, Food, Place, Social Class, Power & Greed, Science & Technology
Tags Science Fiction, Food, Love & Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction, LGBTQ+
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Power & Greed, Equality, Love, Truth & Lies, Social Class, Economics, Art
Tags Science Fiction, Fantasy, Satirical Literature, Relationships, Agriculture, Arts & Culture, Business & Economics, Social Class, Finance, Food, Health, US History, Politics & Government, Poverty, Religion & Spirituality, Social Justice
Landscape with Invisible Hand is a satirical dystopian science fiction novel by M. T. Anderson, written for a young adult audience. A diverse author, Anderson writes both fiction and nonfiction for people of all ages. In 2023, Landscape with Invisible Hand was adapted for film, reflecting the novel’s popularity and relevance. The book depicts a future world in which an alien species, the vuvv, have sold their technology to humans, causing the collapse of the... Read Landscape with Invisible Hand Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Social Class, Religion & Spirituality, Order & Chaos
Tags Historical Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Magical Realism, Fantasy
Publication year 1964
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Sexual Identity, Gender Identity, Social Class, Community
Tags Trauma & Abuse, Horror & Suspense, Realism, Poverty, Psychological Fiction, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction
Last Exit to Brooklyn is a 1958 novel by Hubert Selby Jr. Set in the Brooklyn borough of New York City in the 1950s, the novel portrays the interconnected lives of the residents. The loosely connected stories involve crime, violence, and poverty, as well as drug-use, sex work, and sexual assault. The novel was criticized for its graphic portrayal of controversial themes, resulting in several court cases in the United States and the United Kingdom... Read Last Exit to Brooklyn Summary
Publication year 2026
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Nostalgia, Regret, Race, The Past, Nature Versus Nurture, Place, Friendship, Marriage, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Economics, Equality, Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies
Tags Literary Fiction, Contemporary Literature
The novel opens in 2010 as narrator Alicia Forten receives word that Freddy's, a beloved Brooklyn bar, will close to make way for a stadium development. The regulars plan one last party, and Alicia attends, half hoping to see La Garza, a fashion designer and local legend she lost years earlier. Standing on the street at dawn, she invokes her grandmother's saying, El mono sabe en qué palo trepa (The monkey knows the tree it... Read Last Night in Brooklyn Summary
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Race, Social Class, Coming of Age, Sexual Identity
Tags Coming of Age, LGBTQ+, Relationships, Social Class, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2026
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes The Past, Family, Social Class, War
Tags Literary Fiction, German Literature
Set in the waning years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and spanning more than half a century, the novel traces four generations of the Lázár family, Hungarian aristocrats whose private demons mirror the catastrophes of the 20th century.On Epiphany at the turn of the century, Lajos von Lázár is born in the family manor house with translucent skin through which his organs are visible. His father, Baron Sándor von Lázár, suppresses an anxiety he associates with... Read Lázár Summary
Publication year 1554
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Religion & Spirituality, Social Class, Coming of Age
Tags Classic Fiction, Social Class, Religion & Spirituality
Lazarillo de Tormes (also known as The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and of His Fortunes and Adversities) was published in three Spanish cities in 1554 and has been in publication ever since. It is a picaresque novel characterized mainly by its use of satire. A picaresque novel contains a first-person narrator who is a picaro, a young boy who might be considered a rogue or born of low class. In this early style novel... Read Lazarillo De Tormes Summary
Publication year 1955
Genre Novella, Fiction
Themes Family, Conflict, Fear, Hope, Love, Memory, Femininity, Language, Masculinity, Mental Health, Aging, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Midlife, Death, Future, The Past, Animals, Appearance & Reality, Objects & Materials, Place, Daughters & Sons, Friendship, Marriage, Mothers, Self Discovery, Social Class, Colonialism, Community, Beauty, Fate, Good & Evil, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Religion & Spirituality, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies
Tags Magical Realism, Latin American Literature, Grief & Death
Leaf Storm and Other Stories is a collection of fiction by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. The collection includes the title novella, Leaf Storm (La Hojarasca), first published in its original Spanish-language text in 1955. When Gregory Rabassa produced the first English translation of the novella, it was published (originally in 1972) alongside six short stories representing García Márquez’s work between 1951 and 1968.The collection offers an early glimpse into the magical realism and rural... Read Leaf Storm Summary
Publication year 1835
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Fathers, Loyalty & Betrayal, Daughters & Sons, Social Class, Power & Greed
Tags Classic Fiction, French Literature
Père Goriot is a novel by French author Honoré de Balzac that was published in serial form between 1834 and 1835. The novel tells the story of three intertwined characters, Goriot, Vautrin, and Rastignac. The book is part of Balzac’s novel sequence, La Comédie humaine, and is one of the author’s most celebrated works, exploring themes of Wealth and Social Class in Restoration France, The Corruption of Parent-Child Relationships, and The Hypocrisy of 19th-Century French... Read Le Père Goriot Summary
Publication year 1968
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Social Class
Tags Drama
Les Belles-Soeurs, or The Sisters-in-Law, was written in 1965 and premiered at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert in Montreal in 1968. Although it was Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay’s first major play, Les Belles-Soeurs revolutionized Canadian drama as the first professionally produced play written in joual, the vernacular dialect of the Québécois working class. During the 1960s, in an era known as the Quiet Revolution, joual became politicized as a symbol of the oppressed proletariat, while... Read Les Belles Soeurs Summary
Publication year 1985
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Apathy, Coming of Age, Social Class
Tags Coming of Age, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Trauma & Abuse, US History, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Classic Fiction
Less than Zero (1985) is the debut novel of Los Angeles-based writer Bret Easton Ellis. It was published when the writer was only 21 and grew out of a creative writing course that he took at Bennington College. The novel brought Ellis fame for his willingness to address controversial topics in contemporary Los Angeles society. Ellis has become known for his deliberately provocative subject matter. A sequel to Less Than Zero, Imperial Bedrooms, was published... Read Less Than Zero Summary
Publication year 2007
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Education, Social Class, Childhood & Youth, Truth & Lies
Tags Education, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Education, Psychology, Psychology
Jonathan Kozol’s Letters to a Young Teacher, originally published in 2007, is a collection of letters containing Kozol’s teaching advice for a new first grade schoolteacher named Francesca. The format of this book is inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s famous Letters to a Young Poet, which has become a model for advice books for young people in different professions and callings. Although some identifying elements have been changed, the book’s letters represent a real correspondence... Read Letters to a Young Teacher Summary
Publication year 1981
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Perseverance, Hate & Anger, Race, Siblings, Social Class, Economics, Justice, Equality
Tags Historical Fiction, Race & Racism, Great Depression, Children`s Literature, World History, Classic Fiction
Let the Circle Be Unbroken (1981) is part of the Logan Family Saga by author Mildred D. Taylor. The series follows the fortunes of a Black farming family, the Logans, through more than one generation as they experience the tribulations of life in the South before the Civil Rights era. The saga consists of 10 novels and novellas. The award-winning novels include The Land (2001), Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976), and The Road... Read Let The Circle Be Unbroken Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Race, The Past, Daughters & Sons, Family, Marriage, Social Class, Colonialism, Economics, Art, Truth & Lies
Tags Romance, Humor, Asian Literature
Publication year 2014
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Perseverance, Race, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Social Class, Art
Tags Sports, Biography, Arts & Culture
Publication year 1857
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Shame & Pride, Social Class, Politics & Government
Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Satirical Literature, Social Class, British Literature, World History, Historical Fiction, Romance, Victorian Era
Charles Dickens’s novel Little Dorrit was originally published in serialized form between 1855 and 1857. In this novel, the author satirizes government and society at large, with a specific focus on debtors’ prisons that incarcerated those in debt. The prison in Little Dorrit is the Marshalsea, where at one time, Charles Dickens’s father was imprisoned for debt. Little Dorrit explores common Dickensian themes such as economic class, duty, and societal issues.Other works by this author... Read Little Dorrit Summary
Publication year 1886
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Mothers, Social Class, Childhood & Youth, Family, Nature Versus Nurture
Tags Classic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Victorian Period, British Literature, World History, Historical Fiction