A Level English Language and Literature Coursework Options by Isobel Sallon-Simons

1984

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:50:30 UTC

This is probably the most famous dystopian novel in English. It tells the story of Winston Smith, living under the terrible regime of Big Brother with thought police always watching him. His rebellion and love affair with Julia are both doomed from the outset.

Fahrenheit 451

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:52:27 UTC

The novel is set in London in the year AD 2540 and imagines developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that are combined to make a profound change in society.

A Clockwork Orange

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:53:21 UTC

The novel is narrated by Alex, who speaks Nadsat, an invented form of slang that teenagers of the near future use. He is an ultra violent individual whose gang performs horrific acts. Yet he is also highly intelligent and sensitive.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:54:38 UTC

The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth's life has been greatly damaged by nuclear global war. It features flying cars and androids, and questions what it is to be human. It is the novel behind the famous film ‘Bladerunner’.

The Time Machine

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:55:20 UTC

A novella written from the perspective of a scientist who discovers how to time travel and returns from the future with extraordinary tales to tell and some disturbing insights into what is in store for humanity.

The Handmaid's Tale

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:56:12 UTC

The narrator Offred is living against her will as a ‘handmaid’ in a society in which fertility is rapidly declining. Her job is not what it seems at first and is highly disturbing. The republic of Gilead is controlled by a vicious religious regime, and it is almost impossible to rebel against the system.

Oryx and Crake

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:56:47 UTC

Snowman is living in a tree following a terrible apocalypse. His story is gradually revealed through flashbacks to his former life as Jimmy and the horrific cause of the apocalypse is finally uncovered at the end. The novel features creative elements such as colourful sheep and giant living chicken nuggets.

Cloud Atlas

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:57:34 UTC

Six interconnected stories ranging from the South Pacific in the nineteenth century to a post-apocalyptic future.

Never Let Me Go

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:58:13 UTC

Kathy is a ‘carer’ who looks after ‘organ donors’ before they ‘complete’. She recollects her time at ‘boarding school’ where great emphasis was placed on the collection of students’ art work and on staying very healthy. Nothing is as it seems. Who (or what) is Kathy?

The Road

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:59:15 UTC

This is a post-apocalyptic story of a man and a boy who are among the last living things on Earth. They have no choice but to embark on a journey to the coast, in hope of finding something there. They struggle to keep morality despite terrible hunger and fear.

Neuromancer

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 16:59:52 UTC

This is a cyberpunk novel set in cyberspace. It tells the story of a washed up computer hacker who is hired by a mysterious employer to pull off the ultimate hack.

Iron Heel

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:00:21 UTC

This is one of the earliest dystopian novels. It is about an imagined future oligarchy called the Iron Heel in the United States. It is unusually structured with a female narrator but with footnotes from a fictional male academic, whose lives become interlinked.

The Power

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:01:36 UTC

In the tumultuous 21st century, women become the dominant sex because they develop the ability to emit electricity from their hands. The novel is written as a historical manuscript looking back on this imagined historical period.

The Parable of the Sower

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:02:16 UTC

Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by climate change and social inequality, the novel follows the story of an African American teenager who travels north along the American West Coast, gathering followers and ultimately founding a new community.

Paradise

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:02:51 UTC

The novel explores the parallel histories of the fictional town of Ruby, an all-black, patriarchal and hierarchical town in Oklahoma, and the Convent, a self-supporting community of women who have fled abuse and neglect.

Station Eleven

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:03:27 UTC

A post-apocalyptic novel set in the Great Lakes region after a pandemic, the Georgia Flu, has ravaged the world.

Regeneration

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:04:15 UTC

This is a historical novel that relates the story of the WW1 poet Wilfred Owen’s treatment for shellshock. It has a powerful anti-war message and is a fascinating exploration of what we now know as PTSD and its early treatment.

Birdsong

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:05:07 UTC

A first world war novel and love story which has two time frames, one of a soldier in the trenches and the other of his granddaughter after many decades have passed.

Catch 22

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:05:57 UTC

The novel tells the story of a US army airman called John Yossarian in WW2. He struggles to stay sane when war itself is madness. The catch 22 in the title refers to the paradox that if pilots were classified as insane they were not allowed to fly, but if they requested not to fly because of their mental health, this was seen as a sane thing to do, as the flights were so dangerous.

Empire of the Sun

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:06:46 UTC

The novel tells the story of Jamie Graham, a young British boy living in Shanghai in WW2 and who becomes separated from his parents when the Japanese army occupies the city. He is forced to survive alone.

The Kite Runner

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:07:34 UTC

The novel explores the friendship between two Afghan boys Amir and Hassan, and their father figures. The novel explores shocking and traumatic events and the love that drives the characters on, all set against a backdrop of conflict and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1970s.

A Farewell to Arms

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:08:11 UTC

The novel is a love story between the expatriate American Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley set against the backdrop of the First World War.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:09:30 UTC

Robert Jordan is a young American who travels to Spain to fight as a guerrilla fighter against Franco’s fascism in the Spanish Civil War. His role is to detonate bombs. He becomes fully embedded with the Spanish guerrillas, including falling in love.

Small Island

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:10:15 UTC

The novel tells the story of four different characters Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert and Bernard and explores the immigration of Jamaicans to England after WW2 and the subsequent events that follow as they adapt to their new surroundings. It also reflects back on events in WW2.

Strange Meeting

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:11:02 UTC

A novel exploring the ‘pity of war’, based on a Wilfred Owen poem, which tells the tale of the friendship between two soldiers in the WW1 trenches.

Slaughterhouse Five

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:11:48 UTC

The novel explores the madness of war through the protagonist Billy Pilgrim whose WW2 experiences cause him to become ‘unstuck in time’ and to end up experiencing time travelling and abduction by a wise race of aliens called the Trafalmadorians.

Testament of Youth

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:12:40 UTC

Brittain’s first person memoir explores her experiences of WW1 from the perspective of an educated middle class woman. It is the first of a trilogy of memoirs.

The Last of the Mohicans

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:13:28 UTC

A story set in the French and Indian War of 1757. The story tells the story of a transport of two women across America.

Things Fall Apart

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:14:21 UTC

Generally considered a core text of the African literary canon, the novel follows the life of the character Okonkwo, an influential clan leader and powerful warrior, first focussing on his personal history and then exploring the impact of European colonialism and Christian missionaries on Okonkwo and his community.

Half of a Yellow Sun

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:15:14 UTC

Adichie’s second novel, the text takes place during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), exploring the human consequences of the war.

The Shadow King

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:15:51 UTC

Set in Italy’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, Mengiste’s novel is both lyrical and action-packed. It has a particular focus on the female Ethiopian resistance fighters.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:16:25 UTC

This is a story of two women and their lives as they encounter the tragedies and tribulations all in Afghanistan experienced through the conflict.

Burnt Shadows

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:17:19 UTC

The novel is written in four sections and across intersecting storylines: Japan at the end of World War II, Partition in India in 1947, Pakistan in the 1980s, and New York and Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11.

The Underground Railroad

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:17:58 UTC

Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Whitehead’s narrative traces the surreal, state-by-state odyssey of a young slave, Cora, as she escapes from a cotton plantation in Georgia.

The Moonstone

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:19:36 UTC

A Victorian sensational novel following the mystery of a precious diamond that is stolen from a young woman after a party. The aftermath of the theft results in high drama and fatalities.

Sherlock Holmes Stories

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:20:19 UTC

The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes investigates a range of challenging cases with his assistant Dr Watson and reaches satisfyingly clever conclusions.

The Secret Agent

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:21:33 UTC

A thriller set in London in which a seemingly ordinary shop owner, Verloc, is secretly involved in international terrorism. When he becomes involved in a high-stakes plot, he involves his brother in law Stevie who has a significant learning difficulty.

The Thirty Nine Steps

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:22:19 UTC

A mystery novel set against a backdrop of the start of WW1 in which the protagonist Richard Hannay is caught up in a web of plotting, espionage and anarchy.

Brighton Rock

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:23:22 UTC

A group of misfit characters’ lives all interlink when ‘Fred’, an employee of a newspaper who runs treasure hunt competitions, is murdered by a sociopath called Pinkie. A lady called Ida has a chance encounter that leads to her unofficially investigating the case.

Farewell my Lovely

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:24:26 UTC

The novel is about private detective Philip Marlowe who becomes involved in a police investigation into the murder of a man in a nightclub.

The Talented Mr Ripley

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:25:05 UTC

The novel is a psychological thriller exploring a murder and chase. The protagonist, Tom Ripley is a confidence trickster who lives a double life and convinces glamorous and rich people that he is one of the elite in order to access their money.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:25:55 UTC

A Cold War spy novel about the adventures of Alec Leamas as a double agent in East Germany and features romance, espionage and a thriller plot.

The Crow Road

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:26:25 UTC

Prentice's uncle Rory has disappeared eight years previously while writing a book called The Crow Road. Prentice becomes obsessed with papers his uncle left behind and sets out to solve the mystery. Along the way he must cope with estrangement from his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, and failure at his studies.

The Secret History

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:26:54 UTC

The novel explores a bizarre murder that takes place among six classics students at an elite American university.

Snow Falling on Cedars

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:27:50 UTC

Set in Washington in 1954, the plot revolves around a murder case in which Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese American, is accused of killing Carl Heine, a respected fisherman in the close-knit community.

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:28:54 UTC

This is a true crime novel that reimagines the different characters involved in the strange real-life disappearance of a young boy from a country house. Although there are elements of the traditional whodunit, the focus on the social difficulties faced by one of Britain’s first ever plain-clothed police detectives makes this an unusual crime novel.

Postcards

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:29:42 UTC

The novel tells the story of Loyal Blood, a man on the run from a terrible crime who sends irregular postcards about his life and experiences back to his family, and the story of the family he leaves behind, who encounters disaster.

Harlem Shuffle

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:30:17 UTC

This heist novel set in 1960s New York features a protagonist leading a double life, action, humour and a great set of gangster names (Yea Big, Pepper, Miami Joe and Chet the Vet, who went to vet school for a month).

Orlando

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:38:10 UTC

A core text in feminist theory and queer theory, the novel follows the adventures of a poet who begins as a sixteenth century nobleman and lives through three centuries of history, ending the novel as a woman writer in Woolf’s contemporary England.

Oranges are Not the Only Fruit

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:39:32 UTC

Exploring complex family relationships, same-sex relationships, organised religion and the concept of faith, this semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of a lesbian who grows up in an English Pentecostal community.

The Lonely Londoners

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:40:50 UTC

The Lonely Londoners (1956) details the lives of poor, working-class West Indian immigrants in post-World War II London.

The Bell Jar

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:41:24 UTC

Poet Sylvia Plath’s only novel, the text is considered semi-autobiographical. It follows the protagonist’s struggles with depression and her battle against a patriarchal society that does not take her aspirations seriously.

The Sympathiser

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:42:49 UTC

The unnamed narrator of this novel harbors a series of dual, often contradictory identities: he is of mixed race (Vietnamese mother, and French Catholic priest father), he is at home in both Vietnam (where he grows up) and the US (where he attends university), and most crucially, he is a North Vietnamese Communist undercover agent living in a South Vietnamese community. The novel is fast-paced and gripping.

Babel

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:43:47 UTC

A critique of British imperialism, the novel is set in an alternative-reality Victorian England where “silver-working”, a technique involving translation and magical silver bars, fuels the “Silver Industrial Revolution”, the source of Britain's global economic supremacy.

Demon Copperhead

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:44:31 UTC

A nod to Dickens’ David Copperfield, Kingsolver’s Bildungsroman relays the tale of a young boy growing up in American Appalachia, exploring issues of poverty, abuse and social and economic inequality, as well as the opioid crisis.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:45:45 UTC

This nail-biting tale of cultural identity and alienation is told from the point of view of Changez, a Pakistani man who confides his life story–from his immigration to America and his embracing of its values to his disillusionment and return home–to an American stranger over the course of a single evening in a cafe in Lahore.

Vernon God Little

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:46:21 UTC

The life of Vernon Little, a normal teenager who lives in Martirio, Texas, falls apart when his best friend, Jesus Navarro, murders their classmates in the schoolyard before killing himself, and Vernon is taken in for questioning. The novel deals with shocking content in a humorous and satirical way.

The Impressionist

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:46:50 UTC

The novel concerns Pran Nath and his life from birth to roughly the age of twenty-two, as he travels from India to England to Africa while colonialism comes to a close. He takes on many identities whilst seeking to find himself.

Trainspotting

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:47:47 UTC

A collection of short stories, written in either Scots, Scottish English or British English, revolving around various residents of Leith, Edinburgh who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users.

The Accidental Tourist

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:49:18 UTC

The novel explores the disintegration of a man and his relationships following the death of his son in a drive by shooting at a fast food restaurant.

The Wasp Factory

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:49:51 UTC

The story is told from the perspective of 16-year-old Frank. He lives with his father on a small island in rural Scotland, and he has not seen his mother in many years. There is no official record of his birth, meaning his existence is largely unknown. This novel has one of the best twists ever.

On the Black Hill

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:50:31 UTC

The novel explores the lives of twin brothers, Lewis and Benjamin Jones, on their farm. The farm is on the border of Wales and England. The twins develop a bond that is shown throughout the novel as very special.

Surfacing

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:51:29 UTC

The story of a woman who returns to her hometown in Canada to find her missing father. Little by little, the past overtakes her and drives her into the realm of wildness and madness.

Pincher Martin

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:52:07 UTC

This is an existentialist and minimalist novel. Christopher Hadley "Pincher" Martin, is a temporary naval lieutenant who believes himself to be the sole survivor of a military torpedo destroyer which sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Catcher in the Rye

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:52:49 UTC

Holden Caulfield, a teenager from New York City, is living in an unspecified institution near Hollywood in 1951. This is a teenage angst/ coming of age story with sadness and humour.

The Well of Loneliness

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:53:20 UTC

A lesbian novel that follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" is apparent from an early age. The novel attracted accusations of obscenity when it was published despite it having no actual sexual content.

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:53:53 UTC

The childhood of Irish Stephen Dedalus is recounted using vocabulary that changes as he grows. The reader experiences Stephen's fears and bewilderment as he comes to terms with the worldin a series of disjointed episodes. This is one of the most famous modernist texts.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:55:25 UTC

This is a gothic novella with a great twist. The novella explores split identities with a spooky tale of science gone wrong.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:57:24 UTC

Concerned that his beauty will fade with age, Dorian sells his soul in order to ensure that his image in his portrait ages, rather than he himself.

Carmilla

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:57:59 UTC

This lesbian vampire novella is one of the early works of vampire fiction.

Beloved

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:58:31 UTC

Set in the period after the American Civil War, this novel tells the story of a family whose home is haunted by a ghost. Morrison was inspired by the true story of Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who, upon being caught, set about killing her children rather than allow them to be returned to slavery.

The Little Stranger

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 17:59:26 UTC

A doctor is called to a country house to treat the servant girl, who has been spooked by strange goings on. He narrates the story of the subsequent hauntings of the house, but nothing is as it seems.

The Woman in Black

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:00:05 UTC

This is a traditional gothic novella in which whenever a ghostly figure haunts a small town, a child dies.

Rebecca

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:01:05 UTC

The unnamed narrator, a naïve young woman in her early 20s has a whirlwind romance with an older man, marries him, and goes to live with him in his country house. From then on, events take a very spooky and sinister turn.

The Bloody Chamber

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:01:31 UTC

These are dark and twisted retellings of the classic fairytales. The collection is fantastical, macabre and shocking at times.

The Haunting of Hill House

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:02:05 UTC

Hill House is an eighty-year-old mansion with four unusual inhabitants. A classic haunted house tale, this novel relies on terror to keep the reader turning pages.

Dracula

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:03:06 UTC

This classic vampire tale is told through letters, diaries and newspaper articles and is far more sophisticated than just being a gory horror story.

The Woman in White

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:03:48 UTC

This is a classic, page turning ‘sensational’ novel in which the appearance of a mysterious woman in a white dress begins a series of horrible and confounding events that leave the various narrators in fear for their lives and sanity.

Gothic Tales

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:06:16 UTC

This is a chilling collection of gothic stories that blend the real and the supernatural, with a particular focus on the roles of women.

Frankenstein

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:07:51 UTC

Frankenstein is a scientist whose experiments take a dark and psychologically complex turn when he succeeds in creating a conscious being.

Northanger Abbey

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:08:48 UTC

Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is ‘in training for a heroine’ and is excessively fond of reading Gothic writers, among which Ann Radcliffe is a favourite.

The Mysteries of Udolpho

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:09:33 UTC

Another of the original gothic novels, this tells the tale of Emily St. Aubert, whose melodramatic adventures eventually lead her the remote castle of Udolpho, which she struggles to escape.

The Castle of Otranto

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:10:24 UTC

Known as one of the first ever gothic novels, this tells the story of Manfred, lord of the castle, and his family. The book begins on the wedding-day of his sickly son Conrad and princess Isabella. Shortly before the wedding, however, Conrad is crushed to death by a gigantic helmet that falls on him from above.

The War of the Worlds

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:13:39 UTC

One of the earliest stories that detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians.

Brave New World

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:14:42 UTC

The Illustrated Man

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:15:39 UTC

A collection of eighteen science fiction short stories with a recurring theme of the conflict between the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of people.

Foundation

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:16:13 UTC

A cycle of five interrelated short stories which tell the story of the Foundation, an institute to preserve the best of galactic civilization after the collapse of the Galactic Empire.

The Sirens of Titan

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:17:01 UTC

The novel explores issues of free will, omniscience, and the overall purpose of human history. Much of the story revolves around a Martian invasion of Earth.

The Drowned World

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:17:45 UTC

The novel has a central character who, rather than being disturbed by the end of the old world, is enraptured by the chaotic reality that has come to replace it.

The Magus

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:18:58 UTC

The novel tells the story of Nicholas Urfe, a young British graduate who is teaching English on a small Greek island. Urfe becomes embroiled in the psychological illusions of a master trickster, which become increasingly dark and serious.

Ratner's Star

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:19:51 UTC

This is a comic novel that relates the story of a child prodigy mathematician who arrives at a secret installation to work on the problem of deciphering a mysterious message that appears to come from outer space.

Shikasta

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:20:20 UTC

The novel is the first book in her five-book Canopus in Argos series. Shikasta is also the name of the fictional planet featured in the novel.

Consider Phlebas

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:20:50 UTC

A space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. The novel revolves around fictional the Idiran–Culture War, and Banks plays on that theme by presenting various microcosms of that conflict. Its protagonist Bora Horza Gobuchul is an enemy of the Culture.

Embassytown

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:21:14 UTC

In the town of Embassytown, the native alien residents are known as Ariekei. The novel explores their language, and the human interaction with them.

Woman on the Edge of Time

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:21:59 UTC

Connie, who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution in 1970s New York City, begins to communicate with a figure from the future, an androgynous young woman.

Brick Lane

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:25:15 UTC

A Bangladeshi immigrant to London is torn between her arranged marriage and true love.

Fingersmith

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:25:46 UTC

A crime story featuring pick-pockets, swindlers, schemers and plot twists, this novel set in Victorian England also offers powerful female protagonists who transgress social norms.

The God of Small Things

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:26:25 UTC

Winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction and set in Kerala, India, the novel explores issues of caste, politics, race, religion and class, while telling a story of family loyalty, betrayal and forbidden love.

Wide Sargasso Sea

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:27:17 UTC

The novel is a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point of view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress.

Chesil Beach

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:28:01 UTC

A wedding night gone wrong begins a lifetime of regret and ‘what ifs'.

Enduring Love

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:28:25 UTC

Two strangers become romantically entangled after both witnessing a terrible ballooning accident.

A Room with A View

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:29:10 UTC

A humorous story of love and holidaying in Edwardian high society before WW1.

The English Patient

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:30:00 UTC

A wounded WW2 soldier finds himself recuperating in a derelict Italian villa with an unlikely group of housemates including a nurse, a thief and a bomb disposal expert.

The God of Small Things

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:30:43 UTC

The novel tells the story of the ups and downs in the lives of two siblings who live in a mill on the river.

Tender is the Night

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:31:12 UTC

Dick Diver is a psychiatrist married to one of his own patients. As he unravels, his story begins to resemble that of the author’s own life.

The Great Gatsby

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:31:32 UTC

New York in The Roaring Twenties provides the backdrop for this ultra glamorous story of a mysterious super celebrity who is not at all what he seems.

Possession

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:32:14 UTC

Two academics are researching the previously unknown love affair between two fictional poets when life and research start to overlap.

Breakfast at Tiffanys

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:33:05 UTC

Holly Golightly lights up any room she enters in this enchanting New York fairytale novella.

The Time Traveler's Wife

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:33:42 UTC

Henry’s genetic disorder induces chaotic time travel, and his wife Clare has to cope with all the ups and downs.

Jude the Obscure

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:34:32 UTC

Jude is a working class stonemason who dreams big, but social inequality and hardship thwart his romantic aspirations at every turn.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:35:45 UTC

The beautiful Tess is tossed on the winds of fate and a harsh society from one heartbreaking situation to the next.

Villette

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:36:10 UTC

Disaster sends Lucy Snowe to France to be a school teacher and much adventure and romance ensues.

Wuthering Heights

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:36:44 UTC

A tumultuous love story set on the Yorkshire moors and featuring the brooding Heathcliff as the ultimate Byronic hero.

Sense and Sensibility

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:37:20 UTC

Little Women for grownups, this novel follows the love lives of five siblings, particularly the three younger girls, who are thrown onto mercy of their older brother and his newly inherited wealth when their father dies, much like Austen herself.

Persuasion

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:37:49 UTC

The highs and lows of Anne Elliot’s social life and love life are explored with all of Austen’s wit and warm heartedness.

Emma

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:38:43 UTC

The eponymous hero Emma prefers setting up others' relationships until her own heart intervenes in her plans.

Pride and Prejudice

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:39:49 UTC

The female protagonist Elizabeth Bennet learns about life, love and why Mr Darcy might just be the one.

Normal People

isallonsimons — 2025-06-25 18:40:54 UTC

The novel follows the complex friendship and relationship between two teenagers from different social classes, Connell and Marianne, who both attend the same secondary school in County Sligo, Ireland, and, later, Trinity College Dublin (TCD).