The Lit List – two sides to every story

Top 10: novels retold from another character’s point of view This month is all about parallel novels: familiar stories from new perspectives. Canonical novels and plays are subverted when minor characters take centre stage. Read on for ten of the best reimagined classics. Bubbling under…

By Amanda Read, ago

The Lit List – Go West!

Top 10: books set in the West Country Intrigue! Romance! Piracy! Rich in history and folklore, the region’s dramatic coastline and untamed countryside have long inspired literature. So, heave ho, me hearties, for ten of the best books set in the West Country. Bubbling under

By Amanda Read, ago

The Lit List – Courtroom Drama

Top 10: legal thrillers set in the courtroom The best courtroom dramas have jeopardy, opposition and reversal of fortune. In some, the letter of the law and human morality are aligned, in others they are in direct conflict. This moral question invites the reader to be the judge. All rise Read more

By Amanda Read, ago

The Lit List – Long, Hot Summer

Top 10: classic summer novels This month’s list features novels in which summer drives the plot. These are books of sultry summers where time has a hazy, dream-like quality. Frequently about love, sometimes unrequited, and loss of innocence. Classic summer novels often include a sense of transience and nostalgia. Bubbling Read more

By Amanda Read, ago

The Lit List – a Literary Flora

Top 10: books celebrating plants and Spring May is the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of Spring and flowers. Accordingly, this month we dig deep into all things botanical with the best of fiction and non-fiction about gardening, plants, nature and plant-hunters. Bubbling under

By Amanda Read, ago