Recommendation

1

The Pursuit Of Love

By Nancy Mitford

"This joyous novel, based on the author's childhood and family, has been my friend in many places, including hospitals. I know it almost by heart, it never fails to make me laugh aloud - and cry." - Susan Hill
Fanny, Linda, and her sisters are obsessed with love and marriage, and long to find the perfect man. Alas, this proves to be a much more arduous task than any of them had anticipated...

2

"I started reading him in my Great Aunt's old complete leather bound edition (kept in a glass case!) when I was 9 and still read one Dickens a year. This masterpiece is my favourite, full of magnificent set pieces." - Susan Hill
At the High Court of Chancery, the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce continues, having “become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means”. A group of disparate people involved in the dispute, from the upper echelons of society to the slums of London, is at the centre of this ambitious novel, which represents a scathing indictment of the Court of Chancery and the broader legal system.

3

The Fortunes Of War

By Olivia Manning

"Two trilogies, set in Romania and the Levant, during WW2. Nothing else I know makes us experience what war was like for those living through it as civilians not soldiers." - Susan Hill
The Fortunes of War includes Manning's two trilogies, The Balkan Trilogy, composed of The Great Fortune (1960), The Spoilt City (1962), and Friends and Heroes (1965), and The Levant Trilogy, composed by The Danger Tree (1977), The Battle Lost and Won (1978), and The Sum of Things (1980). At the outbreak of the war, Harriet and Guy Pringle are forced to leave Romania and flee to Greece, then Palestine, and then Egypt. Inspired by Manning's own experience during the war, the novels tell the story of a young married couple during WW2 and the surrounding group of English expatriates.

4

The House Of Mirth

By Edith Wharton

"One of this wonderful American writer's Old New York novels, which depicts a time, a place, and above all, a society so that we live in it as we read - surely the mark of a great book." - Susan Hill
A black comedy of manners, The House of Mirth is the story of the beautiful Lily Bart and her quest for a wealthy husband amongst New York City's nouveaux riches. Eager to find a man who can provide her money and status, she struggles with her innermost desire to break free from the conventions of high society and marry for love, but her efforts will be thwarted by a ruinous scandal...

5

Right Ho, Jeeves!

By P. G. Wodehouse

"A Marmite writer but if you love him, it's an affair for life. I re-read a Jeeves or a Blandings PGW every year but this is his masterpiece, and the set piece 'Prize Giving at Market Snodsbury Grammar School' is probably the funniest he ever wrote - which is saying something." - Susan Hill
When, upon his return to London, Bertie finds out that his friend Gussie, a shy teetotaler, is seeking relationship advice from his manservant Jeeves, he is upset and sets out to help him, forbidding Jeeves from giving any further advice. Informed by his Aunt Dahlia that Madeline, the object of Gussie's affections, will be at Brinkley Court, where he was asked to make a speech, he passes on the duty to Gussie, hoping he will find the courage to propose. However, a series of misunderstandings will require Jeeves' unique talents to untangle it and ultimately save the day.

6

Children's book. On an ordinary summer's afternoon, as she sits on the riverbank with her sister, Alice notices something quite odd: a talking white rabbit, clothed and holding a pocket watch, running past her. Curious, Alice follows him down a rabbit hole, and tumbles down into a strange world, full of even stranger characters.

7

Children's book. When Darrell and her sister Felicity return to Malory Towers, they meet the new girl Maureen. The fifth formers will be performing Cinderella as their Christmas pantomime, but choosing roles proves trickier than expected. And when anonymous poison pen letters begin to appear, things get much more serious...

8

Children's book. Since her mother's disappearance, Tilly has found comfort in the pages of books at Pages & Co., her grandparents' bookshop. But when her favourite characters begin to materialise in the shop, she discovers that she can bookwander into any story. Could she find out what happened to her mother as danger lurks behind every page?

9

Children's book. The Fantoras are not an ordinary family: Grandmother Filomena sees the future in her knitting, mother Rosamund makes potions, and Aunty Varvara is a vegetarian vampire. Even odder, their family files are kept by the family cat Ozymandias, who details their strange and delightful lives.