They are simple yet profound reads that will you mesmerised
There is no dearth of novels when it comes to English literature and everyone has a favourite classic that they love to keep going back to. And yet there is a plethora of classics are yet to be discovered. These classics broke boundaries and challenged conceptions, giving the world some iconic bestsellers to lesser-known gems. With narrations and characters as real as the life around us, authors like Jane Austen to Charles Dickens, the fiction canon is so vast you can easily get lost in it.
The best thing about English classics is that it always has something for everyone, from family sagas to dystopian fiction to romances and historical fiction. So here is presenting a list of English classics that you should read at least once.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens This is one of the most famous classics and tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a wealthy man with a very cold heart who was paid a visit by the spirits on Christmas Eve. This story of an elderly miser visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, lead to the transformation of Scrooge into a kinder and gentler man. The author wrote this during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as Christmas trees.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen This1813 romantic novel follows Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. Bennet along with her five daughters lives through the struggle of taking over their father’s property as they lack a male heir. As a result, the family will be destitute upon his death.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee This1960 is a story of a novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town that is compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving. The book is a mirror of human behavior showing innocence, kindness, cruelty, love, hatred, and humor. It is a regional simple love story of a young Alabama woman. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.
1984 by George Orwell A dystopian social science fiction novel was published in 1949. The theme of the book centers on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of persons and behaviours within the society.
Few other classics are Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Catcher in the Rye and Diary of a Nobody among others.
