| Title | Description | Author | Category |
|
| | | |
| Absentee, The | Like Castle Rackrent, the theme is social problems of Protestants living in Ireland in Regency times. Critics often praise Edgeworth for her ability to see through social injustice. | Maria Edgeworth | Classic British |
| Adam Bede | If you're willing to tackle Middlemarch, then I recommend Adam Bede which is ever so much more interesting as a love story. | George Eliot | Classic British |
| Agnes Grey | DeborahY: More a novella than a novel, it's most effective in its nitty-gritty portrayal of the life of a governess. Bronte is extraordinarily caustic on the ways in which parents spoil their children, blame the resultant bad behavior on the governess, and then undermine her authority by criticizing her in front of the kids. | Anne Bronte | Classic British |
| Armadale | BernadetteE: I'm enjoying it very much! It's very hard to put down! | Wilkie Collins | Classic British |
| Barchester Towers | Constanza: . | Anthony Trollope | Classic British |
| Belinda | The closest thing to Jane Austen you'll find among her contemporaries. A marvelous read. | Maria Edgeworth | Classic British |
| Beowulf | DebraR, Laraine: A splendid translation from one of the century's best poets. Bring on the crunching bones! | Seamus Heaney | Classic British |
| Camilla | When I was "close" (or at least, I thought I was) to finising Camilla, I started to read at 10:00 a.m. one day and didn't get up once until I finished and noticed it was dark outside and close to 11:30 p.m. - I was so engrossed in the story! | Fanny Burney | Classic British |
| Castle Rackrent | A very, very different book from the ultra-fabulous Belinda, but worth the time nonetheless. A more political work, and not nearly as good as other works by Edgeworth, this is still her most famous novel because it deals with social problems of Protestants living in Ireland in Regency times. | Maria Edgeworth | Classic British |
| Cecilia | Roland: Cecilia is an engaging, witty heroine, who ends up being embroiled in all sorts of mischief because of her good nature and her upright determination to keep her promises. While amusing, the novel is a pretty stark critique of the patriarchal society it portrays. | Fanny Burney | Classic British |
| Cranford | Caroline, Constanza: This book is about growing up in the English Midlands in about 1817. It is historically and geographically "in between" Bronte and Jane Austen. It also has a bit of both in its style. It is at times hilariously funny, very touching and paints a very clear and easy to understand picture of life in a small provincial town at that time. | Elizabeth Gaskell | Classic British |
| Daniel Deronda | Laraine: Eliot’s last novel, somewhat controversial because the story is informed by the Kabbalah’s mysticism. Many famous Zionists (such Emma Lazarus) have said it influenced their beliefs. The Jewish characters in the novel have all the spirituality and morality. The plot, in one sentence, is Daniel’s relationships with his first love, Gwendolen, who marries another for money and position, and with Mirah, whom he saves from suicide and helps to rebuild a life. | George Eliot | Classic British |
| Desmond | Charlotte Smith (1748-1806) novels are hard-to-find, which is why this link is to such an expensive edition. Desmond is Smith's fourth novel, and the first British novel to focus on events in the French revolution. You'll find a strong parallel between tyranny in politics and in domestic life. | Charlotte Smith | Classic British |
| Emmeline | . | Charlotte Smith | Classic British |
| Enchanted April | Laurel: The movie is wonderful, but the book is even better. The perfect escapist novel, set on the Italian coast. | Elizabeth von Arnim | Classic British |
| Evelina | Alisha: A novel in letters, "Evelina" is the story of a young lady's successes, failures, and faux pas in polite society. She is a fairly intelligent but occasionally muddled heroine, with a somewhat mysterious past, who attracts all the wrong attention. And also all the right attention! | Fanny Burney | Classic British |
| Expedition of Humphry Clinker, The | Written in 1771, this novel is a series of letters written by Squire Bramble of Brambleton-Hall in Wales and his family during their four-month tour of England and Scotland. A comical, happy story. | Tobias Smollett | Classic British |
| Far from the Madding Crowd | Karon: This tale of willful young farmer Bathsheba Everdene and her many suitors has all the Hardy trademarks, including humour and amazing characters. It's also one of his most uplifting and satisfying stories. | Thomas Hardy | Classic British |
| Forsyte Saga, The | The first book, A Man of Property, is the most complex and literary; the rest of the saga is more Masterpiece Theatre-ish and moves more quickly. | John Galsworthy | Classic British |
| Frankenstein | KelleyB, TaraO'Donnell: Not just a monster mash, the book gives both sides of the story, creator and creation. It also reflects the social conflict (and fear) of science and religion. | Mary Shelley | Classic British |
| Great Expectations | Michelle-Julia: I'd say that Great Expectations is the most profound of his works. The examination of Pip's character development is brilliant. It was so maddening to see how he reacted to events, and yet very unsettling to know I'd probably succumb to the same temptations. | Charles Dickens | Classic British |
| Howards End | Kathleen(elder): Set in the 1900s, there are two principal families in the novel: the Wilcoxes and the Schlegels. Both families have money, and just prior to the beginning of the novel Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox meet the Schlegel sisters whilst on holiday, and they continue to interact for the duration. Howards End is a house owned by the Wilcox family, which plays a role in the relationship between these two families. | E. M. Forster | Classic British |
| Ivanhoe | . | Sir Walter Scott | Classic British |
| Jane Eyre | DeborahY: You think you already know this story -- mousy governess, brooding Byronic employer, gloomy house with mystery lurking upstairs -- but nothing prepares you for the raw emotional power of this classic yet ever-fresh exploration of a young woman's struggle to retain her integrity in a hostile world. | Charlotte Bronte | Classic British |
| Jude the Obscure | Alexandra: . | Thomas Hardy | Classic British |
| Martin Chuzzlewit | One of the funniest books Dickens wrote. | Charles Dickens | Classic British |
| Middlemarch | JaneGS: Focused on small town Victorian England, this sumptuous novel teeters toward melodrama but never loses its moralistic grounding as its characters wrestle with fallen gods, past transgressions, and forbidden love. A thoroughly satisfying favorite that’s as complicated as the Dickens but with splash of Bronte and a touch of Gaskell. | George Eliot | Classic British |
| Moon and Sixpence, The | Laraine: Maugham’s short fictionalization of Paul Gaugin’s life, about how pursuing beauty affects an artist and those who have relationships with him. Masterfully written, but not an easy story to read. An (apocryphal?) story about the title: a review of "Of Human Bondage" said its main character yearned for the moon so much that he never saw the sixpence at his feet—and this story is about a different moon (art) and sixpence (human relationships). | W. Somerset Maugham | Classic British |
| Moonstone, The | Priscilla: Each section is from a different character's point of view--to get the facts from the witnesses, the person most involved writes a handful of chapters. Once that person exits the story (partially) another character takes over. Usually there is one main character who writes a few of the sections and is the center of the plot. All the characters have their own little quirks and eccentricities. | Wilkie Collins | Classic British |
| Mrs. Dalloway | Laurel: When I read this, I was surprised at how "modern" it felt. I don't usually like books like this (sort of stream-of-consciousness), but I liked Mrs. Dalloway so much I actually bought it! | Virginia Woolf | Classic British |
| Mysteries of Udolpho, The | Catherine Morland, Henry Tilney: When I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; I remember finishing it in two days — my hair standing on end the whole time. | Ann Radcliffe | Classic British |
| Night and Day | Constanza: . | Virginia Woolf | Classic British |
| North and South | Constanza, Alisha: Margaret Hale is disgusted with Milton, the industrial town to which her family has moved. John Thornton is a prominent mill-owner, and is passionate (in his quiet way) about his industry, his ideals, and Margaret. But does Margaret need him? Can their viewpoints be blended despite the turbulence and rebellion around them? | Elizabeth Gaskell | Classic British |
| Ordeal of Richard Feverel, The | A great Victorian novel (and for those people who like Howard's End, the movie) is one of the books Leonard and the sisters quote. | George Meredith | Classic British |
| Orlando | Laraine: Wolff’s hero/heroine is born as a man in Elizabethan England, decides never to grow old—and does not—(holy Peter Pan!), and then wakes up one morning as a woman. Almost all that happens comes from the ancestors and the life of Vita Sackville-West. By many it’s considered to be the seminal roman à clef in woman’s writing and literature. Also a really wonderful film starring Tilda Swinton. | Virginia Woolf | Classic British |
| Ormond | . | Maria Edgeworth | Classic British |
| Professor, The | The Mysterious HC: Pretty much agreed to be the least satisfactory of her four novels; I would save it for last. | Charlotte Bronte | Classic British |
| Return of the Native | . | Thomas Hardy | Classic British |
| Room with a View, A | Alisha: Lucy Honeychurch gets frustrated trying to find the balance between being "proper" and being herself. On a trip to Italy, love is in the air, but she’s fighting it tooth and nail. Whom should she listen to — her relatives, her conscience, or the odd, philosophical, attractive young man named George? | E. M. Forster | Classic British |
| Shirley | The Mysterious HC: Shirley has a dry understated wit, and if you like the characters, you'll want to know what happens to them (though the book does fall apart a little bit towards the end). | Charlotte Bronte | Classic British |
| St. Leon | Laraine: William Godwin's Gothic sagas show that Mary Shelley had something of a debt to her father in her own foray into Gothic literature. Long, but worth the time! | William Godwin | Classic British |
| Tale of Two Cities, A | Alisha: A masterpiece set during the French Revolution, this novel displays the full range of human behavior - from the heights of noble self-sacrifice to the depths of vengeful, merciless hatred. The plot turns on the remarkable resemblance between Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay. They both love Lucy Manette…but one of them is in mortal danger if he ever goes back to France! | Charles Dickens | Classic British |
| Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The | DeborahY: Great heroine, drippy hero, extremely powerful portrait of the plight of a Victorian woman trapped in a hellish marriage. | Anne Bronte | Classic British |
| Tess of the D'Urbervilles | Alexandra, Alisha: Tess is a good girl, but her life seems fated to bring her the right things only at the wrong times. After her innocence is taken from her, what will she make of life? Is it even in her hands? The story’s narration is almost poetic and makes the small, ordinary events seem epic and significantly tragic. | Thomas Hardy | Classic British |
| To the Lighthouse | . | Virginia Woolf | Classic British |
| Tom Jones | . | Henry Fielding | Classic British |
| Vanity Fair | In addition to the famous and indelible Becky Sharp, the book's pleasures include a view of the Regency from a writer with several decades of hindsight. It is interesting to compare Thackeray's cynical look at manners and mores with Austen's gentler ironic outlook | William Makepeace Thakeray | Classic British |
| Vilette | If you liked Jane Eyre, you will probably like this one too. | Charlotte Bronte | Classic British |
| Wanderer, The | . | Fanny Burney | Classic British |
| Where Angels Fear to Tread | Paula, Robbin: Wickedly funny, Lilia Abbott marries an Italian bounder while on the grand tour. Friends at home in England predict her fate to be dire indeed. Disillusioned, miserable and lonely, Lilia gives birth to a son who becomes the epicenter of a maelstrom of cultural prejudice and misguided intentions. | E. M. Forster | Classic British |
| William Shakespeare Complete Works | JulieW, Laurel: From the Royal Shakespeare Company, this recent publication uses the First Folio as the basis for the plays. The accompanying essays, footnotes and other information are top-notch, and photos from RSC productions are a welcome addition. A must for any Shakespeare fan. | William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen | Classic British |
| Wives and Daughters | The most "like Austen without being merely a pastiche" book I've read. | Elizabeth Gaskell | Classic British |
| Woman in White, The | Priscilla, JeanB: This is a classic, sensational gothic thriller. It is moody, creepy and has one of the most incredibly crafted villains literature. This makes a great winter read. | Wilkie Collins | Classic British |
| Wuthering Heights | Is Heathcliff a tragic hero or a sadistic manipulator? Read this and decide for yourself. | Emily Bronte | Classic British |
| Young Philosopher, The | If you like early novels with a feminist agenda, you'll love Charlotte Smith. | Charlotte Smith | Classic British |
