By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Previously, we chose ten classic poems about London, but now we’re turning to books about the capital – whether non-fiction studies, novels, or texts which fall somewhere between the two. Of course, London is such a vast and fascinating city with a long history, that we cannot be comprehensive with ten books – these are just our suggestions to get the ball rolling.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Ever since the Victorians, fantasy fiction has been a huge part of children’s literature. Indeed, classic fantasy novels for children actually emerged some time before serious fantasy literature for adults – modern fantasy, at least – became popular. In this post, we introduce 12 must-read fantasy novels for children and younger readers. Which classic novels have we missed off the list?
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The (possibly mythical) figure of King Arthur has inspired the imaginations of countless writers for the last thousand years. But which are the very best books about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table? Here, we’ve gathered ten of the very best books that feature King Arthur, whether fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The ‘nineteenth-century novel’ covers Jane Austen’s Regency fiction, the comic exuberance of Dickens, the social critiques of Elizabeth Gaskell, the realism of George Eliot, the Gothic inventiveness of late Victorian writers, and the birth of detective fiction. Below, we introduce twelve of the greatest nineteenth-century novels, with some curious facts about them.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The Middle Ages, especially the period from the Norman Conquest of 1066 in England until the Renaissance in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, has been popular in fiction at least since Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott’s hugely influential historical novel from 1819. Below, we introduce ten of our favourite novels, from over two centuries of the English novel,