By Dr Oliver Tearle ‘Cinderella’ is, of course, a classic fairy story, a ‘rags to riches’ tale about a kind-hearted girl who suffers various hardships only to marry the prince of the kingdom. Why is Cinderella called Cinderella? Since she is shunned by the rest of her family (especially the […]
Fascinating trivia about classic children’s books and their authors Below we’ve compiled some of our favourite facts about classic children’s literature. For more fascinating insight into the history of children’s books, we recommend the excellent A History of Children’s Books in 100 Books (British Library). Hans Christian Andersen once stayed at […]
Fun facts about Black Beauty and the novel’s author, Anna Sewell 1. Anna Sewell’s novel Black Beauty is one of the biggest-selling novels of all time. Published in 1877, Black Beauty was a huge publishing success story from the start. Although Sewell died five months after the book appeared (the cause of her […]
Hardy’s greatest novels, selected by Dr Oliver Tearle Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) wrote 14 novels, so picking a top ten won’t prove too difficult a task. What are the best Thomas Hardy novels? This is undoubtedly going to prove a difficult and controversial issue, but we thought we’d take this chance […]
Our exploration of noteworthy facts involving Christmas presents and American writers continues today. Yesterday we revealed the odd items which were the only Christmas presents William Faulkner would accept from his family. Today, we look at how a generous Christmas gift led to one of the most popular and enduring works […]