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Channing School Ideas for Year 10 reading: CLASSICS
AUSTEN, Jane Persuasion At nineteen, Anne Elliot was persuaded by her friend to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain. What happens when they meet each other again eight years later is movingly told in Jane Austen’s last completed novel.
BALZAC, Honoré de Old Goriot Old Goriot is the tragic story of a father who ruins himself for his two daughters. Intertwined with Goriot's story is that of Eugène de Rastignac, an ambitious young lawyer, who catches the eye of Goriot's married daugher, Delphine. This nineteenth‐century novel, translated from the French, is a powerful exploration of a society driven by greed and ambition. BRONTE, Emily Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights tells of the tempestuous love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Set on the bleak Yorkshire moors, it is an atmospheric tale of love, bitterness and revenge. CHOPIN, Kate The Awakening In Louisiana in the late 1800s a married woman �inds herself attracted to a man she meets on holiday. She tries to break free of social mores and become more independent. Written in the late 19th century, the novel caused a scandal due to the author’s implicit sympathy with the main character. DICKENS, Charles A Tale of Two Cities ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…’ – so begins Dickens’s novel about the French Revolution, telling the story of a French aristocrat and an English lawyer who both love the same woman. When one is imprisoned by the revolutionaries, the other devises a daring plan to rescue him.
DU MAURIER, Daphne Rebecca A young woman working as a lady’s companion falls in love with a handsome widower, Max de Winter, on a trip to the South of France. They get married and return to Max’s imposing home, Manderley, where the memory of Max’s former wife, Rebecca, haunts them both. FITZGERALD, F. Scott The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby’s lavish parties in his mansion on Long Island epitomise the glitz and glamour of the jazz age. Bright young things dance the night away and speculate about their mysterious host. For beneath the dazzling surface, Gatsby is hiding a secret longing, which threatens to undo him.
HARDY, Thomas Tess of the D’Urbervilles Set in rural Wessex during the 1870s, this is the story of Tess, a milkmaid, and the two men whose lives become bound up with her own: Alec D’Urberville and Angel Clare. Hardy describes Tess as ‘a pure woman’ and, implicitly, a victim of her treatment by the two men in a powerful and moving story that challenged conventional morality at the time of its publication in 1891.
LEE, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird This classic novel is set in Alabama during the 1930s at the height of the Great Depression. Atticus Finch, a lawyer, is asked to defend a black man charged with rape. His family then come under attack for helping a black man.
ORWELL, George Nineteen Eighty‐Four This dystopian novel imagines a future world in which one’s thoughts and actions are tracked by Big Brother and the Thought Police. Winston Smith, who works for the Ministry of Truth, and his girlfriend, Julia, dare to question the ruling party.
REMARQUE, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front Remarque’s novel draws on his own experience as a soldier in World War I. It depicts the grim reality of trench warfare and the alienation that soldiers felt when returning home to civilian life. The story focuses on a German soldier, Paul Bäumer, and the extreme physical and emotional stress he experiences while �ighting at the front.
RHYS, Jean Wide Sargasso Sea This novel imagines the past life of the ‘madwoman in the attic’ character in Jane Eyre , Bertha Mason. Born Antoinette Cosway, she grows up in Jamaica on a plantation that has been in decline since slavery was abolished in 1833. Ex‐slaves are turning on plantation owners like the Cosways, including Antoinette’s friend, Tia. When machinating relatives introduce the young Mr Rochester to Antoinette, the simmering tensions on the island threaten to destroy their carefully laid plans. SALINGER, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye Narrator Holden Caul�ield informs us at the beginning of this novel that he won’t be telling us 'what my lousy childhood was like...and all that David Copper�ield kind of crap’. Instead, he tells us of how he has been playing truant from his expensive boarding school and doing nothing much to write home about. Salinger's novel is a classic depiction of the angst and con�licting desires of adolescence.
MODERN FICTION
ATKINSON, Kate Life After Life This novel is about a young woman growing up between the First and Second World Wars. It explores different possible 'lives' for its characters and evokes in turn the worlds of Edwardian England, Hitler's Germany and the Blitz. Ursula Todd is the young woman whose future takes so many different turns. She has a conventional upbringing and yet the author invents some pretty extraordinary twists of fate, taking her in directions she might never have imagined. Costa Book Award Winner.
ATWOOD, Margaret The Penelopiad
In Greek myth, Penelope is the wife of Odysseus who waits patiently for him to come home after the Trojan War. Atwood's novella, The Penelopiad , reimagines her story, including how she keeps the greedy suitors at bay during her husband's absence and the turmoil unleashed when he returns.
BAKER, Jo Longbourn
This historical novel reimagines Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the servants. It focuses on the story of the housemaid, Sarah, who is, like Austen’s heroine, an intelligent, bookish girl, and what happens when a mysterious new footman is hired to join the household.
BALLARD, J.G. Empire of the Sun Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbour in World War II, the Japanese invade Shanghai International Settlement and evict many of the European residents from their homes. Jim Graham is separated from his parents and has to survive on barely any food as he tries to �ind safety in an internment camp. This is a gripping read that vividly portrays the effects of war on civilians.
CHAMBERS, Aidan Postcards from No Man’s Land Seventeen‐year‐old Jacob is in Amsterdam for the commemoration of the Battle of Arnherm, which his grandfather fought in �ifty years earlier. There he meets Geertrui, a terminally ill Dutch woman in her seventies, who tells him a story of love and betrayal that has links to the story of Jacob’s own grandfather. A powerful exploration of relationships, sexuality, life and death. DONOGHUE, Emma Room Room is narrated by a �ive‐year‐old boy, Jack, who has only ever lived in a locked room. His mother, kidnapped and incarcerated as a young woman, has not yet revealed to him the existence of an outside world. However, when their lives are threatened, Jack must play a central part in his mother’s daring plan of escape. DOYLE, Roddy Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle’s novel recounts one year in the life of ten‐year‐old Paddy Clarke from Dublin. Narrated by Paddy, it chronicles his relationships with his parents, friends, teachers and younger brother in the Northside part of Dublin, Barrytown. The novel’s mood is mainly light and playful, describing the antics of Paddy and his friends, but the decline of his parents’ marriage introduces a darker theme. Booker Prize winner.
GREGORY, Philippa The Boleyn Inheritance
Set during the last few years of Henry VIII’s reign, this novel tells the story of his new wife, Anne of Cleves, and her lady‐in‐waiting, Katherine Howard. The Tudor court is a dangerous place to be, following religious upheaval and political uncertainty, and the king is still desperate for an heir. The novel’s three narrators – Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn – spin a fascinating tale of intrigue and ambition based on historical events. ISHIGURO, Kazuo Never Let Me Go Never Let Me Go is the story of Kathy, Tommy and Ruth: friends who grew up together at Hailsham Academy, a strange boarding school where pupils are told they are special and seemingly protected from the outside world. Narrated by the grown‐up Kathy, the story gradually reveals the sinister fate assigned to the three friends and raises a range of ethical questions in a clever and compelling way.
JANSSON, Tove The Summer Book
Set on a remote island in the Gulf of Finland, this novel recounts the summer holidays of Sophia and her grandmother. From rowing out to neighbouring islands to making sculptures out of bark and building Venice in a marsh, their isolated but peaceful existence is beautifully and humorously captured in this novel by the creator of the Moomin books.
NEMIROVSKY, Irène Suite Française
The manuscript for this novel was discovered in an attic in France in 2004. It was written by a Jewish woman during World War II and is based on her own experiences of living in Nazi‐occupied France. It depicts a group of Parisians �leeing the Nazi invasion and a small rural community under occupation.
NICHOLLS, David One Day Emma and Dexter enjoy a whirlwind romance following their graduation from Edinburgh University in 1988. Though this does not last they remain friends. The novel chronicles their lives in subsequent years, with each chapter focusing on what they are doing on one particular day ‐ 15th July. This highly readable novel set mainly in London is a refreshingly down‐to‐earth take on growing up and falling in love. PEET, Mal Life: An Exploded Diagram Clem and Frankie grow up in Norfolk in the 1960s. Clem is a working‐class boy who has gained a place at the local grammar school. Frankie is the daughter of a wealthy landowner. The two embark on a relationship that they go to some lengths to keep secret. Peet alternates their story with that of the developing nuclear missile crisis. SCHLINK, Bernard The Reader This novel explores the legacy of the Holocaust through the story of a teenage boy, Michael Berg, and a former guard at Auschwitz, Hanna Schmitz. A chance meeting on a tram leads them to start a relationship, although Michael does not know about Hanna's past. When their paths cross again years later, Michael is shocked to learn of his former lover's crimes and also her reluctance to defend herself.
SPARK, Muriel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher in charge of six ten‐year‐old girls in 1930s Edinburgh. Her lessons are based on her love life and travels as much as on the classics and art history but she still con�idently describes herself as in her prime. Fascinated by their charismatic teacher and her affair with the dashing art teacher, 'Brodie's girls' owe her their education but will they be able to protect her from scandal and her arch‐enemy, the headmistress? WATERS, Sarah The Little Stranger The Little Stranger is a thriller set in a crumbling Georgian mansion just after the Second World War. The Ayres family have lived at Hundreds Halls for decades but are struggling to keep it going. And then a series of strange accidents start to make their lives there unbearable. Waters brilliantly observes the decline of a way of life of an upper class family and wider changes in society after the war.
WOLLITZER, Meg Belzhar Devastated by the death of her boyfriend, Jam Gallahue is sent to a therapeutic boarding school to recover. Picked for ‘Special Topics in English’ with a handful of other students, she starts reading Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and keeping a diary. This transports her to a world where she can begin to come to terms with her loss. A moving read with a great twist.
NON‐FICTION
BRITTAIN, Vera Testament of Youth Vera Brittain's memoir focuses on her experiences as a nurse during World War I, which saw her working in demanding and often dangerous conditions in London, Malta and France. It also describes her upbringing and struggle to persuade her parents to let her apply to Oxford University. It is both a moving account of the impact of World War I on young people and a fascinating insight into the changing role of women at the time.
CHANG, Jung Wild Swans Chang's memoir spans three generations of her family. It begins with her grandmother, who was married at a young age to an army general. Then it tells the story of Chang's mother, who began working for the Communist Party as a teenager. Finally, Chang's own story tells of the Cultural Revolution and her parents' increasing criticism of Mao. This bestselling memoir is set against an epic sweep of twentieth‐century Chinese history and is a fascinating read. MCCOURT, Frank Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt's autobiography describes growing up in New York and Limerick. After Frank's sister, Margaret, dies in infancy, the McCourt family moves from Brooklyn back to Ireland where they have relatives. But Frank's alcoholic father struggles to �ind work and the family are forced to live a hand‐to‐mouth existence. Despite the hardships recounted, this autobiography has many funny moments and vividly depicts life in 1930s and 1940s Ireland.
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