The Flanders Panel
The Flanders Panel, by Arturo Perez-Reverte, is about art conservator uncovering an inscription hidden for nearly five centuries
Collected Poems
Moody, bleak, and often oh-so-dead-on, Philip Larkin seems to have written a poem to match just about any frame of mind or physical state
Blaming
Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor is the story of an unlikely friendship that forms between Amy, an Englishwoman, and Martha, an American
The Night Watch
By choosing WWII as a setting, Waters sets up dramatic symbolism in The Night Watch, as the physical destruction that's wreaked on London
The Masterpiece
The Masterpiece set off a few shockwaves, not just among literary critics who loved to grouse about Zola's gritty and extreme approach to realism
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont doesn't leave you feeling at all down. Taylor's books are perfect if you want a breezy summer read but aren't willing to sacrifice craft or depth
Daphne
Daphne, the latest novel by British writer Justine Picardie, artfully begs the question: Where would we be without our literary forbears
The Uncommon Reader
Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader is a clever turn of the ages-old idea that if you want to keep your subjects in line, keep them in the dark.
The Bullet Trick
The Bullet Trick is a crime thriller that begins in a seedy club in a Soho. The narrative cuts back and forth from a cabaret in Berlin, Glasgow and London
Rebecca
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again... You might recognize those haunting first lines from Daphne du Maurier's gothic suspense chiller, Rebecca.
The Fairy Tales
The Fairy Tales are also appropriate, despite their darker elements, for children who have perhaps overindulged on the sugar-coated Disney versions
The Adventures of Frog and Toad
Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad Are Friends, published in 1970, is the first in a series of four books about these two famous friends
The Moonstone
The Moonstone is a very long tale about a precious gem stolen from the brow of a Hindu deity that wreaks havoc on an English family
Blaming
Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor is the story of an unlikely friendship that forms between Amy, an Englishwoman, and Martha, an American