Classics for summer
Which classics make the perfect summer read? Whether they whisk you away to a far-away location, take place in the scorching heat, or are paced just right to have you gripped by the pool, these works will allow you to sink into that lazy, hazy summer state.
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
A single summer day rendered in beautifully atmospheric prose.
Set in London during the aftermath of the First World War, the elegant Clarissa Dalloway is putting the finishing touches on her house as she prepares to host a high-society party. Meanwhile, Septimus Smith struggles with the after-effects of shell-shock. At first glance, the two could not appear to be any more different - Dalloway is a middle-aged woman at home in the high-flying lifestyle of the prosperous upper classes, while Smith is poor, young and traumatised. And yet the two narratives brilliantly interweave to tell a haunting tale of life in interwar London.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
One of the most famous adventure stories ever written.
When young Jim Hawkins discovers a mysterious map in a dead man's sea-chest, he sets off on a thrilling adventure of pirates, treasure, and villainy. Hired as a cabin boy on the Hispaniola, Jim finds himself in the company of a frightening crew of seamen, and is soon taken under the wing of the charismatic but dangerous Long John Silver...
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale will delight adults and children alike.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Oppressive summer heat mirrors rising tension on Long Island.
Jay Gatsby is a mystery to Nick. On the surface he is a man of wealth and excess - throwing wild, extravagant parties that run deep into the night. But cracks begin to show in this façade as we meet Daisy Buchanan, the lady across the lake who is the object of his quiet obsession. A paragon of the Great American Novel, The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story which perfectly captures the hollow decadence of the Jazz Age.
Emma by Jane Austen
Charming, comedic, and perfect for relaxed reading.
Albeit that she is not yet 21, Emma Woodhouse foresees a future as a spinster dabbling in matchmaking. Charming and infuriating, she almost ruins the marriage prospects of Harriet Smith, her protégée, after misguidedly attempting to match her with the local rector, who is in fact in search of a wealthy wife. Reprimanded by her friend, George Knightly, Emma learns some valuable lessons in humility and about love and marriage.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Rich, sweeping, and ideal if you have time to sink in.
Anna Karenina is a powerful and tragic tale of love, desire, and social consequence. It follows the aristocratic Anna as she embarks on a passionate affair with the charismatic Count Vronsky. As their relationship deepens, society turns against her, making her increasingly paranoid and distressed. Meanwhile, her marriage to the rigid Count Karenin unravels, and he threatens to take her beloved son, driving Anna toward emotional desperation and irrevocable choices.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
A thought-provoking epistolary novel perfect to read in the countryside.
When the attractive and mysterious Helen Graham moves into Wildfell Hall with her young son and sets up her artist's studio, she arouses village curiosity as well as the interest of farmer Gilbert Markham. Gilbert finds Helen's independence impossible to understand, until she allows him to read her diary and her troubled past is revealed.
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
A forbidden and taboo love affair which will keep you entertained for days.
Lady Chatterley's Lover explores the intense affair between the sexually frustrated Connie - whose husband, Clifford, is paralysed from the waist down - and Oliver Mellors, the family gamekeeper. Lawrence's last and most famous work of fiction, it was eventually published in full in 1960 to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the writer's death.