Recommendations based on "Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea"

'Unmissable. Like chancing upon an oasis, you want to drink it slowly... Subtle, unpredictable, surprising' GuardianThings I Don't Want to Know is the first in Deborah Levy's essential three-part 'Living Autobiography' on writing and womanhood.Taking George Orwell's famous essay, 'Why I Write', as a jumping-off point, Deborah Levy offers her own indispensable reflections of the writing life. With wit, clarity and calm brilliance, she considers how the writer must stake claim to that contested territory as a young woman and shape it to her need. Things I Don't Want to Know is a work of dazzling insight and deep psychological succour, from one of our most vital contemporary writers.'Superb sharpness and originality of imagination. An inspiring work of writing' Marina Warner

In A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas, Virginia Woolf considers with energy and wit the implications of the historical exclusion of women from education and from economic independence. In A Room of One's Own (1929), she examines the work of past women writers, and looks ahead to a time when women's creativity will not be hampered by poverty, or by oppression. In Three Guineas (1938), however, Woolf argues that women's historical exclusion offers them the chance to form a political and cultural identity which could challenge the drive towards fascism and war.

A formally innovative work of modernist fiction, Virginia Woolf's The Waves is edited with an introduction by Kate Flint in Penguin Modern Classics.More than any of Virginia Woolf's other novels, The Waves conveys the full complexity and richness of human experience. Tracing the lives of a group of friends, The Waves follows their development from childhood to youth and middle age. While social events, individual achievements and disappointments form its narrative, the novel is most remarkable for the rich poetic language that expresses the inner life of its characters: their aspirations, their triumphs and regrets, their awareness of unity and isolation. Separately and together, they query the relationship of past to present, and the meaning of life itself.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is regarded as a major 20th century author and essayist, a key figure in literary history as a feminist and modernist, and the centre of 'The Bloomsbury Group'. This informal collective of artists and writers, which included Lytton Strachey and Roger Fry, exerted a powerful influence over early twentieth-century British culture. Between 1925 and 1931 Virginia Woolf produced what are now regarded as her finest masterpieces, from Mrs Dalloway (1925) to the poetic and highly experimental novel The Waves (1931). She also maintained an astonishing output of literary criticism, short fiction, journalism and biography, including the playfully subversive Orlando (1928) and A Room of One's Own (1929) a passionate feminist essay.If you enjoyed The Waves, you might like Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, also available in Penguin Classics.'A book of great beauty and a prose poem of genius'Stephen Spender'Full of sensuous touches ... the sounds of her words can be velvet on the page'Maggie Gee, Daily Telegraph

This volume combines two inspirational, witty and urbane essays from one of literature's pre-eminent voices; collectively they constitute a brilliant and lucid attack on sexual inequality. Based on a lecture given at Cambridge and first published in 1929, 'A Room of One's Own' interweaves Woolf's personal experience as a female writer with themes ranging from Austen and Bronte to Shakespeare's gifted (and imaginary) sister. 'Three Guineas', Woolf's most impassioned polemic, came almost a decade later and broke new ground by challenging the very notions of war and masculinity.

'A landmark of feminist thought and a rhetorical masterpiece' Guardian Ranging from the silent fate of Shakespeare's gifted imaginary sister to Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë and the effects of poverty and sexual constraint on female creativity, A Room of One's Own, based on a lecture given by Woolf at Girton College, Cambridge, is one of the great feminist polemics. Published almost a decade later, Three Guineas breaks new ground in its discussion of men, militarism and women's attitudes towards war. These two pieces reveal Virginia Woolf's indomitable spirit, sophisticated wit and genius as an essayist. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Michèle Barrett

George Eliot’s beloved classic novel—hailed by Virginia Woolf as “masterful”—follows the life, loves, foibles, and politics of the residents of a fictional English town set amid the social unrest of the Industrial Revolution. This beautifully designed Harper Perennial Deluxe Edition—with special cover effects and French flaps—includes an introduction by award-winning author Francine Prose.Dorothea Brooke married Edward Casaubon—a clergyman and scholar some years her senior—naively hoping their union would be a true meeting of the minds. Trapped in a lonely marriage to a tyrannical man, she finds companionship with Edward’s cousin, but her overtures risk her spotless reputation and jeopardize her future.Young doctor Tertius Lydgate comes to Middlemarch full of progressive ideas, eager to volunteer his skill at the local hospital. Through his connections there he meets the mayor’s beautiful daughter, Rosamond Vincy, and marries her, only to face financial ruin at the hands of her materialism and overwhelming vanity.Rosamond’s brother, Fred, is destined for the Church to improve his family’s class standing, but his childhood sweetheart, Mary Garth, refuses to marry him unless he pursues a more suitable career. Forced by fate into uncertain financial circumstances, Fred must question his choices and desires if he hopes to earn Mary’s respect.God-fearing and esteemed, Nicholas Bulstrode is a good man and trustworthy banker—or so it appears until an old enemy comes to town, intent on revealing Bulstrode’s shady past dealings. Terrified of being exposed as a hypocrite, he takes matters into his own hands, each desperate act spiraling him further into disgrace and corruption.A masterwork of fiction, Middlemarch traces these four lives in a plot that illuminates the social fabric of mid-nineteenth-century England. Looming above the landscape of Victorian literature, Eliot’s beloved novel explores the perennial struggle between individual and society, integrity and temptation, and is as timely today as when it was first published.

Truth's landmark slave narrative chronicles her experiences as a slave in upstate New York and her transformation into an extraordinary abolitionist, feminist, orator, and preacher. Based on the complete 1884 edition, this volume includes the "Book of Life," a collection of letters and sketches about Truth's life written subsequent to the original 1850 publication of the Narrative, and "A Memorial Chapter," a sentimental account of her death.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The long-awaited follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning, No.1 New York Times bestselling Olive KitteridgeOlive, Again will pick up where Olive Kitteridge left off, following the next decade of Olive's life - through a second marriage, an evolving relationship with her son, and encounters with a cast of memorable characters in the seaside town of Crosby, Maine.'One of America's finest writers' Sunday Times'A powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships' Observer'Strout really can write you into a world until you feel you are there with her, in that house, that life, that little Podunk of a place' The Times

The successful country-western star discusses her life, including her first visit to Nashville at age eighteen, marriage to the private Carl, difficult partnership with Porter Wagoner, business ventures, and personal relationships. Reprint.

The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934 is the first in a nine volume series in the influential artist and thinker's own words, covering the time when Nin is about to publish her first book and ends when she leaves Paris for New York. "One of the most remarkable diaries in the history of letters."—Los Angeles Times"As unique a literary memoir as has been published...lyrical, and singularly potent."—Village VoiceEdited and with a Preface by Gunther Stuhlmann.