A Woman of Substance

With her unforgettable heroine Emma Harte, Bradford popularized the rags-to-riches family saga. More

Jane Eyre

Brontë’s masterpiece of Gothic romance; a milestone title in the history of British feminist literature. More

Michael Chabon

The first writer that I really fell in love with was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in particular his Sherlock Holmes stories, and the first story that I ever wrote was a Sherlock Holmes story. More

Our Town

Pulitzer Prize–winning drama; hailed by Edward Albee as “The finest play ever written by an American.” More

The Stone Diaries

Winner of the 1993 Governor General’s Award (Canada) and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. More

The Thorn Birds

McCullough’s sweeping family saga of forbidden love in the Australian outback; became a bestselling phenomenon. More

Blonde

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. More

The Corrections

Winner of the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002. More

Wolf Hall

Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. More

Hilary Mantel

I read out of hope and avid curiosity, and in an attempt to live in other times, and inhabit bodies that are not my own. More

Just Kids

Legendary artist Patti Smith’s critically acclaimed memoir; winner of the National Book Award. More

Middlemarch

Ranked number one in a 2015 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British novels. More

Mary Karr

I read to save my life, to take communion, to enter a community of fellow sufferers and rejoicers. More