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

Wolf Hall

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

Emma Donoghue

Like many teenagers, I spent more of my summer holidays than I probably should have immersed in the world of The Lord of the Rings. More

Our Town

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

Tales of the City

First book in Maupin’s acclaimed and groundbreaking series documenting San Francisco’s underground and gay culture. More

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Multimillion-copy global bestseller that won critical acclaim for its beautifully wrought depiction of innocence corrupted. More

A Woman of Substance

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

Mary Karr

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

The Hours

Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award; made into an Oscar-winning film. More

The Bell Jar

A haunting classic that chronicles the breakdown of a brilliant, talented, successful young woman. More

Tracy Chevalier

I read because I want to know what it’s like to look at the world through someone else’s eyes, and reading is a remarkably efficient and vigorous way of doing that. More

Pilgrim

A finalist for the Giller Prize and a Canadian bestseller that surpassed the author’s own impressive sales records. More

Blonde

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

The Stone Diaries

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

Barometer Rising

The first novel by MacLennan, one of Canada’s most significant novelists of the mid-twentieth century. 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