The Hours

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

Barometer Rising

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

The Bell Jar

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

Mary Karr

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

Wolf Hall

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

Room

Winner of the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize regional prize; made into a major motion picture. 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

The Corrections

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

Pilgrim

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