Charlotte Brontë

Every week, dozens of new thrillers appear in bookshops. But, often, the classic ones are the best of all. If you haven’t read any of these five yet, you have a treat in store.

The Gothic puts flesh on the bones of our darkest fears, British novelist Sarah Perry tells Five Books. Here, she chooses five favourite novels in this ‘irresistible’ genre.

Books are made of trees and sometimes they’re also about trees. Best-selling author Tracy Chevalier picks the five best trees in fiction.

The Victorian era was a golden age for fiction, says Victorian literature specialist John Sutherland, Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He talks us through the some of the best novels written during the Victorian period, and what they reveal about the people who wrote them.

Children’s author Audrey Penn picks five books she loved as a teenager – all stories of struggle in the face of adversity.

Jane Eyre, 1984 and Anne Frank’s diary all make it onto novelist Amanda Craig’s list of books that changed the world. On Black Beauty‘s underrated importance: ‘People forget that William Wilberforce, who abolished the slave trade, also founded the RSPCA.’

The stories we tell ourselves affect our decision-making in profound ways, says psychotherapist turned bestselling author Salley Vickers. Here, she recommends five novels that delve into the psychology of the self—and of society.

The craze of the 1930s and 1940s was for beautifully illustrated editions of the great Victorian novels, affordably priced to take pride of place in a middle-class home. Lecturer and author Rosalind Parry recommends five outstanding editions whose illustrations are as striking as their stories.