Nathaniel Hawthorne’s astounding book is full of intense symbolism and as haunting as anything by Edgar Allan Poe. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)ĭavid Copperfield marked the point at which Dickens became the great entertainer and also laid the foundations for his later, darker masterpieces.ġ6. William Thackeray’s masterpiece, set in Regency England, is a bravura performance by a writer at the top of his game.ġ5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)Įmily Brontë’s windswept masterpiece is notable not just for its wild beauty but for its daring reinvention of the novel form itself.ġ4. Its great breakthrough was its intimate dialogue with the reader.ġ3. The future prime minister displayed flashes of brilliance that equalled the greatest Victorian novelists.Ĭharlotte Brontë’s erotic, gothic masterpiece became the sensation of Victorian England. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)Įdgar Allan Poe’s only novel – a classic adventure story with supernatural elements – has fascinated and influenced generations of writers. The great pleasure of Nightmare Abbey, which was inspired by Thomas Love Peacock’s friendship with Shelley, lies in the delight the author takes in poking fun at the romantic movement.ġ0. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818) Mary Shelley’s first novel has been hailed as a masterpiece of horror and the macabre.ĩ. Jane Austen’s Emma is her masterpiece, mixing the sparkle of her early books with a deep sensibility. Laurence Sterne’s vivid novel caused delight and consternation when it first appeared and has lost little of its original bite. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759) Tom Jones is a classic English novel that captures the spirit of its age and whose famous characters have come to represent Augustan society in all its loquacious, turbulent, comic variety.Ħ. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)Ī satirical masterpiece that’s never been out of print, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels comes third in our list of the best novels written in EnglishĬlarissa is a tragic heroine, pressured by her unscrupulous nouveau-riche family to marry a wealthy man she detests, in the book that Samuel Johnson described as “the first book in the world for the knowledge it displays of the human heart.”
Crusoe’s world-famous novel is a complex literary confection, and it’s irresistible.ģ. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)īy the end of the 19th century, no book in English literary history had enjoyed more editions, spin-offs and translations.
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