British literature summaries 2020

John Arbuthnot

George Gordon Byron (Noel)

Short summary - Corsair

Short summary - The Corsair

Short summary - Cain

Short summary - The Giaour

Short summary - Manfred

Short summary - Mazeppa

John Bunyan

Short summary - The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come

Sir James Matthew Barrie

Short summary - Peter Pan

Samuel Barclay Beckett

Short summary - Waiting for Godot

John Anthony Burgess Wilson

Short summary - A Clockwork Orange (novel)

Brendan Behan

Short summary - The Hostage

Edward de Bono

Short summary - Six Thinking Hats

Charlotte Brontë

Short summary - Jane Eyre

Short summary - Villette

Emily Jane Brontë

Short summary - Wuthering Heights

Anne Brontë

Short summary - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Iain Menzies Banks

Short summary - The Wasp Factory

Short summary - The Bridge

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh

Short summary - Brideshead Revisited

Short summary - The Loved One

Short summary - A Handful of Dust

Pelham Grenville P. G. Wodehouse

Short summary - The Code of the Woosters

Ethel Lilian Voynich

Short summary - The Gadfly

Virginia Woolf

Short summary - Mrs Dalloway

Short summary - To the Lighthouse

Thomas Hardy

Short summary - Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented

John Gay

Short summary - The Beggar's Opera

William Godwin

Short summary - Adventures of Caleb Williams

William Gerald Golding

Short summary - Lord of the Flies

Short summary - The Spire

Oliver Goldsmith

Short summary - The Vicar of Wakefield

John Galsworthy

Short summary - The Forsyte Saga

Henry Graham Greene

Short summary - The Quiet American

Short summary - Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The bomb party

Short summary - The Comedians

Short summary - The Heart of the Matter

Short summary - The Honorary Consul

Gerald Malcolm Durrell

Short summary - My Family and Other Animals

Daniel Defoe

Short summary - The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Short summary - The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders

Short summary - The Fortunate Mistress

Short summary - The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; Being the Second and Last Part of His Life, And of the Strange Surprising Accounts of his Travels Round three Parts of the Globe

Erika Leonard James

Short summary - Fifty Shades of Grey

Jerome Klapka Jerome

Short summary - Three Men in a Boat. To Say Nothing of the Dog

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce

Short summary - Ulysses

Short summary - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Charles Dickens

Short summary - A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas

Short summary - Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress

Short summary - Great Expectations

Short summary - Dombey and Son (Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation)

Short summary - David Copperfield or The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)

Short summary - Little Dorrit

Short summary - A Tale of Two Cities

Short summary - The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Containing a Faithful Record of the Perambulations, Perils, Travels, Adventures and Sporting Transactions of the Corresponding Members

Short summary - The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Short summary - Hard Times – For These Times

Short summary - Bleak House

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle

Short summary - The Hound of the Baskervilles

Short summary - The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Short summary - The Lost World

Short summary - The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Short summary - The Adventure of the Dying Detective

Short summary - The Five Orange Pips

Short summary - A Study in Scarlet

Short summary - The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

Short summary - The Adventure of the Three Students

Short summary - The Adventure of the Six Napoleons

Short summary - The Adventure of the Red Circle

Short summary - The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

Short summary - The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire

Short summary - The Adventure of the Second Stain

Short summary - The “Gloria Scott”

Short summary - The Adventure of the Crooked Man

Short summary - The Valley of Fear

Short summary - The Adventure of the Devil's Foot

Short summary - His Last Bow

Short summary - The Adventure of the Yellow Face

Short summary - The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

Short summary - The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place

Short summary - The Sign of the Four

Short summary - The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

Short summary - The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez

Short summary - The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger

Short summary - The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

Short summary - The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone

Short summary - The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

Short summary - The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

Short summary - The Adventure of the Lion's Mane

Short summary - The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

Short summary - The Naval Treaty

Short summary - The Adventure of the Retired Colourman

Short summary - The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual

Short summary - The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist

Short summary - The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

Short summary - The Adventure of the Dancing Men

Short summary - The Adventure of the Norwood Builder

Short summary - The Final Problem

Short summary - The Resident Patient

Short summary - Stock-to broker a of The Clerk's

Short summary - The Adventure of the Three Gables

Short summary - The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter

Short summary - The Adventure of the Empty House

Short summary - The Adventure of the Reigate Squire

Short summary - The Adventure of Silver Blaze

Short summary - The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge

Short summary - The Adventure of the Illustrious Client

Short summary - A Scandal in Bohemia

Short summary - The Adventure of the Priory School

Short summary - The Greek Interpreter

Short summary - The Red-Headed League

Short summary - The Boscombe Valley Mystery

Short summary - The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

Short summary - A Case of Identity

Short summary - The Adventure of the Creeping Man

Short summary - The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier

Short summary - The Man with the Twisted Lip

Short summary - The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans

Short summary - The Adventure of Black Peter

Margaret Drabble

Short summary - The Garrick Year

Gavin Kennedy

Short summary - Everything is Negotiable: How to Get the Best Deal Every Time

Sir Joseph Rudyard Kipling

Short summary - The Jungle Book

Short summary - Just So Stories

Short summary - The Light That Failed

Short summary - Wee Willie Winkie

Short summary - The Man Who Would Be King

Arthur Charles Clarke

Short summary - 2001: A Space Odyssey

William Wilkie Collins

Short summary - The Woman in White

Short summary - The Moonstone

William Congreve

Short summary - The Way of the World

Joseph Conrad

Short summary - Lord Jim

Short summary - Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

Agatha Christie

Short summary - Murder on the Orient Express

Short summary - Taken at the Flood

Short summary - 4.50 from Paddington

Short summary - The Pale Horse

Short summary - Dead Man's Folly

Short summary - The Sittaford Mystery

Short summary - Peril at End House

Short summary - A Caribbean Mystery

Short summary - The Hollow

Short summary - N or M?

Short summary - Crooked House

Short summary - At Bertram's Hotel

Short summary - After the Funeral

Short summary - Sparkling Cyanide

Short summary - Death in the Clouds

Short summary - Death Comes as the End

Short summary - Three Act Tragedy

Short summary - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Short summary - Murder Is Easy

Short summary - The Man in the Brown Suit

Archibald Joseph Cronin

Short summary - Hatter's Castle

Short summary - The Citadel

Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary

Short summary - Prisoner of Grace

Lewis Carroll

Short summary - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Short summary - Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

John le Carré - David John Moore Cornwell

Short summary - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

William Langland

Short summary - Piers Plowman

David Herbert Lawrence

Short summary - Lady Chatterley's Lover

Jack Lewis

Short summary - Sort Your Brain Out

Paul McGee

Short summary - How to Succeed with People: Remarkably Easy Ways to Engage, Influence and Motivate Almost Anyone

Greg McKeown

Short summary - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Christopher Marlowe

Short summary - The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus

Short summary - The Jew of Malta

Jean Iris Murdoch

Short summary - The Black Prince

Short summary - A Word Child

Alan Alexander Milne

Short summary - Winnie-the-Pooh

Short summary - Two People

John Milton

Short summary - Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books

Short summary - Samson Agonistes

Barbara Minto

Short summary - The Minto Pyramid Principle - Logic in Writing, Thinking and Problem Solving

Thomas More

Short summary - Utopia

William Somerset Maugham

Short summary - Theatre

Short summary - The Moon and Sixpence

Short summary - Of Human Bondage

Short summary - The Unconquered

Sir Thomas Malory

Short summary - The Death of King Arthur

Charles Robert Maturin

Short summary - Melmoth the Wanderer

Richard Aldington

Short summary - Death of a Hero

George Orwell

Short summary - 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four

Short summary - Animal Farm. A Fairy Story

John James Osborne

Short summary - Look Back in Anger

Jane Austen

Short summary - Pride and Prejudice

Short summary - Emma

Short summary - Sense and Sensibility

Sean O'Faolain - Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin

Short summary - And Again?

Irish Sagas

Short summary - The Cattle Raid of Cooley

Short summary - Tochmarc Étaíne

Short summary - The Cuchullin Saga

Harold Pinter

Short summary - The Caretaker

Alexander Pope

Short summary - The Rape of the Lock

John Boynton Priestley

Short summary - An Inspector Calls

Short summary - Dangerous Corner

Short summary - The Thirty-First of June

Thomas Mayne Reid

Short summary - The Free Lances

Short summary - The White Chief

Short summary - The Headless Horseman

Short summary - The Quadroon: Or, A Lover's Adventures in Louisiana

Short summary - Osceola The Seminole: The Red Fawn of the Flower Land

Samuel Richardson

Short summary - Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded

Short summary - Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady

Short summary - The History of Sir Charles Grandison

Joanne Rowling

Short summary - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Ahmed Salman Rushdie

Short summary - Midnight's Children

Short summary - The Satanic Verses

Short summary - Shalimar the Clown

Jonathan Swift

Short summary - Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships

Short summary - A Tale of a Tub

Walter Scott

Short summary - Ivanhoe

Short summary - Quentin Durward

Short summary - The Monastery: a Romance

Short summary - Old Mortality

Short summary - Rob Roy

Adam Smith

Short summary - An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Tobias Smollett

Short summary - The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle

Short summary - The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow

Short summary - Corridors of Power

Dame Muriel Sarah Spark

Short summary - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Laurence Sterne

Short summary - A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy

Short summary - The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy

Robert Louis Stevenson

Short summary - Treasure Island

Short summary - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Short summary - The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses

Carolyn Steel

Short summary - Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives

Tom Stoppard

Short summary - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

William Makepeace Thackeray

Short summary - Vanity Fair

Short summary - The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne

Short summary - The Newcomes

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Short summary - The Lord of the Rings

Short summary - The Hobbit; or There and Back Again

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde

Short summary - Lady Windermere's Fan. A Play About a Good Woman

Short summary - The Star-Child

Short summary - An Ideal Husband

Short summary - The Importance of Being Earnest

Short summary - The Canterville Ghost

Short summary - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Short summary - The Happy Prince and Other Tales

J. Mark G. Williams

Short summary - A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world

Toby Walsh

Short summary - 2062: The World That AI Made

John Barrington Wain

Short summary - Hurry on down

Herbert George Wells

Short summary - The War of the Worlds

Short summary - The Time Machine

Short summary - The Country of the Blind

Short summary - Empire of the Ants

Short summary - The Invisible Man

Short summary - The Island of Doctor Moreau

Irvine Welsh

Short summary - Trainspotting

Short summary - Marabou Stork Nightmares

George Farquhar

Short summary - The Recruiting Officer

John Fowles

Short summary - The Collector

Short summary - The French Lieutenant's Woman

Short summary - The Magus

Henry Fielding

Short summary - The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Short summary - The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend, Mr. Abraham Adams

Short summary - The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great

Aldous Huxley

Short summary - Brave New World

Short summary - Point Counter Point

Leslie Poles Hartley

Short summary - The Go-Between

Susan Hill

Short summary - I'm the King of the Castle

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Short summary - The Man Who Was Thursday

Short summary - The Return of Don Quixote

Short summary - The Napoleon of Notting Hill

Geoffrey Chaucer

Short summary - The Canterbury Tales

Sir Peter Levin Shaffer

Short summary - Amadeus

William Shakespeare

Short summary - Antony and Cleopatra

Short summary - The Tempest

Short summary - The Merchant of Venice

Short summary - The Merry Wives of Windsor

Short summary - The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Short summary - The First Part of King Henry the Fourth

Short summary - Twelfth Night, or What You Will

Short summary - The Winter's Tale

Short summary - The Tragedy of King Lear

Short summary - Macbeth

Short summary - Much Ado About Nothing

Short summary - The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice

Short summary - Richard III

Short summary - Romeo and Juliet

Short summary - A Midsummer Night's Dream

Short summary - The Taming of the Shrew

Mary Shelley

Short summary - Frankenstein. The Modern Prometheus

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Short summary - Prometheus Unbound

Short summary - The Cenci. A Tragedy, in Five Acts

Short summary - The Revolt of Islam

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Short summary - The School for Scandal

Short summary - The Duenna

Short summary - The Rivals

George Bernard Shaw

Short summary - Heartbreak House

Short summary - A Romance in Five Acts

Short summary - Mrs. Warren's Profession

Short summary - Caesar and Cleopatra

Mary Ann Evans

Short summary - Middlemarch

Kingsley William Amis

Short summary - Lucky Jim

Martin Louis Amis

Short summary - Night Train