Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels describes the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon. In Lilliput he discovers a world in miniature; towering over the people and their city. However, in Brobdingnag a land of giants, tiny Gulliver himself comes under observation, exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. In Laputa, a flying island, he encounters a society of speculators and projectors who have lost all grip on everyday reality.  While they plan and calculate, their country lies in ruin.

The Lord Of The Rings – J R R Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings is the saga of a group of sometimes reluctant heroes who set forth to save their world from consummate evil. Its many worlds and creatures were drawn from Tolkien's extensive knowledge of philology and folklore.

The Mysteries of Udolpho – Anne Radcliffe

The Mysteries of Udolpho follows the fortunes of Emily St Aubert, who suffers, amongst other misadventures: the death of her father; supernatural terrors in a gloomy castle and the machinations of an Italian brigand. It’s a quintessential Gothic romance, replete with incidents of physical and psychological terror; remote, crumbling castles; seemingly supernatural events; a brooding, scheming villain and a persecuted heroine.

The Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

Dickens’ great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero, as believably flawed as any in modern fiction.

A Tale Of Chaucer’s – The Canterbury Tales

In The Canterbury Tales, a group of pilgrims travelling to Canterbury Cathedral compete in a storytelling contest. This overarching plot, or frame, provides a reason for the pilgrims to tell their stories, which reflect the concerns sparked by the social upheavals of late medieval England.

The Taming of the Shrew – William Shakespeare

The ballad tells the story of a marriage in which the husband must tame his headstrong wife. Like Shrew, the story features a family with two sisters, opposite is all ways.

The Old Man in the Sea – Ernest Hemingway

This is the story of an epic struggle between an old, seasoned fisherman and the greatest catch of his life. For 84 days, Santiago, an aged Cuban fisherman, has set out to sea and returned empty-handed. So conspicuously unlucky is he that the parents of his young, devoted apprentice and friend, Manolin, have forced the boy to leave the old man in order to fish in a more prosperous boat. Nevertheless, the boy continues to care for the old man upon his return each night.

Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale. It is a fictionalised version of a then future-world where a totalitarian state scrutinises all human actions through the ever-watching Big Brother. The book's focus is Winston, a state worker who struggles to live in such an oppressive world.

On the Road – Jack Kerouac

In the winter of 1947, the reckless and joyous Dean Moriarty, fresh out of another stint in jail and newly married, comes to New York City and meets Sal Paradise, a young writer with an intellectual group of friends, amongst them the poet Carlo Marx. Dean fascinates Sal, and their friendship begins three years of restless journeys back and forth across the country. 

The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison

Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola who prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blonde, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Pecola's garden do not bloom. Her life does change in painful, devastating ways.

Beloved – Toni Morrison

Beloved begins in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Sethe, a former slave, has been living with her 18 year-old daughter Denver.  Sethe’s mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, lived with them until her death 8 years earlier.  Just before Baby’s death, Sethe’s two sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away.  Sethe believes they fled because of the malevolent presence of an abusive ghost that has haunted their house for years. Denver, however, likes the ghost, which everyone believes to be the spirit of her dead sister.

The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood

The book focuses on a religious sect called the God's Gardeners, a small community of survivors of the same biological catastrophe depicted in Atwood's earlier novel Oryx and Crake. Atwood continues to explore the effect of science and technology that has caused this plagued world, focusing on the theme of religion through the environmentally focused religious movement of the God's Gardeners.

The Grapes of Wrath

Tom, newly released from prison after serving a sentence for manslaughter, makes his way home and along the way he is joined by Jim, a former preacher.  Tom learns that his family has been evicted from the farm and has moved in with Uncle John.  When the two men reach Uncle John’s home, they find the family enticed by handbills advertising farm-labouring jobs, preparing to drive to California.  The book evokes the harshness of the Great Depression and arouses sympathy for the struggles of migrant farmworkers.

Stories of WWI – Tony Bradman

In this collection of short stories, 12 award-winning authors take you to the heart of the trenches and beyond - with powerful accounts of Zeppelin raids and front-line fighting, along with stories of everyday life lived under extraordinary circumstances. With tales of inspiring bravery, heart-breaking loss and overwhelming hope, this remarkable anthology brings to life the major events of WWI at home and around the globe.

Under Fire – Henri Barbusse

It follows a squad of French Poilu on the Western front in France after the German invasion. For the group of ordinary men in the French Sixth Battalion, thrown together from all over France and longing for home, war is simply a matter of survival, lightened only by the arrival of their rations or a glimpse of a pretty girl or a brief reprieve in the hospital.

Regeneration – Pat Barker

Regeneration begins with Siegfried Sassoon's open letter, dated July 1917, protesting the conduct and insincerities of the First World War. The letter has been published in the London Times and has received much attention in England, as many people are upset over the length and toll of the war thus far. The army is not sure what to do with Sassoon, as his letter clearly threatens to undermine the strength of the war effort at home.

Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

The plot follows two main characters living at different times: the first is Stephen Wraysford, a British soldier on the front line in Amiens during the First World War, and the second is his granddaughter, Elizabeth Benson, whose 1970s plotline follows her attempts to recover an understanding of Stephen's experience.

A Very Long Engagement – Sebastien Japrisot

Set in France during World War I, it follows Mathilde, who doubts the veracity of a report that her fiancee, Manech, has been killed in combat. She uses her investigative skills to gather information about his location.  The story is shaped by a series of clues that Mathilde discovers about what befell her fiancee between two days and two nights in January 1917.

A Foreign Field – Ben Macintyre

A wartime romance, survival saga and murder mystery set in rural France during the First World War. Height of the fighting on the Western front in August 1914; unable to get back to their units, they shelter in the tiny French village of Villeret. Living in daily fear of capture and execution, they are fed, clothed and protected by the villagers.

Her Privates We – Frederic Manning

First published in 1930, 'Her Privates We' is the great book of World War I written from the ordinary soldier's point of view. Called the "book of books" by Lawrence of Arabia, 'Her Privates We' is an expressionist classic that magnificently captures the horror of war. The narrative follows Private Bourne, Manning's lightly fictionalised alter ego. Stranded in a figurative no-man's-land, he knows that his education keeps him apart from his comrades and that his pride keeps him apart from his officers.

All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet on the Western Front tells the story of a group of young Germans who enlist in World War I after being captivated by slogans of patriotism and honour. It is narrated by the protagonist, Paul. The young men soon learn that the romanticised version of war that was described to them is nothing like the battlefields they encounter.

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man – Siegfried Sassoon

Decorated for bravery on the Western Front he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. The stories are basically a fictionalised autobiographical account of Sassoon's own life and follows a young Englishman of an upper middle-class, named George.

Memoirs of an Infantry Officer – Siegfried Sassoon

Memoirs of an Infantry Officer is a novel by Siegfried Sassoon, first published in 1930. It is a fictionalised account of Sassoon's own life during and immediately after World War I. Soon after its release, it was heralded as a classic and was even more successful than its predecessor, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man.

Only a Dog – Bertha Whitridge Smith

This is a touching true story of the faithfulness of an Irish Terrier. When Germans invade his home, the dog runs off to look for his young master. He soon finds himself trapped in No Man's Land, injured by a bullet. British Private Pete Rice comes to his rescue, and thereafter Army (as the soldiers name him) follows Pete to the end, staying faithfully at his side until death.

War Horse – Michael Morpurgo

In 1914, Joey, a beautiful bay-red foal with a distinctive cross on his nose, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges towards the enemy, witnessing the horror of the battles in France. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey's courage touches the soldiers around him and he is able to find warmth and hope. This is a powerful tale of war, redemption and a hero's journey.

Listen to the Moon – Michael Morpurgo

May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island injured, thirsty, lost and with absolutely no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. She can say only one word: Lucy. Only one thing is for sure: she loves music and moonlight and it is when she listens to the gramophone that the glimmers of the girl she once was begin to appear.

Private Peaceful – Michael Morpurgo

For young Private Peaceful, looking back over his childhood while he is on night watch in the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life deep in the countryside: his mother, Charlie, Big Joe, and Molly, the love of his life.

Five Children on the Western Front – Kate Saunders

The five children have grown up and World War I has begun in earnest. Cyril is off to fight; Anthea is at art college; Robert is a Cambridge scholar and Jane is at high school. The author illustrates the power of war but the even greater power of family and the love that carries us out of the darkness of despair into the light of hope.

An Eagle in the Snow – Michael Morpurgo

Barney is on a train with his mother when a siren sounds and the journey grinds to a halt. Sitting in the darkness, a stranger in their cabin offers to tell the true story of a highly decorated World War I soldier, who had a chance to kill a young Adolf Hitler - but let him go. They're escaping to the country having lost everything in the city's bombing. Sadly trouble seems to follow them and their train is attacked by German fighter planes.

WW1 Poems (Poems by Stephan J Myers Book 3)

Written to celebrate the centennial year of Armistice Day, Myers and Woodstock met with serving members of HM Armed Forces, their spouses, widows and children to create one of the most intimidate poetic explorations of war you will ever read. Capturing their innermost thoughts from past and present. From the powerfully haunting and poignant to cutting criticism in prose that is heartfelt and evocative. They explore loss, honour, heroism and the stark reality of losing a loved one to war.

Carrie’s War – Nina Bawden

Albert, Carrie and young Nick are wartime evacuees whose lives get so tangled up with the people they've come to live amongst that the war and their real families seem to belong to another world.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne

This tells the story of Bruno, a young German boy growing up during World War II. As a 9-year-old, Bruno lived in his own world of imagination. He enjoyed reading adventure stories and going on expeditions to explore the lesser-known corners of his family’s massive house in Berlin. Although his father served as an officer in Germany’s Nazi Party, Bruno understood little about his work. Nor did he understand anything about the war. Then he encounters a fence and meets a little boy in striped pyjamas.

Charlotte Gray – Sebastian Faulks

Occupied from France from the Nazis while pursuing a perilous mission of her own. In blacked-out, wartime London, Charlotte Gray develops a dangerous passion for a battle-weary RAF pilot, and when he fails to return from a daring flight into France she is determined to find him. In the service of the Resistance, she travels to the village of Lavaurette, dyeing her hair and changing her name to conceal her identity.

Enigma – Robert Harris

A member of a top-secret team of British cryptographers, Tom Jericho succeeds in cracking "Shark," the impenetrable operational cipher used by Nazi U-boats, but when the Germans change the code, Jericho must break the new code before the traitor amongst his group can stop him. Tom is a young mathematician trying to break the Germans' "Enigma" ciphers during World War II.

Fatherland – Robert Harris

In a world where Nazi Germany won the Second World War, a German policeman investigates a conspiracy involving the deaths of high-ranking Nazis and must decide how much he is prepared to sacrifice in order to discover the darkest secrets of the victorious Third Reich.

A Pale View of the Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro

This tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. Retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But then as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko - a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy - the memories take on a disturbing cast.

Bombs on Aunt Dainty – Judith Kerr

The city is full of refugees who have escaped from the Nazis and you can imagine their depression as they all gathered around radios listening to the news of the German army swarming through country after country and seemingly only kept at bay from England by that very narrow channel. But it is even harder for Anna, who is still officially classified as an “enemy alien”. Those bombs are coming from Germany – the country that was once her own. If Hitler invades, can she and her beloved refugee family possibly survive?

Agent  Zigzag – Ben Macintyre

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with a revolver, a wireless, and a cyanide pill, with orders to blow up an airplane factory.

Goodnight Mister Tom – Michelle Magorian

London is poised on the brink of World War II. Timid, scrawny Willie Beech -- the abused child of a single mother -- is evacuated to the English countryside. At first, he is terrified of everything, of the country sounds and sights, even of Mr Tom. But gradually Willie forgets the hate and despair of his past. He learns to love a world he never knew existed, a world of friendship and affection in which harsh words and daily beatings have no place. Then a telegram comes.

I Was There – Hans Peter Richter

Hans and his friend Gunther, are just trying to get through life with Adolf Hitler being elected in Germany. Gunther's father was against Hitler, but eight-year-olds Hans and Gunther join the SS youth program, and later enter the military, where they are swept away by Hitler's regime.

Yellow Star – Jennifer Roy

For more than 50 years after the war, Syvia, like many Holocaust survivors, did not talk about her experiences in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. She buried her past in order to move forward. But finally she decided it was time to share her story, and so she told it to her niece, who has re-told it here using free verse inspired by her aunt.

Maus – Art Spiegelman

An undisputed masterpiece of the graphic novel form, representing Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, Spiegelman’s profoundly moving work traces his father’s harrowing experiences of Auschwitz and the challenges of adjusting to peacetime life after an all-consuming ordeal.

Waiting for Anya – Michael Morpurgo

The gripping story of a boy who risks his life to take Jewish refugees to safety during World War II. A reclusive widow’s farm has become a haven for a growing band of Jewish children hiding from the Nazis. Jo knows he must keep the secret and help out any way he can. But when German soldiers move into town, the danger suddenly becomes much more real.

King of the Cloud Forests – Michael Morpurgo

When Japan invaded China, Ashley and Uncle Sung are forced to flee. It is a perilous journey across the Himalayas and they struggle to survive. Then Ashley is captured. This is the story of Ashley Anderson, the son of a missionary working in China. When the Japanese invade his adopted country he must flee with his Uncle Sung across the Himalayas into India.

Friend or Foe – Michael Morpurgo

It's the Second World War, and the Germans are bombing London. Everyone hates them, especially David: they killed his father. Now, because of the Blitz, David and his friend Tucky have been evacuated to the countryside, where they must live with strangers. Then one night they see a German plane crash on the moors. They feel they should hate the airmen insides, but can they just leave them to die? 

The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips – Michael Morpurgo

It's 1943, and Lily Tregenze lives on a farm, in the idyllic seaside village of Slapton. Apart from her father being away, and the 'townie' evacuees at school, her life is scarcely touched by the war. Until one day, Lily and her family, along with 3000 other villagers, are told to move out of their homes. A heart-warming tale of courage and warmth, set against the backdrop of the second world war, about an abandoned village, a lifelong friendship and one very adventurous cat.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – Judith Kerr

This is first of the internationally acclaimed trilogy by Judith Kerr telling the unforgettable story of a Jewish family fleeing from Germany at the start of the Second World War.  Suppose your country began to change. Suppose that without you noticing, it became dangerous for some people to live in Germany any longer. Suppose you found, to your complete surprise, that your own father was one of those people. That is what happened to Anna in 1933.

Hitler’s Canary – Sandi Toksvig

10 year old Bamse, the youngest son of an actress and an artist, has grown up sur­round­ed by theatre peo­ple; his mother’s response to the German’s arrival in Copen­hagen is ​“we must change at once.” Bamse and his best friend, Anton amuse them­selves play­ing tricks on the Ger­man sol­diers. In this story, Bamse himself stands as a metaphor for the extraordinary efforts of the Danes to save their Jewish countrymen: in the face of courage and goodness, power and size will remain fallible.

Once – Morris Gleitzmann

This WWII saga is the story of Felix: a kid who never loses faith in goodness. He's a walking ray of sunshine and war won't extinguish that. This is a particularly moving and unusual look at war, seen through Felix's trusting eyes. This is a war story which spans the Holocaust to the present day and captures a young boy's hope and resilience in the face of horror.

Back Home – Michelle Magorian

Rusty was sent to the United States from England at the age of 7 to survive the war. When she returns in 1945, she finds a country and a family she neither understands nor likes.  This is a story about a girl named Rusty dealing with the difficulties of boarding school; her changed father and a new brother, after coming back from America where everything was different.

The Boy at the Top of the Mountain – John Boyne

When Pierrot becomes an orphan, he must leave his home in Paris for a new life with his Aunt Beatrix, a servant in a wealthy household at the top of the German mountains. But this is no ordinary time, for it is 1935 and the Second World War is fast approaching; and this is no ordinary house, for this is the Berghof, the home of Adolf Hitler.

The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a 13 year old girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in a 'Secret Annexe' in an office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters and the ever-present threat of discovery.

The Silver Sword – Ian Serraillier

Having lost their parents in the chaos of war Ruth, Edek and Bronia are left alone to fend for themselves and hide from the Nazis amid the rubble and ruins of their city. They meet a ragged orphan boy, Jan, who treasures a paperknife - a silver sword - which was entrusted to him by an escaped prisoner of war. This is based on the true story which became the symbol of hope and courage to keep four deserted and starving children alive through the years of occupation and afterwards on the search to find their parents.

The Machine Gunners – Robert Westall

With Nazi planes raining bombs on England night after night, every boy has a collection of shrapnel and other war souvenirs. But nothing comes close to the working machine gun Chas pulls out of a downed bomber. While the police search frantically for the missing gun, Chas and his friends build a secret fortress to fight the Germans themselves.

Blitzcat – Robert Westall

This extraordinary book depicts a courageous black cat who journeys through war-torn England in the early days of WWII searching for her beloved master.  Lord Gort is an ordinary cat: she has no magic powers and rarely does anything more than what other cats can do. When her master leaves home to fight the Germans, Lord Gort sets out to track him down.

The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak

The Book Thief is a story narrated by a compassionate Death who tells us about Liesel, a girl growing up in Germany during WWII. She steals books, learns to read and finds comfort in words. She and Max are the only main characters that survive the war.

Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

10 year old Annemarie and her best friend Ellen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages and soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are 'relocated', Ellen moves in with Annemarie's family and pretends.

A Song for Summer – Eva Ibbotson

Set against the backdrop of gathering war, this is an unforgettable love story. The book is set in the 1930s-40s, and is centred around the life of Ellen, the daughter of an English suffragette. When Ellen abandons grey, dreary London to become housekeeper at an experimental school in Austria, she soon knows she's found her calling.