British Literature Headquarters

Jane Austen 

Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice

Fitzwilliam Darcy - the dashing hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the aristocrat and great fellow according to his peers, the perfect lover to one Elizabeth Bennet, and the best man ever featured in the English literature. Check my other le...

My Favourite Pride and Prejudice Fanfiction

There are many stories I haven't read yet, so obviously this can't be a list of all the best fanfics out there, but it does include some of the best I've found so far. I enjoy a good characterisation of Lizzy and Darcy, and if that's what you're look...

Jane Austen

Jane Austen is one of Britain's best loved novelists and is acclaimed as one of the greatest novelists of all time.  Jane wrote six novels during her short lifetime: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Ab...

Jane Austen FanFiction: The Ultimate Guide

There are over 90 links at this lens leading to thousands of Jane Austen FanFiction stories. If you are looking for a new source to sustain your addiction I hope you'll find something for yourself here. However, if you are new to Jane Austen FanFict...

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

In Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen combines elements of comedy, psychological novel, romance, and insight into her society in order to create the cleverest book of all times. Five Bennet sisters lead their uneventful life in Hertfordshire until thei...

MANSFIELD PARK

Mansfield Park is one of Jane Austen's later novels. At the age of ten, Fanny Price leaves her poor Portsmouth family to be brought up among her wealthy relatives, in the chilly grandeur of Mansfield Park. She gradually falls in love with her cousin...

Why We Still Love You, Mr Darcy!

He's rude, arrogant and anti-social. Yet he is one of literatures most enduring fictional romantic icons, desired by women throughout the 20th and 21st century. Mr Darcy, who you might be forgiven for thinking is no longer 'relevant' to the modern f...

Jane Austen Audio Books

Jane Austen Audio Books - Jane Austen can be counted among the most influential woman authors in the English literature. Her books about the emancipation of women, their needs and the many obstacles they faced in time Jane Austen lived have changed t...

Pride and Prejudice and Other Austen's Novels: Movies & TV Guide

There are so many adaptations of Austen's novels that it's easy to get lost. Have you seen the best of them? Are you looking for a new one? Or simply want to see them at one place without having to look through many pages of repeated offers? This le...

NORTHANGER ABBEY

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen illustrates the misadventures of young and ingenuous Catherine Morland, an untiring reader of gothic novels. Their romantic excess and dark pictures feed her imagination, as oppressive fathers and diabolical villains w...

Jane Austen Blogs

There are many Jane Austen related blogs, and it's difficult to follow all of them. This lens is an attempt to organize them for common convenience. You don't need a feed anymore! You don't even need to know what it is if you never heard of it. Just...

Lensography: MrDarcy

My name is MrDarcy. I have been a member since January 11 2008, and have created 11 lenses and one group from scratch. My first lens is my top-ranked page today: "My Favourite Pride and Prejudice Fanfiction". In summer of the same year I became a Fi...

Pride and Prejudice Video Showcase

Few things can be better than reading the book, but watching Pride and Prejudice isn't that bad, is it? Enjoy once more your favourite moments from the 1995 BBC TV series, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.

Darcy

Fitzwilliam Darcy, born 1784, Pemberley, Derbyshire, England. The son of Lady Anne nee Fitzwilliam and Mr. Darcy Sr. Married to Elizabeth nee Bennet. A gentleman. Mr. Darcy is a literary hero created by Jane Austen in her wonderful book Pride and Pr...

Desmond Bagley 

Desmond Bagley, the British thriller author

Desmond Bagley was a British thriller author, who wrote from 1963 to 1985. One of a group of authors who defined and established the genre, his books have recently been reprinted and remain both gripping reads, and with a few exceptions, surprisingly...

Sarah Barnard 

Sarah Barnard - Author

Sarah Barnard's debut novel "The Portal Between" was self published through Lulu.com early in 2008 and has since grown to find it's way onto the websites of Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmiths, Barnes & Noble, Borders and most good online bookstores, as we...

Charlotte Bronte 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, one of the most influential and famous of English novels, its adaptations and related works inspired by the novel.

Lord Byron 

Lord Byron: The Life and Work of a Poet

The poet Lord Byron, whose full name was George Gordon Byron, was an outstanding figure of the Romantic movement. Born in 1788, his life and poetry present examples of the excitement and despair of the early 19th Century. The following is a study of...

Agatha Christie 

Agatha Christie's Booklist

Thinking about Agatha Christie books, reading them or even watching Agatha Christie on television makes me think of my grandmother. Nan and I both shared a love of Agatha Christie books, I can't remember the exact one I read first, but I soon discove...

Agatha Christie Audio Books

Agatha Christie Audio Books are a great way to enjoy the special charm and the British touch of Christie's so well written detective stories. Having a skilled narrator read the adventures of Miss Marple to you makes the stories even beter than when y...

Miss Marple as played by Joan Hickson

Agatha Christie must have had great fun writing her Miss Marple murder mysteries. Miss Marple was the spinster aunt we all would invent for ourselves - caring, observant and intelligent. If she was an irritation to some, she was much loved by others....

Wilkie Collins 

Wilkie Collins: Inventor of the Crime Novel?

Most famous for his novels The Moonstone and The Woman in White, writer Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) has been credited with inventing the detective novel genre although most of his books could be described as 'sensation novels'. In fact, it's probably...

Susan Cooper 

The Dark is Rising

This sequence of five novels, is a favourite of adults as well as children. They are among the few special books like The Hobbit and the Harry Potter novels which bridge this gap. Like those, The Dark is Rising Sequence of books are fantasy novels....

Richmal Crompton 

Richmal Crompton, author of Just William

Although Richmal Crompton wrote 41 novels for adults and 9 collections of short stories, it was her humorous 'William' stories about an 11 year old boy and his gang the 'Outlaws' that she is remembered for. Even during her long life, much to her anno...

Charles Dickens 

Charles Dickens Audio Books

Charles Dickens audio books are an excellent way to get to know this classic author with his epic novels. His books provide a great study of the conditions in which people lived in his time: In the 19th century, when Britain was the major economic a...

Bleak House

Bleak House is a satirical look at the complicated legal system in London as it consumes the minds and talents of the greedy and nearly destroys the lives of innocents. Dickens's tale takes us from the foggy streets of 19th century London and the ma...

Charles Dickens and his books

When the internet has become popular for selling downloads of novels chapter by chapter, or Amazon is selling chapters on Kindle it is a practice that Charles Dickens started as a popular format for selling his fiction in periodicals. Unlike other au...

T. S. Eliot 

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Explore this lens for various explanations of Eliot's inspirational (and sometimes humorous) poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" speaks across the generations as young people everywhere explore who they...

Jasper Fforde 

Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde is a British writer known for his five novels about Thursday Next, literary detective, and the Nursery Crimes series. Thursday Next lives in an alternate England circa 1985. It's a world where airships rule the skies, extinct animals hav...

Frederick Forsyth 

The Shepherd - a short novel by Frederick Forsyth

The Shepherd was a short story published in 1976 as a stand alone book. Written by Frederick Forsyth, the well known author of "Day of the Jackal" and "the Odessa file", it is one of the best known and best loved christmas stories, read regularly on...

Dick Francis 

Books by Dick Francis

Dick Francis was born in south Wales in 1920. Following a distinguished career as a jockey (riding horses belonging to, amongst others, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother), he moved into the field of journalism. This led to him taking up t...

Neil Gaiman 

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch - a novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, is a novel jointly written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and first published in 1990 The plot of the book concerns an unusual young boy, an unconventional angel, an even more...

Stardust - A Novel By Neil Gaiman

Award winning British author, Neil Gaiman wrote the novel, "Stardust" and in it he weaves a sparking, magical tale that will enchant and enthrall anyone who loves a good tale, well told. If you love stories or films such as "The Princess Bride", "Le...

Neverwhere By Neil Gaiman

Under the streets of London there's a secret world which is Neverwhere...a dark mysterious place of shadows, tunnels and abandoned underground stations populated by assassins and warriors, angels and vampires, talking rats and a hierarchy of nob...

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman poses the question; "How would YOU react if you found out your Dad was a God?" Following on loosely from his bestselling novel "American Gods", author Neil Gaiman has taken the popular character of &q...

American Gods By Neil Gaiman

Have you ever wondered what happens to Gods when people stop believing in them? In his internationally acclaimed bestselling novel "American Gods", award winning British author Neil Gaiman tells the intriguing tale of Shadow, an ordinar...

Coraline

Coraline is a novella by the British author Neil Gaiman, which was first published in 2002. Coraline is a fantasy tale in which Coraline Jones, a smart, feisty and curious young girl, home from school for the summer holidays finds herself very bored...

The Works Of Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman - British born author of fantasy and science fiction novels, short stories, poems, graphic novels and films. Neil Gaiman is possibly best known for "The Sandman" graphic novels, and his books "Stardust", "American...

Elizabeth Gaskell 

Elizabeth Gaskell : Author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was a well-respected and popular author in her own day and known to modern readers from the television adaptations of Wives & Daughters, North & South, and Cranford. Many of her books dealt with social concerns...

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

A novel by Elizabeth Gaskell turned into a 2004 mini-series by the BBC TV starring Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage.

David Gemmell 

Legend

Legend is the first novel by British fantasy writer David Gemmell. First published in 1984, it introduced the world to the axe wielding hero, Druss the Legend. Legend is also the first book to be set in the fictional Drenai empire.

David Gemmell's Drenai Tales

Welcome to my Squidoo lens on David Gemmell's Drenai Series. The Drenai saga spans a few generations, from the time of the enagmatic anti hero, Waylander to Druss the Legend and the seige of Dros Delnoch by the Nadir, all the way to the time of Tena...

Stella Gibbons 

Stella Gibbons

On January 5, 1902, in Hampstead, London, England, Stella Dorothea Gibbons was born. Gibbons career as an author would span forty years, and would include the award-winning Cold Comfort Farm, which remains Gibbons most identifiable work of literature...

Robert Graves 

I, Claudius : Classic Books

The Claudius Novels are superb, timeless classics, and if you haven't read them yet, you have missed one of the great works of the 20th century. These two novels by Robert Graves on the Roman Emperor Claudius make up what has to be the greatest...

Georgette Heyer 

Author Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer (say her name correctly: HAIR) was a prolific author, penning approximately 60 historical romance and detective fiction novels from the 1920s to the 1970s. Her Regency romances, especially, continue in popularity and are still the sta...

Rupert Isaacson 

The Horse Boy

Information about Rupert Isaacson's latest book, The Horse Boy , the documentary based on his journey, Over the Hills and Far Away, autism, and other projects that Rupert Isaacson is involved with. Meet Rupert Isaacson, his autistic son Rowan, and l...

Michael Jecks 

Micheal Jecks and the Templar mysteries

The Templar series are a set of books written by Micheal Jecks. Originally set on the moors in Britain in the 1300's. Sir Baldwin, Keeper of the King's Peace in Dartmoor, and his friend Simon Puttock, the Stannary balif are the two men responsible f...

Sophie Kinsella 

Confessions Of A Shopaholic

I bought "Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella a short while ago, mainly through a recommendation by a close friend. It has been sitting on my bookcase for some time, and now with the need for a little light reading (with more than a splas...

Sophie Kinsella

Sophie Kinsella (born December 12, 1969) is the pen name of British author Madeleine Wickham. As Sophie Kinsella she has become well-known for the creation of the very successful Shopaholic set of novels, featuring the mishaps of her central charact...

Rudyard Kipling 

The Life & Works of Rudyard Kipling

For many years Rudyard Kipling has been deeply unfashionable. He's been accused of jingoism, imperialism and racism as typified by this poem The White Man's Burden. Take up the White Man's burden- Send forth the best ye breed- Go, bind your sons to e...

John Le Carre 

The books of John Le Carre

John Le Carre is the English writer best known for disillusioned, suspenseful spy novels based on a wide knowledge of international espionage. Le Carré's famous hero is George Smiley, a Chekhovian character and shadow like member of the Britis...

Gavin Lyall 

Gavin Lyall's flight thrillers

Gavin Lyall was a thriller author. Among his works were four books which have been grouped together as his flight books. Drawing on his experience in the RAF and as an aviation reporter, the books delve into the shady side of aviation (or more litera...

Ian McEwan 

Saturday By Ian McEwan

"Saturday" is a novel by multi-award winning author, Ian McEwan, first published in 2005. "Saturday" is the story of a day in the life of a 48 year old London neurosurgeon, Henry Perowne. The novel is set on Saturday, 15th February 2003. Henry wake...

Ian McEwan - British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, And Screenwriter

Ian McEwan has been writing fiction since the 1970's and has written many bestsellers and received numerous literary awards and glowing critical acclaim. It is difficult to sum up Ian McEwan's writing...a few words and phrases spring to mind...

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

The Cement Garden" is the first novel written by award-winning British author, Ian McEwan. It was originally published in 1978. The Cement Garden is a beautifully woven, but very dark tale of childhood and lost innocence... The plot of The Ce...

Atonement By Ian McEwan

"Atonement" is a novel by award winning writer, Ian McEwan, first published in 2001. The plot of "Atonement" follows the life of Briony Tallis, from naive teenager to elderly woman. In 1935, Briony 13 years old, an aspiring writer and the youngest...

On Chesil Beach By Ian McEwan

"On Chesil Beach" is a novel by multi-award winning author, Ian McEwan first published in 2007 On a summer evening in 1962, two newlyweds sit down to dinner in the honeymoon suite of a Dorset hotel. Edward and Florence are both aged 22, both virgins...

Amsterdam By Ian McEwan

"Amsterdam" is a novel by multi-award winning author Ian McEwan, first published in 1998. The plot of "Amsterdam" follows two old friends, Clive, a composer and Vernon, a newspaper editor, who attend the funeral of a woman who had been a friend and...

The Innocent By Ian McEwan

"The Innocent" is Ian McEwan's fourth novel, first published in 1989. "The Innocent" is centered around Leonard Markham, a young, idealistic English electronics engineer sent to Germany during the Cold War to work on an Anglo-American intelligence p...

The Comfort Of Strangers By Ian McEwan

The Comfort Of Strangers is Ian McEwan's second novel, first published in 1981. A bored couple journey to an un-named city in search of excitement. There they meet an enigmatic stranger who entangles them in a web from which there may be no escape.....

Enduring Love By Ian McEwan

"Enduring Love" is a novel by award winning writer Ian McEwan, first published in 1997 On an ordinary spring day, while he is enjoying a picnic with his girlfriend, Clarissa, the calm, organised, ordinary life of science writer Joe Rose is turned up...

Black Dogs By Ian McEwan

"Black Dogs" is a novel by multi-award winning British author Ian McEwan, first published in 1992. In 1946, a young couple, Bernard and June, set off on their honeymoon. Fired by their ideals and passion for one another, they plan an idyllic holiday...

First Love, Last Rites By Ian McEwan

First Love, Last Rites is Ian McEwan's first collection of short stories and was originally published in 1975. This collection was Ian McEwan's first published work and comprises a collection of eight short stories, all of which are summarised indiv...

The Child In Time By Ian McEwan

"The Child In Time" is Ian McEwan's third novel, first published in 1987. The Child In Time deals with the tragic theme of child abduction. Stephen Lewis, a children's book author, takes his 3-year-old daughter Kate on a routine Saturday morning sh...

In Between The Sheets By Ian McEwan

"In Between The Sheets" is a collection of short stories by award-winning author Ian McEwan, first published in 1978 Like McEwan's earlier short story collection, "First Love, Last Rites", the individual stories in "In...

William McGonagall 

William McGonagall

William McGonagall (1825 - 1902) was an ordinary working class Scottish man employed as a weaver in Dundee's textile industry. One momentous day in 1877 when he was aged 52, literally in a sudden blinding flash of "divine" enlightenment, he "received...

John Milton 

Paradise Lost, A Genius Portrayal of Adam and Eve

Milton's epic poem details Adam and Eve's fall from grace. Milton intrigues narrating as a prophet, presuming the will of the Christian God. The theme is that God is justified in his actions towards man. For Milton to claim that he is capable of this...

John Milton: Author of Paradise Lost

John Milton is widely considered the greatest epic poet in the English language thanks particularly to his most famous work 'Paradise Lost'. Born in 1608, Milton's life and work were to fall into three distinct phases. This page will reveal the histo...

Nicholas Monsarrat 

The Master Mariner - The books by Nicholas Monsarrat

The Master Mariner stories were written by Nicholas Monsarrat to illustrate the role of seamen throughout the ages. His title character, an Elizabethan sailor called Matthew Lawe, is cursed to wander the seas "until all the seas run dry" an...

Alfred Noyes 

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

The Highwayman is a narrative poem by Alfred Noyes. It tells the story of a Highwayman, his true love, Bess and the jealous ostler who comes between them. A tragic poem "The Highwayman" remains popular and is often studied in schools. Lens image fr...

Jamie Oliver 

Jamie’s American Roadtrip & Jamie Oliver's New Reality Food Show

Jamie Oliver's a busy man. He has not one but rather two new shows cooking. Yes, it is the summer of 2009 and there are two new shows being talked about. If you are a bit confused, I don't blame you because I was, too. However, it is now my understan...

Stephen Pile 

Stephen Pile's Book of Heroic Failures

"The Book of Heroic Failures" was a book written in 1979 by Stephen Pile, chairman of the Not Terribly Good club - to join, you had to be "Not Terribly Good" at something, and preferably awful. The book was an overnight sensation and lead to a seque...

Terry Pratchett 

The Carpet People

The Carpet People is the story of Snibril, the Dumii empire, the terrible mouls, the Munrung tribe, and above all - the fearful, unstoppable Fray. It is the tale of the mystical Wights, mining varnish from Achairleg; Pismire the philospher; the myste...

The Unadulterated Cat

The Unadulterated Cat is Terry Pratchett's take on living with those terrifying little bundles of fur known as Real Cats. The Campaign For Real Cats aims to celebrate the low number of Real Cats that lurk among their Unreal fellows. A short, hig...

The Discworld Series and Other Books By Terry Pratchett

This page is an attempt to create a starting point for people interested in Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series. There's a terribly shocking lack of reviews on Squidoo, so I've started by listing all the books, grouped in approximate sub...

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch - a novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, is a novel jointly written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and first published in 1990 The plot of the book concerns an unusual young boy, an unconventional angel, an even more...

Unseen Academicals

Unseen Academicals is the latest book from the wonderfully clever Terry Pratchett. I'm not at all sorry to say that this isn't a Rincewind or a Vimes or a De Worde book, although they all feature in it. Not at all sorry - because Unseen Acade...

Never Start With The First Discworld Book

Terry Pratchett is a wonderful author, with devoted fans the world over, but at thirty seven books (not counting the Young Adult novels) it can be a daunting series for new readers to jump into. Add to that the diverse array of story threads, an evol...

Ruth Rendell 

Author Ruth Rendell

Ruth Rendell is an extremely prolific British mystery writer. She has captured three major Edgar awards-one for the novel A Dark Adapted Eye (1987) and for two short stories-The Fallen Curtain (1975) and The New Girl Friend (1984). In addition to the...

Alastair Reynolds 

The Revelation Space Universe

The Revelation Space Universe was created by science fiction author Alastair Reynolds. It is the setting for most of his novels and short stories and takes its name from his first novel. It is also one of my favourite SF series of books. The novels...

William Shakespeare 

William Shakespeare Audio Books

To listen to William Shakespeare Audio Books is nearly as good as being in a great theatre and watching his famous plays live! Also, by having these audiobooks at home, you are able and ready to listen to the Bard's plays anytime you feel like it. W...

Mary Shelley 

Frankenstein's Bad Rap

Frankenstein's creation definitely does not deserve the bad reputation he has in the popular culture, thanks to sources like this image from the Boris Karloff film.

Robert Louis Stevenson 

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) was a prolific Scottish writer best known for his seafaring adventure novels, "Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped". Another of his most famous stories is "The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde". Many of his wo...

Rosemary Sutcliff 

Rosemary Sutcliff : Author

Rosemary Sutcliff was first and foremost a great storyteller and said of herself that she belonged to the minstrelsy. With her impeccable historical research, thrilling tales and her own poetic and rich prose, she has gifted us with books which are a...

William Makepeace Thackeray 

William Makepeace Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-63) was an English author. His novels included the novels Vanity Fair (1847-48), Pendennis (1850), Henry Esmond (1852) and The Newcombes (1853-55). His masterpiece, Vanity Fair, features the adventuress Becky Sharp,...

J.R.R Tolkien 

The Lord of the Rings - the "There and Back Again" Movement of the Novel

One of the titles that Bilbo gave to his memoirs is "There and Back Again. And What Happened After." and in many ways this sums up the movement of the novel - the journey away from the safe, familiar Shire where the hobbits are the fantasy equivalent...

Peter Tremayne 

Sister Fidelma - murder mystery in medieval Ireland

Sister Fidelma is the main character in a series of murder mysteries written by Peter Tremayne. Set in 9th century Ireland, during the conflict between the Irish and Catholic churches, the series focuses as much on the politics and culture of the tim...

Victoria Twead 

Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools

Newly released and a perfect Christmas gift! Vicky and Joe's story: bursting with irreverent humour, animals, eccentric characters and sunshine. Awarded HarperCollins Gold Star. And now it's available from Amazon USA, Waterstones, Barnes and...

Penny Vincenzi 

Penny Vincenzi

Penny Vincenzi is one of the UK's top authors having sold millions of her books worldwide. From Old Sins through to An Absolute Scandal Penny Vincenzi writes books that are impossible to put down until they are finished. After that you still want mo...

HG Wells 

HG Wells - The Father of Science Fiction

HG Wells wrote many science fiction books, including: The Time Machine The War of the Worlds The Island of Dr. Moreau The Invisible Man First Men in the Moon The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth Most of his major works have been made into...

William Wordsworth 

Wordsworth's Lake District

William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth and spent most of his life in Grasmere and Rydal, in the heart of the Lake District. Rydal Water is pictured here. Rydal Water and Grasmere Lake, pictured below, were sources of inpsiration to Wordsworth an...

David Whyte 

David Whyte: Poet

I was introduced to DAVID WHYTE's poetry over a decade ago. Many of the poems touched me deeply and had an impact on my life. This lens is to share his life's work. DAVID WHYTE is also a lecturer, and corporate consultant. He's an adventurous poet...

Harry Potter 

The Horcruxes of Lord Voldemort

**SPOILER ALERT!** Horcruxes are dark magical objects that hold a piece of your soul. They were first introduced in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when young Tom Riddle asked Professor Slughorn about them. Slughorn told Riddle that they wer...

10 Books About Harry Potter

This is the first in a series that tries to identify the ten best books about a given subject. Here, we look at books about Harry Potter. That is to say, not the original books, but those by fans and critics that look at the Harry Potter phenomenon....

Harry Potter Online

The Harry Potter phenomenon continues unabated. The film of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is currently in post production and will be released a few weeks before Christmas 2008 in July 2009. Harry Potter Online will keep you up to date with...

Harry Potter Prequel

The Harry Potter world is buzzing with excitement about the surprise release of a 800word short story by JK Rowling. Set in the 1970's, 3 years before Harry Potter was born, it was written as a submission to a collection of short stories published by...

Harry Potter Magic Wands

This Lens was originally intended to be dedicated to the Magic Wands used by Harry Potter and his fellow wizards and witches. However my research has uncovered various other interesting items of information relating to the Harry Potter stories, so th...

HARRY POTTER CO UK

HARRY POTTER CO UK - THE WIERD and WONDERFUL LIFE of HARRY POTTER! HARRY JAMES POTTER - WIZARD EXTRAORDINARE!shr378vdmi

Harry Potter - taking over the world.

Have you heard of Harry Potter? No? Then where have you been! Harry Potter is a phenomenon; from simple beginnings as a children's book, Harry Potter has engulfed the world with extravagant movies, merchandise to fill your basement, video and board g...

The Tales of Beedle The Bard by J. K. Rowling 

The Tales of Beedle The Bard Children's Book Review

The Tales of Beedle The Bard is a small book comprised of five wizarding fairy tales written by J.K. Rowling the net proceeds of which will benefit the Children's High Level Group. The first seven books of this title were handcrafted and sold for mil...

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis 

Prince Caspian

This lens is devoted to book two of C.S. Lewis' masterful "Chronicles of Narnia" series. Discussion on the movies are welcome, but we will focus on the books themselves.

Which Narnian Chronicle Should Be Read First?

Recent reissues of The Chronicles of Narnia have numbered the books in chronological order rather than the order in which they were written and published. This is just plain wrong! Lucy stumbles into the wardrobe, unknowing and unknown by the first-...

Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven novels for children, written by C S Lewis, which has been adapted for radio, television and more recently, cinema. The Narnia books are regarded as classics of children's literature and they are C S Lewi...

Children's Literature 

Tim and Tobias - the Hidden People books

A series of children's books written by Sheila K. McCullagh, the books were designed to get children interested in reading. Also called "Tim and Tobias" and "Flightpath to Reading" they were exceptionally popular. Tim is a yo...

Watership Down - the children's novel and film

"Watership Down" was a novel by Richard Adams, about a group of rabbits trying to find a new warren and their adventures along the way. Inspired by a real warren of rabbits who lived on Watership Down, a hill in Hampshire, Richard Adams created a det...

English Folk Tales and Fairy Tales

Escape into the wonderous, fantastical and often humorous world of English fairytales and folklore. Read selections from folklorist Joseph Jacobs' collection titled "English Fairy Tales." This lens will be updated periodically with more stories and...

Children's Poetry 

Classic Funny Poems for Kids

I can still remember some of the humorous poems that were read to us children at infants school. Some, like The Jumblies and Matilda (who told such dreadful lies), can still make me smile today. What makes them so memorable? Is it the rhythm and the...

Other Featured Brit Lit Lenses 

More British Literature lenses written by our group members

Modernist Literature

Modernist literature includes authors such as T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, E.E. Cummings, Dylan Thomas, and Joseph Conrad, among others. This page will include information on many of the prevalent themes in great period of literature that lasted from the...

Love Letters of Great Men

Love Letters of Great Men started out as a film prop! There is a scene in the film Sex and the City, that sent its mostly female fans flocking into bookshops and desperately searching Amazon for a book that did not exist. Carrie Bradshaw is lying in...

Longitude - John Harrison's chronometers

Longitude is a measure of position vital for navigation. In the eighteenth century there was no way to measure it and ships were being lost at sea. Parliament passed an Act setting a prize for anyone who could solve the problem. The problem was solv...

How To Improve Your Vocabulary

Words are powerful! They show knowledge, they can describe in great detail and become great literature; so use these top tips to help you on your way to improving your vocabulary! According to a study conducted in 2006, 11 million U.S. adults (about...

I Wish I Were Cultured.

A place for people who wish they were more versed in culture, are too busy watching LOST and The Office to read a book.

Anglo-Welsh Literature

The Wikipedia defines it as:-"a term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers, especially if they either have subject matter relating to Wales or (as in the case of Anglo-Welsh poetry in particular) are influenced...