Kate Atkinson is the celebrated author of Life After Life, Case Histories, and 12 other novels set mostly in her native U.K. In her latest, Our Noble Selves, a former POW becomes a murder suspect while helping stage a 1951 festival intended to boost national morale.
‘Middlemarch’ by George Eliot (1871–72)
Essentially, Middlemarch is a historical novel, set in the period 50 years prior to its publication. Eliot’s breadth and ambition and energy in painting a picture of a society in the midst of cataclysmic change is astounding. I also think it’s a very romantic book—not something Eliot is often accused of.
‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
It took many years before Vonnegut felt able to give fictional shape to his experiences as a POW in the Dresden firestorm. The time- traveling, science-fiction elements along with Vonnegut’s typical off-kilter style work against the odds to make this—along with its brother-in-arms, Heller’s Catch-22—one of the most powerful novels about World War II.
‘Persuasion’ by Jane Austen (1817)
I could have simply picked all six of Austen’s novels, but if I had to choose one, then this final one—a profound exploration of the human heart—would be the one. It is also about the pain of the path not chosen and the absolute powerlessness of women.
‘Parade’s End’ by Ford Madox Ford (1924–28).
This is cheating perhaps, because it’s actually a tetralogy that follows the fortunes of Christopher Tietjens from before the First World War and into its aftermath. It’s one of those novels—sorry, four novels—that I have trouble describing and am inclined to say, “Just read it.”
‘The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman’ by Laurence Sterne (1759–67).
Tristram Shandy is a very funny, digressive novel about a man trying to write his autobiography and failing to get past the first scene. I always remember my English tutor at university introducing it by saying that it was one of the first novels and also one of the first antinovels, although nowadays I think they would probably call it metafiction.
‘Just William’ by Richmal Crompton (1922)
I had a quietly passive only-childhood, but William provided an alternative, escapist universe of naughtiness and high spirits. Even now, I would, if I could, be happy to live in William’s world. And have a dog called Jumble.