 | The Game of Kings: The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett
Buy used from: £4.65 First of Dunnett's fabulous Lymond chronicles - magisterial historical fiction and the most haunting characters ever created
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 | Niccolo Rising: The House of Noccolo v. 1: The House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett
Buy used from: £0.01 Not as good as the Lymond chronicles, but still superb. First of 8 book series.
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 | Wide Sargasso Sea (Penguin Modern Classics) by Jean Rhys
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £1.19 Re-telling of the story of the first Mrs Rochester from Jane Eyre, this is lush, poetic and heart-breaking. An overlooked masterpiece
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 | King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett
Buy used from: £0.98 Not an easy read but a compelling one, worth all the hard work. Amazing take on the historical Macbeth
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 | The Alexander Trilogy: "Fire from Heaven", "Persian Boy" and "Funeral Games" by Mary Renault
Buy used from: £14.85 Original fictionalised story of Alexander and so, so much better than the dry Manfredi version
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 | The Iliad by Homer
Buy new: £8.06 / Used from: £2.08 One of the first pieces of literature and still moving. Read Achilles and weep.
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 | Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) by Lord Byron
Buy used from: £9.26 Here's the original 'Byronic' hero: callous, enigmatic, cynical and brooding with a secret heart well-hidden
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 | Shelley: The Pursuit by Richard Holmes
Buy used from: £5.00 A great poet, a great man - and an even greater biography
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 | The Heaven Tree (The heaven tree trilogy) by Edith Pargeter
Buy used from: £0.01 First of a marvelous trilogy set in medieval England - once you read this, you'll have to read them all
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 | The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
Buy new: £13.21 / Used from: £5.76 Amazing fantasy novel with originality, great characters and real emotion
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 | Riders by Jilly Cooper
Buy used from: £0.01 I said this was eclectic and we all need some light relief! Read this for Rupert C-B alone and it's worth it
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 | War and Peace (Pocket Penguin Classics) by Leo Tolstoy
Buy new: £5.85 / Used from: £2.75 Yes, it's long but I swear every page is rivetting and worthwhile. The characters will live with you forever
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 | Anna Karenina (Penguin Classics) by Leo Tolstoy
Buy new: £5.35 / Used from: £4.26 When pushed, I have to say this is my all-time favourite novel, not as sweeping as War and Peace but somehow more emotional
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 | Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters
Buy new: £6.99 / Used from: £0.18 All the 'Amelia Peabody' novels are marvellous but this resonates emotionally more than the others, but you should read them in order
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 | The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Buy new: £7.19 / Used from: £2.17 So good on girls in love: funny, witty and heartbreaking all at the same time
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 | Beyond the Glass (Virago modern classics) by Antonia White
Buy used from: £0.01 Last in the 'Frost in May' quartet and unquestionably the best as Clara slides into insanity - unbearably moving
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 | Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £3.45 Emotional story of a young girl's maturing and her changing relationships with the family of cousins who live next door. The very texture of life.
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