I want to talk about Blake. It’s not easy to tackle him though.

It is simply not easy to understand him. Atypical romanticist, artisan, engraver, poet, he was a writer of multitudinous talents, though one might say less understood in his own time than in retrospect, and more difficult to pigeon hole than – say – Wordsworth or Coleridge. He was different: a middle class writer, a skilled craftsman, …

It is a classic for a reason: it conveys and explores preoccupying, pervading themes, those which are indeed relevant to today. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel which deals with such paradigms as perpetual surveillance, spying, sexual prohibition and political power. For this reason – the fact that it’s timeless – it is a novel which needs to be sitting on your shelf.

Lying at the heart of the …

O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan’s signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend.

A harrowing, gripping tale of murder, mystery, psychological turmoil and suspense – a fin-de-siecle novelette of impact, significance and sheer horror – Jekyll and Hyde is a ‘shilling shocker’ that you won’t forget. There are many reasons why the novel is so acclaimed, so …