1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’
A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man’s struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.
‘Someone rare has written this very fine novel, a writer with the liveliest sense of life and the warmest, most authentic humour. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable.’ Truman Capote
‘No one ever forgets this book’ Independent
2. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote
In Cold Blood is regarded by many critics as the pioneering work in the true crime genre. It is a startling, true account of a gruesome crime and a skilfully researched piece of journalism – it is a literary masterpiece brilliantly imagined which reads like the most gripping of thrillers.
3. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend
'Saturday January 25th
10 a.m. I am ill with all the worry, too weak to write much. Nobody has noticed I haven’t eaten any breakfast.
2 p.m. . . . Perhaps when I’m famous and my diary is discovered people will understand the torment of being a 13¾-year-old undiscovered intellectual.'
Adrian Mole’s painfully honest diary is a hilarious spots-and-all glimpse into the troubled life of a teenager. First published in 1982, it quickly became a best-seller and has since been adapted for radio, television and theatre.
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