Susannah’s Literary Readers’ Guides

Susannah’s Literary Readers’ Guides are designed for those who care about classic and important literature.

Each month Susannah features a Book of the Month. She selects a favourite title and reveals intriguing stories about the author behind the work, analyses the themes and characters, lists film versions, suggests further reading and challenges you with thoughtful insights on the work.

Here’s what makes Susannah’s Literary Readers’ Guides so special. You will:

Learn about classic books in easy-to-understand everyday language.
Discover the life of the person who wrote the book.
Understand what prompted the book to be written.
Identify the characters’ roles in the narrative.
Grasp the influence of the era, lifestyle and circumstances of the book’s setting.
Pick up on the small things that make a story rich.
Read the book with a much greater understanding of its background for more enjoyment.

How to purchase:

Visit each guide individually

Select a Pack or Special Offer

The guides:

Enjoy browsing all of Susannah’s Literary Readers’ Guides here. Click on each one to see the full guide.

Each of these literary delights reveals intriguing stories about the author behind the work, analyses the themes and characters, lists film versions, suggests further reading and challenges you with thoughtful insights on the work.

‘A Christmas Carol’ – Charles Dickens

‘A Room with a View’ – E.M. Forster

‘Brideshead Revisited’ – Evelyn Waugh

‘Cakes and Ale’ – W. Somerset Maugham

‘Cider with Rosie’ – Laurie Lee

‘Dr Thorne’ – Anthony Trollope

Julia Jentsch in Effi Briest, 2009 Constantin Films adaptation

‘Effi Briest’ – Theodor Fontane

‘Emma’ – Jane Austen

‘Ethan Frome’ – Edith Wharton

Thomas Hardy - Far From the Madding Crowd

‘Far From The Madding Crowd’ – Thomas Hardy

‘North and South’ – Elizabeth Gaskell

‘Kidnapped’ – Robert Louis Stevenson

‘Love in a Cold Climate’ – Nancy Mitford

‘Madame Bovary’ – Gustave Flaubert

‘Middlemarch’ – George Eliot

Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ – Agatha Christie

Gerald Durrell My Family & Other Animals

‘My Family and Other Animals’ – Gerald Durrell

‘Out of Africa’ – Karen Blixen

‘Rebecca’ – Daphne Du Maurier

‘The Go-Between’ – L.P. Hartley

‘The Hobbit’ – J.R.R. Tolkien

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles

‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

‘The Elephant’s Child’ – Rudyard Kipling

‘The Invisible Man’ – H.G. Wells

Greg Wise as Franklin Blake & Keeley Hawes as Rachel Verinder, The Moonstone, 1996 BBC and Carlton TV adaptation,

‘The Moonstone’ – Wilkie Collins

‘The Necklace’ – Guy de Maupassant

Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ – Muriel Spark

Anne Brontë - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ – Anne Brontë

Samuel Butler, Family Prayers, 1864, [cropped]

‘The Way of All Flesh’ – Samuel Butler

‘Three Men in a Boat’ – Jerome K. Jerome

‘Washington Square’ – Henry James

‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ – Jean Rhys

All the details:

What is it?
Anybody could sit down and read the list of books Susannah has supplied. But it’s not so easy to learn about how the author came to write the book, or receive a commentary on all the film versions / sequels / adaptations that have resulted from it. Susannah helps you analyse the themes, consider the various characters and their motivations, and gives you links for further explorations. She guarantees that, after following her guides, you will have a far richer understanding of some fabulous classics than you ever would have done by just reading them on your own.

Every beautifully presented handbook is over 24 pages in length and packed with colour images. Each has an online Reader’s Companion (you can see them right here above), with carefully curated links to further reading, videos and extended material about the author and the book.

Save and print your guides to build your own collection of fabulous reading references.

Susannah has published many articles, books, monographs and spoken word CDs, most notably, several about Jane Austen’s work. Unlike so many research books, Susannah’s works are definitely intended for a popular readership. Treat yourself, or buy a thoughtful gift for a reading friend.

By ordering a product you help Susannah cover the expense of producing her monthly newsletter, Notes From A Book Addict, keeping it cost and advertising free. Thank you.

Ordering
It’s really easy to order and you can use any of these payment methods: Credit Card, Cash, Cheque, EFT or PayPal.
Order online for immediate download. Purchase individually on each guide’s page above.
Order packs and special offers here.
Download and print an order form to post.
Phone orders, please see here.

Further information and help
Please contact Susannah here.

Book of the Month

Susannah’s Literary Readers’ Guides