BVBook Verdict

UK · Ages 16–18

A-Level English Literature Set Texts

The novels and plays most frequently studied for A-Level English Literature across AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC — from Shakespeare to contemporary fiction.

Hamlet William Shakespeare · 1603 Essential Read Get it on Amazon →
Othello William Shakespeare · 1603 Essential Read Get it on Amazon →
King Lear William Shakespeare · 1608 Essential Read Get it on Amazon →
The Tempest William Shakespeare · 1611 Essential Read See details →
Paradise Lost John Milton · 1667 Essential Read See details →
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925 Essential Read See details →
Frankenstein Mary Shelley · 1818 Essential Read See details →
The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood · 1985 Essential Read See details →
The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro · 1989 Essential Read See details →
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte · 1847 Essential Read See details →
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte · 1847 Essential Read See details →
Beloved Toni Morrison · 1987 Editor's Choice See details →
Atonement Ian McEwan · 2001 Essential Read See details →
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys · 1966 Essential Read See details →
Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh · 1945 Essential Read See details →
Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett · 1953 Essential Read See details →
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller · 1949 Essential Read See details →
Twelfth Night William Shakespeare · 1602 Essential Read See details →
The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare · 1600 Essential Read See details →
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams · 1947 Essential Read See details →
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad · 1899 Essential Read See details →
Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy · 1891 Essential Read See details →
North and South Elizabeth Gaskell · 1855 Essential Read See details →
The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter · 1979 Essential Read See details →
Brooklyn Colm Tóibín · 2009 Essential Read See details →
The Mirror & the Light Hilary Mantel · 2020 Essential Read See details →
Exit West Mohsin Hamid · 2017 Essential Read See details →
The Wasp Factory Iain Banks · 1984 Essential Read See details →
Birdsong Sebastian Faulks · 1993 Essential Read See details →
The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing · 1962 Essential Read See details →
Brighton Rock Graham Greene · 1938 Essential Read See details →
The Power and the Glory Graham Greene · 1940 Essential Read See details →
Women in Love D.H. Lawrence · 1920 Essential Read See details →
Sons and Lovers D.H. Lawrence · 1913 Essential Read See details →
Howards End E.M. Forster · 1910 Essential Read See details →
Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen · 1811 Essential Read See details →
A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen · 1879 Essential Read See details →
Regeneration Pat Barker · 1991 Recommended See details →
Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel · 2014 Recommended See details →
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke · 2004 Recommended See details →
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark · 1961 Essential Read See details →
The Quiet American Graham Greene · 1955 Essential Read See details →
Nights at the Circus Angela Carter · 1984 Essential Read See details →
The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes · 2011 Essential Read See details →
Possession A.S. Byatt · 1990 Essential Read See details →
The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst · 2004 Essential Read See details →
Alias Grace Margaret Atwood · 1996 Essential Read See details →
Enduring Love Ian McEwan · 1997 Essential Read See details →
Trainspotting Irvine Welsh · 1993 Essential Read See details →
Brick Lane Monica Ali · 2003 Essential Read See details →
Fingersmith Sarah Waters · 2002 Essential Read See details →
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard · 1966 Essential Read See details →
The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende · 1982 Essential Read See details →

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