rosie abigail

1984 by George Orwell. An absolute modern classic when it comes to dystopian fiction. A glimpse at a then-future through the lens of an unreliable narrator, and has stood the test of time through eerie accuracy. 

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I first read this in primary school and felt so uneasy, uncomfortable. It was my first experience of truly grasping that something as bad as the Holocaust could happen in the world. It’s a brilliant example of diary entry literature, spoken with honesty that could only come from childhood. 

The Color Purple by Alice Walker. You know a book is going to be good when it’s still getting banned to this day. This is an epistolary novel, meaning written via letters, exploring the experiences of a young Black woman in 1900s Southern America. It’s a hard and graphic read, there is no denying that. But it also honours sexual revolution, exploring sexuality, finding joy, and the importance of female friendship. 

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Without Frankenstein, there would be no Doctor Who, no Star Wars, no Avatar. There wouldn’t even be 1984. This is the seminal science-fiction text, and it’s argued that Mary Shelley created science-fiction with this novel. If you want a novel that covers all the tropes of sci-fi, gothic, and Victorian literature, pick this one up. 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. This is an aching and tender tale, but not in the way you might think. It is a love letter to nostalgia and the joy found in video games. It honours the importance of platonic love in a way I have never seen in literature before. Grab the tissues, folks.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. I first fell in love with the structure – each chapter follows the descendant of an Asante woman, starting in the 18th century and working up until now. The rich storytelling is dripping in history and characters who you feel for, fight for, love, and hate. A modern must-read.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. An absolute triple-threat of a book – an autobiography meets coming of age tale, all wrapped up as a graphic novel. It follows the life of the author as a child to teenager during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Like The Color Purple, it’s a book that has been banned more than once, this time for its graphic nature and the engrained Islamophobia of the people banning it…

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Every TJR book I have read, I have devoured, and this one is no different. It’s an excellent take on Old Hollywood and the expectations of women in that sphere. The sense of place is impeccable and the characters are flawed in the best way possible. This absolutely should be your choice for a modern read.

Orlando by Virigina Woolf. This is a novel that has all feminist, queer, and gender studies students rubbing their hands together. Orlando is a character who changes gender throughout the text, living for hundreds of years and meeting key historical figures. It’s both a comment on literary history and culture, and also on the treatment of women (furthermore, lesbians) in our patriarchal society. 

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Want to have your heart ripped out of your chest and stamped all over? Want to spiral over eugenics and the mortality of science? Then this is the novel for you. I won’t spoil the twist that sets up most of the story, but it is a book honouring friendships amongst its questioning. True modern sci-fi.

The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon. This fiction novel is a true cultural landmark in more ways than one. The novel itself is one of the first to focus on the lives of the Windrush Generation and how their lives changed for worse or better since arriving in England. It also shines linguistically – Selvon writes in third person with localised slang and dialect, honouring the reality of the characters.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. This book can get a bad rep online as the novel for all ‘manic-pixie-dream girls’. Hey, just let women enjoy things! The Bell Jar is a novel that blurs the autobiography of the author with fiction, and is a stark presentation of womanhood in the nineteen fifties. It is also a watershed moment of female mental health being opened up in literature – moreover, from a female voice.