1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: A Canadian novelist and poet, Margaret Atwood’s many achievements include the prestigious Man Booker Prize. She is also the inventor of LongPen, a remote signing device that felicitates remote/robotic writing of documents.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel published in 1985. It is set in a near future England which is under a totalitarian state. The novel speaks about the journey of its protagonist, a handmaid named ‘Offred’. Her name comes from adding the possessive indicator word ‘of’ to “Fred”. This is because the handmaids were not allowed to use their birth names and had to adopt the male or master’s name. The reason this novel tops the list is that it engages with different themes of female subjugation in a patriarchal society. The novel also explores the many ways in which the women in the story try and eventually gain individuality and independence.
2. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory: Philippa is an English historical novelist who is most famously known for her novel The Other Boleyn Girl. Being a historical novel, it is inspired by the life of 16th Century aristocrat Mary Boleyn. The novel explores the annulment of one of the most significant royal English marriages, that of King Henry VII and Catherine of Aragon, which marked the historic separation of the Church from the State. The marriage ended due to the urgency and the dire need for a male heir to the British throne.
3. The Famous Five Series by Enid Blyton: Enid was an English children’s writer and has had more than 600 million copies of her books sold worldwide. In her lifetime, she wrote over 762 books! The Famous Five is a series of 21 children’s adventure books that were originally written in English. The first book in the series, published in 1942, is Five on a Treasure Island was published in 1942. The novels revolve around four children- Julian, Dick, Anne and Georgina, and their beloved dog Timmy. The stories and adventures take place during the children’s school holidays. Every time they return from school, they get caught up in different adventures which involve criminals and coveted treasures.
4. Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult: Jodi is an American author who has sold over 14 million copies of her books worldwide. Her debut novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale is about a woman Jane Jones who chooses to leave behind her emotionally abusive husband and moves with her teenage daughter to Massachusetts to live with her brother. Then, her husband Oliver follows them to reconnect with his broken family.
5. Sisters by Danielle Steel: Danielle is an American writer who is famously known for her romance novels. Her novel Sisters revolves around the story of four sisters – Candy, the supermodel, Tammy, a successful TV Producer, Sabrina who is an ambitious lawyer and Annie the artist. They leave their routine lives to take care of one another when their mother dies in a car accident and Annie loses her sight. The story then portrays the sisters trying to rebuild their lives and find new purposes and new loves while learning that family is the most important and stays forever.
Edited by Her Campus Editorial Team
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