The Wordsworth Blog

Tristram Shandy
This unique and extraordinary novel has entertained readers since its first ...

Private passions and Italian families
Stefania Ciocia takes a sideways look at Dante ...

The Karamazov Brothers
The Devil is in the Details: Mia Forbes looks at Fyodor Dostoevsky's final ...

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stephen Carver looks at Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of 'the duality of ...

Down and Out in Paris and London & The Road to Wigan Pier
‘At least I could go amongst these people, see what their lives were like’: ...

The Descent of Man
On the 150th anniversary of its publication, Janet Browne looks at the initial ...

It's a Sin
As 'It’s a Sin' comes to the end of its run on Channel 4, and we celebrate ...

Dante 2021 and the hills we climb
Stefania Ciocia basks in the light of two radiant literary visions ...

The Personal is the Political
Sally Minogue reflects on the connection between the two in George Orwell’s ...

The Way We Live Now
David Stuart Davies considers what many believe to be Anthony Trollope's ...

Animal Farm
Andrew Palmer considers whether George Orwell's allegorical tale of the Russian ...

The Short Stories of Saki
David Stuart Davies looks at the work H. H. Munro, better known by his pen name ...

The Plays of Oscar Wilde
'The Importance of Being Earnest' and 'Lady Windermere's Fan' are the two most ...

George Orwell
In January 2021, we publish four seminal works by George Orwell: his fictions, ...

Chills at Christmas
A consideration of spooky tales for the festive season by David Stuart Davies ...

Dramatising Mr Orwell
Part Two: Nineteen Eighty-Four. David Stuart Davies looks at the many ...

A Strange Idolatry
Steve Carver looks at 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', Oscar Wilde's only novel. ...

Dramatising Mr Orwell
Part One: Animal Farm. David Stuart Davies looks at the various attempts to ...

Tales of Unease
David Stuart Davies explores the dark fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ...

Women in Love
David Ellis celebrates the centenary of the publication of 'Women in Love', ...

The Gothic Life of Edgar Allan Poe
Stephen Carver looks at the life of probably the most innovative and influential ...

‘Based on the Writings of Henry James’
The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents and The Haunting of Bly Manor: Stephen ...

Lady Audley's Secret
Stephen Carver looks at Mary Elizabeth Braddon's classic example of Victorian ...

Lorna Doone
David Stuart Davies looks at R.D. Blackmore's romantic West Country classic. ...

Black Beauty and Chronic Illness
Pippa Stacey finds a connection with Anna Sewell's Children's Classic beyond the ...

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
2020 marks the 150th anniversary of Robert Tressell’s birth; Sally Minogue ...

Moll Flanders
'Thus I gave up myself to a readiness of being ruined without the least concern, ...

King Lear
Morality, justice and Christianity in King Lear By Mia Forbes ...

Mark Twain
David Stuart Davies looks at the man that William Faulkner described as 'The ...

Mary Barton
Stephen Carver looks at Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, on the plight of ...

The Railway Children
David Stuart Davies looks at this classic children's story that has become ...

The Other Brontë Sister
Steve Carver looks at 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', Anne Brontë's second, and ...

The Mayor of Casterbridge
Bert Hornback revisits one of the most vivid and readable of the great Victorian ...

Mapp & Lucia
David Stuart Davies looks at E.F. Benson's much-loved comic creations ...

Gothic Short Stories
David Stuart Davies looks at our collection of chilling tales from a genre now ...

Northanger Abbey
Stephen Carver looks at Jane Austen's first novel, which was also the last to be ...

The Scarlet Letter
David Stuart Davies looks at Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic American novel, a ...

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Mia Forbes explores James Hogg's intriguing and ground-breaking 1824 novel on ...

Bloomsday 2020
On Bloomsday, Sally Minogue celebrates James Joyce’s 'Ulysses'. ...

Under the Tuscan sun with Romeo and Juliet
In praise of serendipity: Stefania Ciocia’s chance encounter with Romeo and ...

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
David Stuart Davies concludes his look at the complete Sherlock Holmes tales ...

The King in Yellow
David Stuart Davies looks at a book once described as ‘the most important ...

The Valley of Fear / His Last Bow
David Stuart Davies looks at the final Sherlock Holmes novel and the penultimate ...

Looking for Kafka
Stephen Carver goes in search of an author who 'remains as enigmatic as his ...

The Hound of the Baskervilles / The Return of Sherlock Holmes
David Stuart Davies looks at the novel that suggested that Sir Arthur Conan ...

Reading in lockdown
Consolation or confrontation? Sally Minogue looks at a few options. ...

The Secret Garden
A Tale Of Thriving In Times Of Isolation - Pippa Stacey looks at 'The Secret ...

Shakespeare's Sonnets
‘Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful ...

Plato's 'Republic'
Mia Forbes looks at The City in Plato’s 'Republic' ...

The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
David Stuart Davies looks at the classic early short stories first published in ...

Wordsworth 250
‘Trailing clouds of glory do we come’: Sally Minogue salutes William ...

A Study in Scarlet / The Sign of the Four
In the first of a four-part series, David Stuart Davies begins with the novel ...

The Waves
‘Now is life very solid, or very shifting?’ Sally Minogue considers Virginia ...

W.B. Yeats
Fallible Yeats: Cedric Watts has a disagreement with the great Irish poet ...

The Rise of the Gothic Novel
'It was a question of suspense versus horror'. Stephen Carver compares the works ...

Little Women
Striding with Confidence into the Future: Stefania Ciocia reviews Greta ...

The Invisible Man
David Stuart Davies looks at the original novel that inspired (albeit tenuously) ...

The Call of the Wild
With the release of a new film adaptation, David Stuart Davies looks at this ...

The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 'The Little Prince' has been given a ‘radical ...

Emma
David Stuart Davies looks at Jane Austen's 'Emma', the latest classic to get a ...

The Pickwick Papers
David Ellis looks at Sam Weller, one of Dickens' earliest and most popular ...

David Copperfield - The Novel
David Copperfield was Charles Dickens’ ‘favourite child’: Sally Minogue ...

The Personal History of David Copperfield
As Armando Iannucci’s new film hits the screens, Sally Minogue celebrates its ...

Dead Souls
David Stuart Davies looks at Nikolai Gogol's comic masterpiece ...

Vengeance in Anna Karenina
Mia Forbes considers the central theme in Tolstoy's novel, considered by many to ...

'Dracula' reviewed
A Dracula that feels the pulse of the 21st century? Sally Minogue considers the ...

Interpretations of Dracula
David Stuart Davies looks back at the many attempts to portray the best-known ...

Dracula
As a new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 'Dracula' hits both BBC One and Netflix, ...

A Christmas Carol 2019
The new BBC adaptation concluded last night - Stephen Carver reviews it for us. ...

Dickens’ Other Christmas Books
Goblin Stories and Haunted Men: Stephen Carver looks at Dickens’ Other ...

M.R. James
‘If I’m not very careful, something of this kind may happen to me!’ M.R. ...

'Twas the Night before Christmas
David Stuart Davies looks at this collection of classic festive tales for ...

Night and Day
‘The loved street and bookish room’: Sally Minogue looks at the importance ...

Henry Mayhew
THE REAL HENRY MAYHEW PART TWO: London Labour and the London Poor. ...

The War of the Worlds - reviewed
The BBC series has received mixed reviews. David Stuart Davies gives his ...

Henry Mayhew
THE REAL HENRY MAYHEW PART ONE: Traveller in the Poor Man’s Country. ...

George Eliot 200
It’s George Eliot’s and Marian Evans’ 200th birthday! Sally Minogue ...

The War of the Worlds
David Stuart Davies looks at H.G. Wells popular and influential Victorian Sci-Fi ...

The Good Soldier
The saddest story’? Sally Minogue examines the claims of Ford Madox Ford’s ...

Anton Chekhov: The Short Stories
David Stuart Davies takes a look at a Russian master of the short story. ...

Sanditon
An adaptation for our times ...

The House of Mirth
Mia Forbes looks at Edith Wharton's mercilessly frank view of 19th-century New ...

Crime and Punishment
David Stuart Davies looks at the first, and perhaps the finest, of Dostoevsky's ...

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Stefania Ciocia Goes Away with the Fairies at The Bridge Theatre ...

Essential School Texts for £1.88
Thanks to our 25% discount for schools, our £2.50 classics will only cost ...

Sanditon
‘A little higher up, the Modern began’: Sally Minogue assesses Jane ...

The Last Man
David Stuart Davies looks at Mary Shelley's 'crucial early work of ...

Kim
Mia Forbes looks at Rudyard Kipling's tale of a child growing up in India ...

Jude the Obscure
‘I have understanding as well as you’: Sally Minogue looks at the way Thomas ...

Guy de Maupassant
David Stuart Davies looks at the life and work of the French master of the short ...

Herman Melville 200
Melville and His Age: Henry Claridge looks at the life of the great American ...

Primo Levi and Dante's 'Inferno'
Il Canto di Ulisse: Primo Levi’s 'If This is a Man' and Dante’s 'Inferno' ...

The Odyssey
Time in the Odyssey - Mia Forbes looks at the second epic ancient Greek poem ...

Daniel Deronda
In the bicentenary year of George Eliot’s birth, Sally Minogue looks at her ...

The Age of Innocence
David Stuart Davies looks at Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ...

The Iliad
Mia Forbes looks at the epic ancient Greek poem set in the Trojan War. ...

Bloomsday
On Bloomsday, Sally Minogue looks at the life of Dublin and beyond through ...

Decameron
Of Fortune, Falls and Falcons: Stefania Ciocia has Fun with Boccaccio’s ...

The Lost World
David Stuart Davies explores Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's world of prehistoric ...

Walt Whitman 200
As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth, Sally Minogue ...

‘What a lark! What a plunge!’
Sally Minogue dives below the surface of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, ...

Heart of Darkness
David Stuart Davies looks at Joseph Conrad's controversial novella. ...

Three Men In A Boat
David Stuart Davies looks at Jerome K. Jerome's classic comic tale ...

To The Lighthouse
David Stuart Davies looks at the most autobiographical of Virginia Woolf's ...

Sceptical Shakespeare
Cedric Watts examines Shakespeare's religious beliefs. ...

Dazzled by Indeterminacy
Stefania Ciocia steps out of her comfort zone wearing Gogol’s ‘The ...

The Portrait of a Lady
David Stuart Davies looks at what many consider to be Henry James' finest work. ...

O. Henry
David Stuart Davies looks at the work of an American master of the short story ...

‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’
Sally Minogue considers how we should look at historical stereotyping and ...

The Mill on the Floss
‘In their death they were not divided’: Sally Minogue takes a look at 'The ...

Gained in translation
Tom Griffith considers the merits of a classic translation for a classic text. ...

Shakespeare's Muddles
The Bard Embraces Impossibilities - Cedric Watts explains. ...

Swiss Family Robinson
David Stuart Davies looks at this much-loved, much-adapted story of a family ...

Moby Dick
David Stuart Davies goes off in search of the great white whale. ...

The Newgate Controversy Part Two
In the conclusion of his article, Stephen Carver recounts how Dickens overcame ...

John Keats
John Keats’ ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ recently won Twitter’s Poetry Society ...

The Newgate Controversy Part One
Stephen Carver looks at the events that threatened the reputation of the young ...

Les Misérables
Sally Minogue looks at Victor Hugo’s novel and Andrew Davies’ adaptation for ...

Feminist Shakespeare?
Professor Cedric Watts looks at the many strong female characters found in ...

Lost Masterpieces
David Ellis looks at the literary ones that got away ...

The Jungle Book
David Stuart Davies looks at Kipling's enduringly popular collection of stories. ...

21st century Dickens
Sally Minogue considers Little Dorrit in the light of a ‘radical’ adaptation ...

No snakes were harmed in the making of this play
Sally Minogue and Stefania Ciocia puzzle over their disappointment with an ...

Les Misérables
David Stuart Davies looks at the novel behind the new BBC adaptation [This ...

Ho Ho Ho - Boo!
David Stuart Davies looks at the tradition of ghost stories at Christmas. ...

“Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!”
Parker Lancaster presents The Christmas Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Three Least ...

Jane Austen and Naval Warfare
David Ellis delves into the nautical background to 'Persuasion' ...

God Bless Us, Most of Us
Parker Lancaster looks at the many faces of Scrooge through the years. ...

Christmas with Wordsworth
Give the gift of great literature this Christmas ...

Madame Bovary
David Stuart Davies looks at Flaubert's first, and best-known, novel. ...

World’s Greatest Love Story?
Stefania Ciocia writes on 'Little Women' on the Big Screen Part 2 ...

Anne of Green Gables
‘I did not write Green Gables for children’: Sally Minogue ponders a story ...

'Little Women' on the big screen
Stefania Ciocia goes on the hunt for the next best thing to reading Alcott’s ...

Candide
David Stuart Davies looks at the best-known work of the prolific French novelist ...

Bad Shakespeare
From fuelling witch-hunts to buttering up the ruling classes - Cedric Watts ...

Kidnapped & Catriona
David Stuart looks at two of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Scottish tales. ...

Looking into Hell
Stephen Carver writes on Kipling and the Great War ...

Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen died 100 years ago this Sunday, November 4th. Sally Minogue links ...

Just Before the Dawn, I Awake and Find Yuggoth
Parker Lancaster looks at H.P. Lovecraft’s 13 Most Sinister Creations* ...

Oliver Twist
David Stuart Davies looks at one of Dickens' most popular novels ...

Wordsworth Collector's Editions
Read about our latest series for people that love beautiful books ...

Vanity Fair - The Finale
As the adaptation of Vanity Fair comes to a close, Sally Minogue reflects on the ...

North and South
David Stuart Davies reflects on a novel with a theme familiar in our time - the ...

The Winter's Tale
Stefania Ciocia salutes the strong women in Blanche McIntyre’s production for ...

Othello at The Globe
Stefania Ciocia reflects on the extreme contrasts in Claire van Kampen’s ...

Vanity Fair
Sally Minogue looks at the book behind the current ITV series ...

Vanity Fair
David Stuart Davies looks at the latest TV adaptation of Thackeray's classic ...

The Thirty-Nine Steps
David Stuart Davies looks at the first modern spy thriller. ...

The Forsyte Saga
David Stuart Davies looks at John Galsworthy's classic novels that make up 'The ...

Looking The Part
From a hot young poet to a playwright said to look `like a self-satisfied pork ...

Pinocchio on Stage and Screen
Knocking Pinocchio into shape, or how to domesticate an unruly puppet: Stefania ...

Brontë 200
As we mark the bicentenary of Emily Brontë’s birth, Sally Minogue sets her ...

Pinocchio
Crossing boundaries with Pinocchio: Stefania Ciocia meanders through matters of ...

The Happy Prince
‘Both Sides Now’: Sally Minogue and Stefania Ciocia give alternative views ...

Walden
To mark Henry David Thoreau’s birth on this day in 1817, Sally Minogue ...

In America, no one can hear you scream
Guest blogger Parker Lancaster marks the 4th of July by looking at 'Democracy in ...

Katherine Mansfield
‘I am a writer first’*: Sally Minogue looks at the work and the life of ...

The Diary of a Nobody
David Stuart Davies takes a look at the classic Victorian comedy novel. ...

The Woman in White - a last word
The lady was not ugly! Sally Minogue suggests that the BBC adaptation of 'The ...

The Wizard of Oz
David Stuart Davies looks at this ever-popular book. ...

The Woman in White
David Stuart Davies reviews the BBC production that concluded last night. ...

Henry James on Radio 4
Sally Minogue listens in to Radio 4’s ‘Love Henry James’ season and ...

Hamlet and The Tempest
Bert Hornback looks at the similarities - and differences - between two of the ...

The Woman in White
In advance of the new BBC adaptation beginning on Sunday, David Stuart Davies ...

Julius Caesar
Caesar says “Do this!”: Stefania Ciocia is in her element in the Roman mob ...

Robin Hood
2018 marks 150 years since the birth of Henry Gilbert, author of the best-known ...

Wilfred Owen 100
On March 18th 2018, we celebrated the centenary of Wilfred Owen’s last ...

The Dark Places of the Earth
Stephen Carver explores the dark world of Imperial Victorian Gothic ...

Black Beauty
To celebrate World Book Day 2018, David Stuart Davies looks at one of the ...

The Secret Garden
David Stuart Davies explores this cross-generational classic ...

Bleak House
Bert Hornback looks at Radiance in 'Bleak House' ...

The Little Prince
How do we read a fable? Sally Minogue ponders the mysteries of 'The Little ...

Shivering your timbers!
‘I was going to sea myself…to seek for buried treasures!’ David Stuart ...

Frankenstein 200
Sally Minogue re-evaluates Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein on the 200th ...

New Classic Editions for 2018
We have released twelve new editions in our Classics series of titles only ...

'Little Women' on the BBC
The pleasures and pains of TV adaptations: after 'Howards End', the BBC revisits ...

A Christmas Carol
When it comes to classic Christmas Literature, this tops the list. David Stuart ...

Jack the Ripper - The Media Star
In the second part of his article, David Stuart Davies looks at the fictional ...

Christmas Gifts from Wordsworth
Avid for Austen? Wild about Wilde? See Wordsworth's range of Christmas gifts for ...

Gulliver's Travels
On the 350th Anniversary of his birth, David Stuart Davies looks at Jonathan ...

Middlemarch
Bert Hornback looks at what Martin Amis and Julian Barnes have both described as ...

Jack the Ripper - The Killer and His Crimes
It was in November 1888 that the final grisly murder took place attributed to ...

Remembrance
Sally Minogue reflects on remembrance and Remembrance, with reference to the ...

A Crescent Still Abides
Stefania Ciocia reflects on grief, and Emily Dickinson, on All Souls’ Day ...

John Keats
Bert Hornback looks at the work of this highly influential and much-loved ...

Three Evil Minds and Two Evil Eyes
It's nearly Halloween, which makes it the perfect time for Parker Lancaster to ...

Nicholas Nickleby
David Stuart Davies looks at Charles Dickens's third novel ...

Henry James and Lamb House
A House of Fiction: Sally Minogue visits Henry James’s English residence ...

The Picture of Dorian Gray
David Stuart Davies looks at Oscar Wilde's only novel. ...

Great Expositions
'So let me get this straight...' Guest blogger NUTS4R2 looks at the essential ...

Much Ado About Nothing
Cedric Watts restores a lost character to Shakespeare's most often performed ...

Walt Whitman
On National Poetry Day, Sally Minogue looks at Presidents, Poetry, and Walt ...

The Great Gatsby
David Stuart Davies looks at what many consider to be the greatest American ...

William Butler Yeats
Bert Hornback looks at the work of the Irish poet, and winner of the 1923 Nobel ...

Jane Austen and the great outdoors
Sally Minogue considers the risks Austen’s heroines take when they venture ...

Far From The Madding Crowd
Sally Minogue sets the BBC premier of the 2015 film adaptation alongside its ...

Rob Roy
David Stuart Davies looks at the most popular of Sir Walter Scott's novels ...

H. G. Wells and the Natural World
Emily Alder looks at the his early scientific romances and the mastery of nature ...

1967 - The Summer Of Love
We have a nostalgic wallow in the events of fifty years ago ...

Jane Austen 200
On the bicentenary of Jane Austen’s death, Sally Minogue pays tribute to her ...

‘… the huge jaws seemed to be dripping with a bluish flame…’
David Stuart Davies tells how reading 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' made him a ...

Spinoza: America’s Founding Grandfather
American born Parker Lancaster delves into the depths of what the notion of ...

A Life Story rather than a Love Story
Sally Minogue reviews the National Theatre’s touring production of 'Jane Eyre' ...

Wind in the Willows
With a musical version opening in London, David Stuart Davies takes a look at ...

Dickens and Lawrence: A tale of two halves
David Ellis considers how 'David Copperfield' and 'Sons and Lovers' both fade ...

Celebrating 25 Years of Wordsworth Classics
It's a quarter of a century since the launch of the Wordsworth £1 Classic ...

Thomas Hardy - 177 today
Sally Minogue offers some lugubrious birthday reflections. ...

Tess of the d'Urbervilles
On the day of Thomas Hardy's birth, David Stuart Davies looks at the book that ...

Walt Whitman
‘O camerado close!’: Sally Minogue salutes Walt Whitman on his birthday ...

The Strange Fiction of Oliver Onions
Guest writer, author Stephen Carver, looks at the work of this master of the ...

Hamlet
Cedric Watts recounts his dealings with this most problematic of Shakespeare's ...

Little Women
Little Women and the test of time: Stefania Ciocia muses on a childhood ...

Robinson Crusoe
The Only Man on the Island or What did Crusoe do with Friday on Saturday Night? ...

The price of our Classics is going up
The retail price of our Classics and Children's Classics will increase to £2.50 ...

Oh, what a tangled web we weave
Our monthly newsletter looks at the completion - at last - of our new website ...

Will the real protagonist please stand up?
New guest blogger NUTS4R2 looks at the archetypal heroes of classic fiction. ...

The Hands Can't Hit What the Eyes Can't See
In the second part of his look at the film adaptations of 'The Invisible Man', ...

Out of Mind, Out of Sight
Part One of Parker Lancaster's look at the film adaptations of H.G.Wells' 'The ...

A Quiet Passion
A flawed labour of love: Terence Davies’s take on Emily Dickinson in 'A Quiet ...

Tales of Book Fairs Past and Present
We look back at another successful (but quite sober) London Book Fair ...

Father Brown
David Stuart Davies looks at the history of the ever-popular priest with a flair ...

J. M. Barrie – The Father of Peter Pan
David Stuart Davies looks at the author of one of the best-loved of children's ...

Eastwood in Nottinghamshire
David Ellis visits the birthplace of D.H. Lawrence ...

Lunchtime Drinking, Gin & Tonic & Book Fairs
This month's news from Wordsworth ...

‘All children, except one, grow up.’
In Part One of a two-part article David Stuart Davies looks at the perennially ...

Woolf Works
Wayne McGregor and the Royal Ballet re-imagine Virginia Woolf and her work - ...

H. G. Wells and His Literary Milieu at the Fin-de-Siecle
Linda Dryden of the H.G. Wells Society looks at Wells often difficult ...

Looking to the literary past for the post-truth
Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the US presidency has coincided with sales of ...

Here's some H.G. Wells history that will hit you for six
Here’s a good question for a pub quiz: Which well-known 20th century writer ...

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Sally Minogue salutes James Joyce’s ambitious first novel ...

Post-Truth: Word of the Year 2016
We consider a new career in falsehood, fabrication and forgery... ...

Wells in Free Flight
Laurence Davies looks at H.G. Wells fascination with flight and its depiction in ...

Annus Horribilis
Perhaps the best thing we can say about 2016 is that it is nearly over. We look ...

To Walk Invisible
Sally Minogue watches Sally Wainwright’s new drama about the Brontës ...

Mystery Murder and Mayhem at Christmas
David Stuart Davies explores classic detective fiction for tales of dark deeds ...

The Science Fiction Films of H.G. Wells Part Two
David Stuart Davies concludes his review of the film adaptations of H.G. Wells ...

Theatrical magic and thought-provoking choices in Sally Cookson’s Peter Pan.
Stefania Ciocia reviews the current National Theatre production ...

Here are our top tips for your classic literary Christmas TV viewing
While 2016 won’t be a vintage year for classic adaptations, there are still ...

Ford Madox Ford, Brexit and Trump
On Ford's birthday, Sara Haslam considers how he might have viewed the momentous ...

Meet the Author
We wrestle with the problems of working with a group of writers who have joined ...

What If… The science fiction films of H. G. Wells
Part One of David Stuart Davies' review of how Wells' classic novels have fared ...

It's been a bittersweet week for UK libraries
Perhaps there’s now a need for industry-wide cooperation to help stem the tide ...

Will the real father of 'modern' Christmas please stand up!
Where do our (often non-religious) traditional customs originate from? Two ...

Here's some classic literary Christmas gift inspiration - Enjoy!
We thought we'd end November with a bit of festive cheer in the form of some ...

OPINION: An apologia for classic horror
These are indeed dark times for horror fans, and not the good kind of dark, ...

No slumming for Danny Dyer
We look at the current popularity for tracing your family history ...

Everything you ever wanted to know about H.G. Wells
Durham University's Professor Simon James take us through the great author's ...

‘You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.’
On the centenary of Jack London's death, David Stuart Davies considers his life ...

Get ready for the year of H.G. Wells
The Wordsworth team have had a busy and exciting summer preparing our new H.G. ...

In Remembrance: Wilfred Owen
On Remembrance Day, Sally Minogue reflects on the way the people of Ors, where ...

In a momentous week for world politics, let's turn to Dostoevsky
Above all, don't lie to yourself ...

Wilkie Collins 'The Moonstone' - we review the BBC production
Wilkie Collins’ classic mystery novel 'The Moonstone', concerning the theft of ...

A less than towering 'Inferno'
Whatever the merits, or otherwise, of Tom Hanks’ latest outing as Robert ...

Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone: A cornerstone in the development of crime fiction
David Stuart Davies looks at ‘The first, the longest and the best of modern ...

Not Your Average Halloween Read: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’
Fans of vintage horror will find that this short story holds its own against ...

Everything you need to know about Halloween (unless you're Samhainophobic)
Millennial parents have taught their children that Halloween is purely a night ...

Villette re-imagined: We visit the West Yorkshire Playhouse adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel
'As the play got into its stride', says Sally Minogue, 'I began to see that it ...

Monty Python and the German philosopher (Frederick Nietzsche)
There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya 'bout the raising of the wrist' ...

The general public tend to know (at most) three things about Aleister Crowley
Amongst all this mumbo, not to mention jumbo, the fact that Aleister Crowley was ...

So which banned books have you read this week?
This week has been Banned Books Week. It sounds like it might be some sort of ...

F Scott Fitzgerald - Proving there could be a second act in American lives
F Scott Fitzgerald is now recognised as a great American writer and perhaps the ...

Here are the greatest novels ever written. Maybe
With the announcement of the Booker Man shortlist and the Mercury Prize taking ...

Travelling back in time with Joseph Conrad's Captain Lingard
This week we're very happy to say we shall be expanding our range of Joseph ...

Lew Wallace's Ben Hur: Much more than swords and sandals
Next week sees the UK theatrical release of 'Ben Hur'. ...

How Mary Shelley broke new ground with Frankenstein
Not only in gothic story-telling, but also in the form of the novel - David ...

Netflix and The Little Prince: A perfect storytelling match
The first-ever animated version of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, ...

Remember when printed books were dying? Not anymore
It seems that, in a Mark Twain style, rumours of books' death have been greatly ...

Somme 100: There is far more to Wilfred Owen's poetry than his battlefront verses
Dr Sally Minogue takes a look at Wilfred Owen's full range of work, from his ...

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: A journey of laughter and tears
David Stuart Davies looks at this ever-popular comedy with a darker side. ...

How novels and Hollywood re-invented the American Indian
Rich Hall's documentary Inventing the Indian was a fascinating look at how ...

Somme 100: Walking in the footsteps of Wilfred Owen
Sally Minogue visits the places where Wilfred Owen spent the last few days of ...

Your Starbucks coffee, courtesy of Herman Melville
Have you had your coffee this morning? Did you get it from Starbucks? If so, you ...

Beyond The Three Musketeers: The life and times of Alexandre Dumas
David Stuart Davies describes how his novels remain a continuing monument to his ...

The BBC's The Secret Agent adaptation is not your average period drama
Last Sunday saw the start of a new BBC period drama based on Joseph Conrad's ...

Will the real Lady Susan please stand up?
Today (Monday July 18th) marks the anniversary of the death of one of Britain's ...

We're wearing Proustian Rush by Chanel
Proust, author of 'A La Recherche du Temps Perdu' has a derivative of his name ...

What Kafkaesque times we live in
With Franz Kafka's birthday looming, never have his works been so relevant ...

The Battle of the Somme and the poetry that helps us remember
Sally Minogue explores the poetry of the carnage that was The Battle of the ...

Wilfred Owen and the old lie that's still told
Next Friday, July 1st, marks 100 years since start of the Battle of the Somme, ...

Cervantes - The Man of Madrid and Don Quixote
David Stuart Davies looks at a great comic novel that also functions as an ...

Happy Bloomsday to one and all!
We celebrate the annual celebration of anything and everything to do with James ...

What the Dickens is going to happen at the Euros?
Yesterday, June 8th, was the anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens ...

To capture the real genius of Through The Looking Glass you must read the book
The recent disappointing Through The Looking Glass movie revealed how difficult ...

Teachers are already planning, and buying, books for the next school year
We're seeing more demand from schools than at any time in recent years ...

Are you going Through the Looking Glass this weekend?
Pretty much every review is going to conclude that if you really want to go ...

Get ready for the second ever Sherlock Holmes day on May 22nd
Every day is a 'day', it seems, and Sherlock Holmes Day comes in the same month ...

Discovering the pleasure of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure
Professor Cedric Watts examines one of the Bard's most accessible and, in ...

Leicester City and the Grimm side of fairy tales
We’re willing to bet that the words ‘fairy’ and ‘tale’ have been used ...

Shakespeare 400 is well and truly underway - here are our highlights so far
Type 'Shakespeare' into Google and then hit the ‘News’ tab. It’s busy! ...

How Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book helped make the modern Disney, Part 2
In the second part of his essay on how Rudyard Kipling and 'The Jungle Book' ...

Shakespeare 400 is finally here!
For anyone who loves Shakespeare, it's a wonderful time and excuse to wallow in ...

The 21st of April 2016 marks 200 years since the birth of Charlotte Brontë
Sally Minogue revisits Haworth and reflects on the life and work of the author. ...

How Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book helped make the modern Disney, Part 1
Parker Lancaster analyses the links between the famous author and the ...

Brontë 200 is almost upon us - Just don't forget Bramwell!
We anticipate the forthcoming big event ...

When a man is tired of the London Book Fair, he is tired of life
It's that time of year again... ...

Shakespeare: Still Relevant?
To start our commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's death, ...

Virginia Woolf: January 25th 1882 - March 28th 1941
Sally Minogue considers the mental illness that had such an impact on the ...

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
David Stuart Davies looks at a title that has been one our best sellers over the ...

Celebrating Ireland's classic literary legacy - James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and more
The lineage of great Irish novelists and playwrights is well known and widely ...

Chicago, Walden & Civil Disobedience
Henry Claridge looks back to Chicago in 1970 to highlight the ongoing influence ...

Move Over Harry Potter, Here Are The 13 Classic Children’s Books EVERY Adult Should Read
With their big themes and grown-up subtexts here are 13 classics you should have ...

Dickensian - The Finale
Sally Minogue reflects on the series as it comes to an end ...

A Tale of Two Cities - 'It was the best of tales...'
As 'Dickensian' nears its end, David Stuart Davies is the last of our guest ...

War and Peace - The Epilogue
As the fog of war clears from this lavish adaptation, Henry Claridge assesses ...

New Release: Lassie Come-Home
To coincide with our publication, Nichola Trayler Barbrook takes a personal look ...

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Reader
Stefania Ciocia looks at 'David Copperfield, Dickens' 'favourite child'. ...

Little Dorrit
Continuing our 'Dickensian' series, Keith Carabine looks at 'Humbug' in 'Little ...

Dickensian - We review the BBC's series so far
Sally Minogue reflects on the television series so far. ...

Great Expectations - Looking back at Dickens's penultimate completed novel
Continuing our 'Dickensian' theme, Sally Minogue looks at one of the author's ...

War and Peace
With the new BBC series imminent, Henry Claridge looks at problems of adapting ...

Sherlaugh Holmes or Amusing, My Dear Watson
David Stuart Davies look at the humour in Conan Doyle's classic tales. ...

Bleak House
Continuing our focus on classic Dickens novels, Lionel Kelly looks at 'Bleak ...

Don't miss these Christmas TV classic literary treats & tie-ins
There's a fantastic Christmas & New Year UK TV schedule in store for lovers of ...

Dombey and Son
To coincide with the screening of 'Dickensian', guest writers select their ...

The Spirits of Charles Dickens
David Stuart Davies strikes a Christmas chill with a look at the ghost stories ...

LAST MINUTE GIFT IDEAS FROM WORDSWORTH EDITIONS
Presents for the book-lovers in your life ...

A Christmas Carol
Malcolm Andrews, editor of 'The Dickensian', tells the story of this much-loved ...

Around the Word in Eighty Days
With a new stage show hitting London's West End, David Stuart Davies looks at ...

Lights, Camera, Sherlock: Part Four
David Stuart Davies concludes his series with a look at the modern portrayals of ...

Lights, Camera, Sherlock: Part Three
In Part Three, David Stuart Davies looks at the work of Basil Rathbone and Peter ...

Lights, Camera, Sherlock: Part Two
David Stuart Davies continues his series on Holmes on stage and screen. ...

Adult readers and the child's perspective in the 'Alice In Wonderland' books
Dr Stefania Ciocia looks at how adults and children interpret the Alice stories ...

The 150th anniversary of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Carroll’s “ideal child-friend” - Dr Stefania Ciocia writes on what our ...

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists: still a huge influence on socialist activism today
Next month will mark 101 years since the first publication of this socialist ...

Lights, Camera, Sherlock: Part One
The history of the media career of the world’s most famous detective in four ...

Lady Chatterley’s Lover: the expurgated version
Sally Minogue reviews last night's TV broadcast ...

Lady Chatterley - A Woman's View
Decried by feminist writers in the 1970s, D.H.Lawrence's status is reassessed by ...

Is it a book that you would even wish your wife or your servants to read?
David Stuart Davies considers the history and impact of 'Lady Chatterley's ...

Lady Chatterley’s Lover: found innocent
In the first of a series of articles on this ever-controversial classic, Sally ...

Blood is the Life - Part Two
David Stuart Davies concludes in a similar vein. ...

Blood is the Life - Part One
David Stuart Davies looks into the history of the Vampire story. ...

Still unequal after all this time
Sally Minogue reflects on Elizabeth Gaskell and Elizabeth Barrett Browning ...

A DEFT TOUCH OF THE MACABRE - PART TWO
The final part of David Stuart Davies' appreciation of Sheridan LeFanu ...

A DEFT TOUCH OF THE MACABRE - PART ONE
David Stuart Davies looks at the work of a rather neglected master of his art, ...

Unsettling Dark Pleasures - Part Two
The conclusion of David Stuart Davies' history of Gothic fiction ...

Unsettling Dark Pleasures - Part One
A short history of Gothic fiction in two parts by David Stuart Davies ...

Gore by Proxy Part Two
The final part of David Stuart Davies' story of the rise and fall of the 'Penny ...

Gore by Proxy Part One
Part One of David Stuart Davies' story of the 'Penny Dreadfuls'. ...

The 'Strand Magazine' - Part Two
The final part of the story of the 'Strand Magazine'. ...

The 'Strand Magazine' - Part One
David Stuart Davies reveals there was far more to 'Strand Magazine' than just ...

The Legacy of Sherlock Holmes - Part Two
David Stuart Davies concludes his review of the detectives that followed Conan ...

The Legacy of Sherlock Holmes - Part One
David Stuart Davies looks at at the fictional detectives that followed in the ...

BUMPS IN THE NIGHT
David Stuart Davies concludes his short history of the Ghost Story ...

Festive Humbug!
A seasonal tale of Charles Dickens and 'A Christmas Carol' by David Stuart ...

BUMPS IN THE NIGHT
Part One of David Stuart Davies' History of the Ghost Story ...

The King of Thrillers
David Stuart Davies writes on that most prodigious of writers, Edgar Wallace. ...

The First of the Sensationalists
David Stuart Davies looks at the work of Wilkie Collins - a pioneer of the ...

Unloading Hell
Sally Minogue looks at First World War poetry and the centenary of the outbreak ...

Writings dark as a raven’s wing
David Stuart Davies on the master of terror and pioneer of detective fiction - ...

ELIZABETH GASKELL’S HOUSE
Elizabeth Gaskell's house in Manchester is to re-open in October 2014 ...

A Journey into the Imagination
David Stuart Davies writes on the fantastic tales of Jules Verne.     ...

'Why I wept on first reading Conrad' - Part Two
Keith Carabine concludes his reminiscence of how he discovered Conrad. ...

'Why I wept on first reading Conrad' - Part One
Keith Carabine looks back to the origins of his life-long love of Joseph Conrad. ...

The Subtle Chiller
An appreciation of Henry James by David Stuart Davies ...

Elizabeth Gaskell
Below the benign surface of Elizabeth Gaskell, the author of 'Cranford', Sally ...

Into the Arena of the Extra - Dimensionals
David Stuart Davies looks at the work of H.P. Lovecraft ...

‘Children of the night… what music they make.’
David Stuart Davies writes on Bram Stoker ...

M. R. James – A Pleasurable Uncertainty
David Stuart Davies on one of the great writers of ghost stories ...

VIRGINIA WOOLF'S ORLANDO
A new staging of Virginia Woolf’s 'Orlando' at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, ...

THOMAS HARDY continues
Keith Carabine writes further on Mike Irwin's Hardy Introductions ...

THOMAS HARDY
Keith Carabine on the quality of Mike Irwin's Hardy introductions. ...

Anything But Elementary
David Stuart Davies reflects on the continuing appeal of Sherlock Holmes. ...

WORDSWORTH INTRODUCTIONS
Keith Carabine reflects upon our introductions in general, and 'The Great ...

JANE EYRE
Sally Minogue writes: Never judge a book by its movie... ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Henry Claridge writes on the pleasures of reading F. Scott Fitzgerald. ...

The Brontës at Haworth
Sally Minogue revisits the Brontë Parsonage Museum. ...

Charlotte Brontë
Sally Minogue writes on the life and works of the oldest of the Brontë sisters. ...

James Joyce
Professor Cedric Watts on the pleasures of reading James Joyce: ...

William Shakespeare
This is not just Shakespeare - this is Wordsworth Shakespeare... ...

Virginia Woolf
Sally Minogue writes in praise of the influential English writer. ...