Women's History Month

To celebrate Women's History Month this March, we are highlighting some of the best works written by great female authors or about inspirational women in our collection. With so many great classics there is plenty of choice – from Princess Diana's biography by Anne Collins at Beginner level, Persuasion by Jane Austen at Pre-intermedite level, to Lappin and Lapinova by Virginia Woolf at Upper Intermediate level.

Want to learn more about our great classic female writers? Follow us on Facebook this month for inspirational quotes. You can also join our book club: this month's book is Wuthering Heights.

 

Princess Diana

Level: Beginner (A1)

One of the titles in the Macmillan Biographies series, it is a sympathetic and informative description of the life of Britain's most famous princess. The marriage of Lady Diana Spencer to Prince Charles was watched by millions of people around the world. But their fairy-tale marriage was not to last and Diana's life would be cut short by a terrible car crash. Includes photographs and details of Diana's favourite charities.

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Little Women

Level: Beginner (A1)

This book tells the story of four sisters growing up in Massachusetts, USA during the American Civil War. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March live with their mother in a small town. Their father is away fighting with the Union army.

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Good Wives

Level: Beginner (A1)

A sequel to Little Women, it continues the story of the March sisters. Meg is engaged to be married to John Brooke. Laurie Lawrence, their neighbour, disappointed after being refused by the spirited Jo, goes to Europe with his grandfather and meets up again with the younger sister, Amy. Meanwhile, Jo pursues a career as a writer in New York. She, too, is looking for happiness, but returns to her home when she learns that her beloved sister, Beth, is dangerously ill.

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Frankenstein

Level: Elementary (A2)

'The lightning was all around me. I looked at the huge body. The silver light reached the hands, the feet, and the head. For a moment everything was quiet. Was it moving? No, yes! An arm moved and then a leg. Then I heard breathing. Yes, the man was breathing. He was alive!'

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Heidi

Level: Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)

When Heidi goes to live with her bad-tempered and lonely grandfather, Uncle Alp, in his hut on the mountain, everyone thinks that her stay will make them both unhappy. But Heidi soon makes new friends and grows to love her new life. Then her aunt Detie arrives and insists that Heidi must go to live with a family in Frankfurt. Heidi and her grandfather are heartbroken. Will Heidi ever return to the mountain?

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Persuasion

Level: Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)

This is Jane Austen’s famous story of Anne Elliot’s love for a handsome but poor young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, whom her parents forbid her to marry.

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The Secret Garden

Level: Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)

Mary Lennox arrives from India to live with her uncle in Yorkshire. She is lonely and unwanted. Left alone, she has nothing to do but explore the large house and its grounds. Then one day, she finds a secret garden. For the first time Mary has something to care for, and as the garden begins to flourish, no one's life is left untouched.

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The Enchanted April

Level: Intermediate (B1)

Unhappy and restless in rain-soaked London, four very different women answer an advertisement in The Times newspaper to rent a medieval castle for the month of April. There, amidst the sunshine and flowers, they rediscover happiness.

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Pride and Prejudice

Level: Intermediate (B1)

Everybody knows that a rich unmarried man needs a pretty wife. And every mother wants her daughter to be happily married. Jane Austen's much-filmed and highly popular romantic comedy has been retold to give the reader an opportunity to understand and enjoy the witty dialogue and sharp observations of one of the classic romances of English literature.

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Wuthering Heights

Level: Intermediate (B1)

Emily Bronte's only novel, the passionate and violent story of the Earnshaw and Linton families, has become one of the most popular in British fiction.

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Agnes Grey

Level: Upper Intermediate (B2)

I had tried everything I could think of to teach and control the children. However, it did not matter how hard I tried. Their behaviour did not get better.

When the Grey family lose a lot of money, Agnes, the youngest daughter decides to help. She will become a governess. But trying to teach and control other people’s children proves to be more difficult than expected. Her pupils are rude and badly behaved, and their parents are not much better. When a new curate arrives at church, Agnes finds her thoughts turning to love. But how can she be sure he feels the same?

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Middlemarch

Level: Upper Intermediate (B2)

When the young and beautiful Dorothea Brooke marries the ageing scholar Edward Casaubon, the people of Middlemarch believe that no good will come of it. Dorothea quickly grows unhappy and bored. Then she begins a sensitive friendship with Casaubon's young cousin, Will Ladislaw. Meanwhile, the beautiful but spoilt Rosamond Vincey pursues the idealistic Doctor Lydgate. Lydgate is determined not to get married, but Rosamond has other ideas. Recommended for older readers.

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Lappin and Lapinova

Level: Advanced (C2)

In this short story, a young couple share an imaginary world. This short story is also part of the Literature Collection Animal Stories.

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