Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Class Struggles
The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
An exploration of the Indian class system, told from the perspective of a lower-caste man.
The entire novel is narrated through letters by Balram Halwai to the Premier of China, who will soon be visiting India. Balram is an Indian man from an impoverished background, born in the village of ... (Wikipedia)
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens
An orphan's journey of survival and resilience in the face of poverty and injustice.
Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune, raised in a workhouse in the fictional town of Mudfog , located 70 miles (110 km) north of London . , , , He is orphaned by his father's ... (Wikipedia)
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
A timeless tale of love and revenge, set against the backdrop of the English moors.
In 1801, Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire , pays a visit to his landlord, Heathcliff , at his remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There he meets a reserved young ... (Wikipedia)
Alias Grace
by Margaret Atwood
A psychological thriller that examines the true story of a 19th century Canadian murderess.
Grace Marks, the convicted murderess, has been hired out from prison to serve as a domestic servant in the home of the Governor of the penitentiary. A Committee of gentlemen and ladies from the ... (Wikipedia)
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
A social commentary on the English legal system, exploring themes of inequality, injustice and corruption.
Bleak House opens in the twilight of foggy London, where fog grips the city most densely in the Court of Chancery. The obscure case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, in which an inheritance is gradually ... (Goodreads)
Dead Souls
by Nikolai Gogol
A satirical tale of a man's quest for wealth, exposing the corruption of 19th century Russian society.
The story follows the exploits of Chichikov, a middle-aged gentleman of middling social class and means. Chichikov arrives in a small town and turns on the charm to woo key local officials and ... (Wikipedia)
Parable of the Talents
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic tale of survival, exploring themes of faith and power.
Parable of the Talents is told from the points of view of Lauren Oya Olamina and her daughter Larkin Olamina/Asha Vere. The novel consists of journal entries by Lauren and passages by Asha Vere. Four ... (Wikipedia)
The Post-Office Girl
by Stefan Zweig
A young woman's life changes when she inherits a fortune and experiences the luxuries of high society. But it doesn't last forever.
Christine is an Austrian public servant in a post-office job in a poverty-stricken city near St. Pölten in Lower Austria . She is a blonde woman whose mother is sick and whose father had died during ... (Wikipedia)
Of Human Bondage
by W. Somerset Maugham
A young man's struggles to find a sense of purpose, despite a series of catastrophic misfortunes.
The book begins with the death of Helen Carey, the much beloved mother of nine-year-old Philip Carey. Philip has a club foot and his father had died a few months before. Now orphaned, he is sent to ... (Wikipedia)
Mary Barton
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Social injustice and class divisions explored through the lens of a mill worker’s family.
The novel begins in Manchester, where we are introduced to the Bartons and the Wilsons, two working-class families. John Barton is a questioner of the distribution of wealth and the relations between ... (Wikipedia)
The Return of the Native
by Thomas Hardy
A story of a man's ill-fated love, set against the wild landscape of rural England.
The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath , and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses , covers exactly a year and a day. The narrative begins on the evening of Guy ... (Wikipedia)
Martin Eden
by Jack London
A young sailor's ambition for a better life leads him on a journey of self-improvement and exploration of the upper classes.
Living in Oakland at the beginning of the 20th century, Martin Eden struggles to rise above his destitute, proletarian circumstances through an intense and passionate pursuit of self-education, ... (Wikipedia)
The House of Mirth
by Edith Wharton
A young woman's struggle to navigate New York high society, in pursuit of financial security and true love.
Lily Bart, a beautiful but impoverished socialite, is on her way to a house party at Bellomont, the country home of her best friend, Judy Trenor. Her pressing task is to find a husband with the ... (Wikipedia)
Nicholas Nickleby
by Charles Dickens
Exploring themes of morality and justice through the story of a young man and his family.
Nicholas Nickleby's father dies unexpectedly after losing all of his money in a poor investment. Nicholas, his mother and his younger sister, Kate, are forced to give up their comfortable lifestyle ... (Wikipedia)
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by D.H. Lawrence
A working-class man's affair with an aristocratic woman, and their coming to terms with the strictures of society.
Lawrence's frank portrayal of an extramarital affair and the explicit sexual explorations of its central characters caused this controversial book, now considered a masterpiece, to be banned as ... (Goodreads)
The Mill on the Floss
by George Eliot
A story of a young woman's struggle to reconcile her inner life with society's expectations.
Spanning a period of 10 to 15 years, the novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, siblings who grow up at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. The mill is situated at the junction of the ... (Wikipedia)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
by Kate Summerscale
A gripping true-crime story centred around the mysterious murder of a young boy.
The dramatic story of the real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction. In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat ... (Goodreads)
Curtsies & Conspiracies
by Gail Carriger
Young lady embarks on a journey of intrigue, learning to navigate the social politics of the upper class.
Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully grown guests? Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Custom of the Country
by Edith Wharton
A woman's rise to the top of high society, exploring the cut-throat world of New York.
The Spraggs, a family of midwesterners from the fictional city of Apex who have made money through somewhat shady financial dealings, arrive in New York City at the prompting of their beautiful, ... (Wikipedia)
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)
Be Careful What You Wish For
by Jeffrey Archer
A man's ambitious quest for power leads to consequences he never anticipated.
Be Careful What You Wish For follows the Barrington-Clifton family during the years 1957 to 1964, when Emma Barrington Clifton seeks to take control of her family shipping business and must deal with ... (Wikipedia)
The Moon and Sixpence
by W. Somerset Maugham
A man's pursuit of a life of art, challenging societal conventions and expectations.
The novel is written largely from the point of view of the narrator, a young, aspiring writer and playwright in London. Certain chapters entirely comprise accounts of events by other characters, ... (Wikipedia)
A Countess Below Stairs
by Eva Ibbotson
A young woman takes on the identity of a housemaid in a wealthy Russian household, discovering a new life and unexpected love.
After the Russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian Countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as ... (Goodreads)
As the Crow Flies
by Jeffrey Archer
A family saga that follows the fortunes of a man who embarks on a dangerous journey to find his father.
Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather's fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the ... (Goodreads)
All Over But the Shoutin'
by Rick Bragg
Memoir of a young man's journey from poverty to achieving the American Dream.
The extraordinary gifts for evocation and insight and the stunning talent for storytelling that earned Rick Bragg a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1996 are here brought to bear on the ... (Goodreads)
Victoria
by Daisy Goodwin
A thrilling tale of love, loss, and self-discovery set in the 19th century British court.
“They think I am still a little girl who is not capable of being a Queen.”,Lord Melbourne turned to look at Victoria. “They are mistaken. I have not known you long, but I observe in you a natural ... (Goodreads)
Tipping the Velvet
by Sarah Waters
A coming of age story of a young woman's queer journey through Victorian England.
Nancy "Nan" Astley is a sheltered 18-year-old living with her working-class family and helping in their oyster restaurant in Whitstable, Kent. She becomes instantly and desperately enamoured with a ... (Wikipedia)
Splendid
by Julia Quinn
A romantic tale of two star-crossed lovers, navigating family drama and secrets.
There are two things everyone knows about Alexander Ridgely. One, he's the Duke of Ashbourne. And two, he has no plans to marry anytime soon... That is until a redheaded American throws herself in ... (Goodreads)
La vida del Lazarillo de Tormes
by Unknown
A picaresque novel of a young man's adventures and misfortunes in 16th-century Spain.
Lázaro es un muchacho desarrapado a quien la miseria obliga a emplearse como sirviente. Las inocentes y a veces justificadas burlas con las que Lázaro se defiende de sus amos son castigadas con una ... (Goodreads)
Skagboys
by Irvine Welsh
A gritty, raw look at the lives of a group of friends in Edinburgh, struggling with poverty and addiction.
Section 1: Tempted In 1984, Mark Renton and his father Davie have travelled to Yorkshire to take part in a picket of the coke plant. After briefly meeting his London pal Nicksy, he gets caught up in ... (Wikipedia)
The Pearl
by John Steinbeck
A poor diver's dream of wealth is dashed when his newfound riches ultimately bring unhappiness and tragedy.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Kino is a poor diver, gathering pearls from the gulf beds that once brought great wealth to the kings of Spain and now provide Kino, Juana, and their ... (Goodreads)
The Testament
by John Grisham
A billionaire's will creates a legal battle between his descendants and the townspeople who have been displaced.
In a plush Virginia office, a rich, angry old man is furiously rewriting his will. With his death just hours away, Troy Phelan wants to send a message to his children, his ex-wives, and his minions, ... (Goodreads)
Hedda Gabler
by Henrik Ibsen
A woman's struggle against societal expectations and a search for freedom.
Hedda, the daughter of an aristocratic and enigmatic general, has just returned to her villa in Kristiania (now Oslo) from her honeymoon. Her husband is George Tesman, a young, aspiring, and reliable ... (Wikipedia)
Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution
by Michelle Moran
Historical novel of a young woman's struggle to survive in tumultuous 18th century France.
The world knows Madame Tussaud as a wax artist extraordinaire... but who was this woman who became one of the most famous sculptresses of all time? In these pages, her tumultuous and amazing story ... (Goodreads)
My Life Next Door
by Huntley Fitzpatrick
A young woman discovers a new side of life and finds unexpected love when she befriends her neighbor.
Samantha Reed is a 17 year old American teenager living in the fictional town of Stony Bay, Connecticut. After her father left when she was a baby, Samantha's mother, Grace, threw herself into a ... (Wikipedia)
The Grand Sophy
by Georgette Heyer
An unconventional young woman's spirited adventure to restore order and joy to her new family.
For the past several years Sophia Stanton-Lacy (known as Sophy to everyone) has lived away from England, following her diplomat father Sir Horace around Europe while the Napoleonic Wars raged on. Now ... (Wikipedia)
Meridon
by Philippa Gregory
A young woman's journey of self-discovery, discovering secrets of her family's past.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl comes the final book of the extraordinary Wideacre trilogy as the heir to the great estate comes home at last. Meridon knows she ... (Goodreads)
The Time of the Hero
by Mario Vargas Llosa
Exploration of morality and class in a Peruvian military academy, through the eyes of two cadets.
En 1962, La ciudad y los perros recibía el Premio Biblioteca Breve. Así comenzaba la andadura literaria de esta obra considerada una de las mejores novelas en español del siglo XX.Los personajes de ... (Goodreads)
Inversions
by Iain M. Banks
A complex political intrigue set in a distant world, exploring the consequences of power.
The book takes place on a fictional planet resembling late- Middle Ages Europe. A large empire broke up in the decade or so preceding the action, apparently from meteor or asteroid strikes that ... (Wikipedia)
A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories
by Will Eisner
Collection of interweaving stories about the struggles and joys of life in an immigrant tenement in the Bronx.
Go back to where graphic novels all started, on the Bronx street of Dropsie Avenue and A Life Force, in Will Eisner's groundbreaking 1978 creation. The human drama, the psychological insight – Eisner ... (Goodreads)
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
by Arlie Russell Hochschild
An exploration of the deep story of the American Right, uncovering the feelings and motivations that drive it.
In Strangers in Their Own Land , the renowned sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou ... (Goodreads)
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
by George Orwell
A struggling poet's quest to remain independent and stay true to himself in a society obsessed with money.
Gordon Comstock has 'declared war' on what he sees as an 'overarching dependence' on money by leaving a promising job as a copywriter for an advertising company called 'New Albion '—at which he shows ... (Wikipedia)
The Winter Rose
by Jennifer Donnelly
Love, loss, and redemption in 19th-century England.
An epic tale of secret love and hidden passions. It is 1900 and the dangerous streets of East London are no place for a well-bred woman. But India Selwyn Jones is headstrong: she has trained as one ... (Goodreads)
Belgravia
by Julian Fellowes
Intertwined stories of the wealthy and elite, whose lives become intertwined in a web of secrets and lies.
FROM THE CREATOR OF DOWNTON ABBEY The, New York Times, bestselling novel about scandalous secrets and star-crossed lovers On the evening of 15 June 1815, the great and the good of British society ... (Goodreads)
Demelza
by Winston Graham
A romantic tale of two lovers facing the challenges of society in 19th century Cornwall.
In the enchanting second novel in Winston Graham’s beloved Poldark series, Demelza Carne, an impoverished miner’s daughter Ross Poldark rescued from a fairground brawl, now happily finds herself his ... (Goodreads)
Oblomov
by Ivan Goncharov
A story of a man's struggle to break free from his life of stagnation and inactivity.
The novel focuses on the life of the main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. Oblomov is a member of the upper middle class and the son of a member of Russia's nineteenth-century landed gentry. Oblomov's ... (Wikipedia)
Ethan Frome and Other Short Fiction
by Edith Wharton
A collection of short stories exploring the complexities of human relationships and societal expectations in the early 20th century.
On a bleak New England farm, a taciturn young man has resigned himself to a life of grim endurance. Bound by circumstance to a woman he cannot love, Ethan Frome is haunted by a past of lost ... (Goodreads)
Blue-Eyed Devil
by Lisa Kleypas
Romance between a wealthy socialite and a blue-collar worker, uncovering secrets and lies of the past.
The, New York Times, bestselling author of, Sugar Daddy, is back with her most breathtaking, hot-and-bothered novel yet!,MEET THE BLUE-EYED DEVIL,His name is Hardy Cates. He's a self-made millionaire ... (Barnes & Noble)
Captains of the Sands
by Jorge Amado
Tale of a group of street children in Brazil, and the hard realities of poverty.
Capitães da Areia é o livro de Jorge Amado mais vendido no mundo inteiro. Publicado em 1937, teve a sua primeira edição apreendida e queimada em praça pública pelas autoridades do Estado Novo. Em ... (Goodreads)
A Rogue by Any Other Name
by Sarah MacLean
A marriage of convenience between two unlikely partners leads to unexpected romance.
The novel opens in 1821, when 21-year-old Michael Lawler, Marquess of Bourne, wagers his entire inheritance in a card game - and loses it all to his former guardian. The book resumes 10 years later. ... (Wikipedia)
High Society
by Ben Elton
A satirical novel that explores the lives of the wealthy and famous, exposing their hypocrisy and excesses.
It also follows several other characters: Udta Punjab is a 2016 Bollywood film, based on drug abuse. Directed and written by Abhishek Chaubey , the film has been alleged to be inspired from the ... (Wikipedia)
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