Need Help from all you bookworms [grin]

[Lifeinagoldfishbowl]

I have been set an essay where I have to relate a story about someone in my family - to some form of English/British literature....

Anyone got any good ideas about books that I could choose - I keep coming back to harry potter and my experience of boarding school

[Kathyjelly]

Have you got an aunt who did something terribly risque for her age, maybe running off with someone inappropriate or doing something in the war when she could have been at home growing carrots.

Then you could compare it to someone in the Mitford family.

[Lifeinagoldfishbowl]

Thanks Kathy - no I don't but then they don't know that

Any more ideas

[BadGardener]

Childhood games to children's literature eg Milly Molly Mandy, E Nesbit?
Or naughty things you did as a child to Naughty Little Sister stories if you have read them & want to be specific?

Story of how you met your dp to romance in the Mills & Boon/Barbara Cartland mould?

[steamedtreaclesponge]

Could you relate your experiences of boarding school to something slightly more 'literary' than HP (i.e. Stalky, Tom Brown's Schooldays, Angela Brazil?)

Are you married? Could you link ideas of marriage today with those in the past, as in Austin or Eliot?

[KurriKurri]

I think I'd go for relating to the theme of a novel/play rather than the specific content, think of something in your family, perhaps instance of jealousy, secrecy, indecision. old secrets coming back to haunt us etc. i.e. something fairly vague, and then find a book with a similar theme. Shakespeare covers almost everything, that way it doesn't have to match exactly.

If you can think of one or two episodes/examples from your family history, I'm sure someone will be able to think of a related book.