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Original poster

Recommendations for 15 year old girl who has enjoyed Jane Austen and Jane Eyre

111 replies

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 22/03/2026 17:23

Can you suggest some books for my 15 yo DD? She has read Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and is now about to start Jane Eyre.

Sense and Sensibility? Other authors?
Is Anne of Green Gables too young for her?

She would be reading them in translation in Spanish so nothing too obscure.

OP posts:
cancerycaramelbear · 22/03/2026 17:59

Longbourne is a great P&P spin off from the perspective of one of the maids. Unlike some of the Austen fanfic, it is really well written.

LIZS · 22/03/2026 17:59

Cranford, George Eliot, Hardy - Tess of the d’Urbervilles, the Woodlanders, Mayor of Casterbridge

clary · 22/03/2026 17:58

Valid comments about Hardy tbf. I would definitely avoid Jude the Obscure, Maybe Tess is a bit depressing too tho it is an A level text.

My suggestions for Hardy (apart from Tess) are a bit more chirpy. Under the Greenwood Tree and The Woodlanders are also reasonably happy. For some characters anyway.

I woudn't recommend Henry James tbh, always found his novels unreasonably heavy going. But that's quite personal for sure.

ETA just seen your comment @OrangeBlossomsinthesun about The Woman in White. Oh I loved that. Might see if I can dig it out as it is well worth a reread.

PoPpErS1 · 22/03/2026 17:57

Cranford was very good when I was a teenager.

bunnyvsmonkey · 22/03/2026 17:57

Alexandre Dumas

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 22/03/2026 17:57

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Apologies if you know it, but it's the story of the first Mrs. Rochester.
Definitely Dickens. Science Fiction? John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids. Etc

waltzingparrot · 22/03/2026 17:57

Thomas Hardy and Daphne du Maurier next methinks.

Sgtmajormummy · 22/03/2026 17:56

If she likes strong female characters, what about the Sally Lockhart (detective/gothic) young adult novels by Philip Pullman?
www.goodreads.com/series/43941-sally-lockhart

NigellaDelia · 22/03/2026 17:55

I really enjoyed reading From Lark Rise to Candleford when I was younger . . .

littlebilliie · 22/03/2026 17:55

The lost art of keeping secrets

Octavia64 · 22/03/2026 17:54

I also quite like Anthony Trollope - the way we live now is good. He also has two series - the palliser novels and the barchester series. They are quite long by comparison though.

Original poster
OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 22/03/2026 17:53

Rocknrollstar · 22/03/2026 17:43

One of my favourite books.
Also;
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
How Green is my Valley
Rebecca
Watership Down
Forever Amber
A Town Like Alice

Edited
Show quote history

OMG Watership Down traumatised me for years! I did like A Town Like Alice though.
She says she likes the sound of A Woman In White

OP posts:
Octavia64 · 22/03/2026 17:52

Hardy is terribly depressing. Not really in the same line.
I did read him but you need breaks to avoid becoming depressed.

PersephonePomegranate · 22/03/2026 17:50

I'd say anything by Wilkie Collins.

Mary Elizabeth Bradden's sensation novels are also good, although I'm not sure whether they'd be translated in Spanish. Anthony Trollope books are also a fun read.

WhatYouEgg · 22/03/2026 17:50

Evelina by Frances Burney - one of Jane Austen’s inspirations and it is hilarious.

North and South as others have suggested.

NigellaDelia · 22/03/2026 17:49

As she has enjoyed Jane Austen, I wonder if she would enjoy "You are Elizabeth Bennet" . . . it's a book where you create your own story. Great fun!

Original poster
OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 22/03/2026 17:49

BeaAndBen · 22/03/2026 17:40

She's a great age for Anne - there are about 8 of them.

Elizabeth Gaskell, North And South is a good one. The Mill On The Floss or Silas Marner by Eliot are good as well. I assume she's read To Kill A Mockingbird, that's a big hit at that age.

Sense And Sensibity for Austen, but I'd leave Persuasion until she's had a little more life experience. It lands better then. (It's my favourite now but not when I was a teenager)

No, we live in Spain so she´s only really read Spanish novels so far and has only just got into the Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. She´s bilingual but at the moment reads in Spanish as it´s her strongest language.

OP posts:
WorriedRelative · 22/03/2026 17:46

Cherrycola4 · 22/03/2026 17:36

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

Woman in White is also good but is a ghost story.

H G Wells is quite readable at a young age too.

EvelynBeatrice · 22/03/2026 17:44

Sorry didn’t read about the Spanish!!

2BarbieOrNot2Barbie · 22/03/2026 17:44

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is good. Second the Elizabeth Gaskell recommendations. I personally would keep away from Thomas Hardy at that age, I found it a bit too sad and distressing.

WorriedRelative · 22/03/2026 17:44

Elizabeth Gaskell, other Jane Austen novels, Wuthering Heights, Lorna Doone, Anna of the Five Towns, Brideshead Revisited, Daphne Du Maurier.

EvelynBeatrice · 22/03/2026 17:43

Fanny Trollope: ‘ Miss Marjoribanks’ and various other titles.
Elizabeth Gaskell - various
Henry James: The Spoils of Poynton was my favourite at that age. But so many.

Rocknrollstar · 22/03/2026 17:43

Sitwithit · 22/03/2026 17:34

She might enjoy I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith.

One of my favourite books.
Also;
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
How Green is my Valley
Rebecca
Watership Down
Forever Amber
A Town Like Alice

Gluedtogether · 22/03/2026 17:42

I was going to suggest Elizabeth Gaskell 😁

januarysnowdrop · 22/03/2026 17:40

Rebecca?

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