Recommend me a classic novel please?

[bulletjournaller]

I fancy reading a classic novel but stuck for ideas. I've read and enjoyed all the Hardys, Austens, Gaskell and Brontë. I also really enjoyed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn which is a slightly later classic. I've read some Dickens but not sure if his style is what I'm after, and I like reading about women's stories which I'm not sure he specialises in, correct me if I'm wrong.

I really want a book I can get immersed in and feel sad when it ends, if you know what I mean!

Any suggestions?

[TealGuitar]

I am going to suggest:
Mrs Dalloway
Howard's End
Cranford
North and South
MIddlemarch

I don't know if any of those will hit the spot!

[TealGuitar]

@TealGuitar

I am going to suggest:
Mrs Dalloway
Howard's End
Cranford
North and South
MIddlemarch

I don't know if any of those will hit the spot!

Oh sorry, ignore the Gaskells!

[Rubyroseyposey]

I know you said you're sure on Dickens but I really enjoyed great expectations.

[bulletjournaller]

Yes I've read all of those except for Mrs Dalloway. I'll have a look at it, thanks

For some reason I really didn't like Howard's End.

[bulletjournaller]

I've read Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist etc.

[RevoltingHumanHead]

The Woman in White?

A real page-turner and features one of my favourite female characters.

[newtb]

To serve them all my days

[LlamaGiles]

Have you read any Henry James? Some great women's stories.
Vanity Fair
Anna Karenina

[Quirkycarrot]

How about some George Eliot? Maybe The Mill on the Floss to start with.

Or something relatively more modern- Daphne du Maurier?

[Wilma55]

John Galsworthy ?

[Latenightreader]

Have you read Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith (also wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)?

How about George Eliot? I loved Middlemarch, Silas Marner and Felix Holt.

I recently listened to radio plays of some of Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire and enjoyed them too.

[Quirkycarrot]

@RevoltingHumanHead

The Woman in White?

A real page-turner and features one of my favourite female characters.

Oooh yes this is a good one

[Fitterbyfifty]

I've just reread The Mayor of Casterbridge and had forgotten most of it so don't write off Hardy! Other suggestions:
They were Sisters - Dorothy Whipple
Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilmore
Abigail - Magda Szabo - a modern classic. I love this book which I discovered by chance when I decided to read more books in translation last year.

[JustMaggie]

My Antonia by Willa Cather

[MrJi]

The Priory by Dorothy Whipple. (Persephone books)

[mateysmum]

Try something by Anthony Trollope. The Barchester Chronicles are a good place to start. The first book is The Warden.
For something light (if not strictly classical) Georgette Heyer is hard to beat.

[EnterACloud]

Wilkie Collins has brilliant female centred stories. So much better than stupid Dickens IMO.

The Woman in White
The Law and the Lady
The Dead Secret
No Name

that’s just off the top of my head

Daphne du Maurier also a good call.

I personally can’t stand “the naughty woman gets killed off” books so loathe the likes of Madame Bovary. Will be watching with interest for other suggestions though.

oh - have you read Tom Jones by Henry Fielding? It’s silly but really fun. Similarly Moll Flanders.

[Fiftyplanner]

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - more modern but a classic in my opinion.

[mateysmum]

Forgot about - The Age of Innocence - and other novels by Edith Wharton

[EnterACloud]

@Wilma55

John Galsworthy ?

Good idea, the entire Forsyte Saga will keep you going forever.

I also listened to the Trollope adaptations on Radio 4, centred around Glencora Palliser - think it was called the Pallisers and was an adaptation of several books in a series. Less twee and more political than his vicary books.

[bulletjournaller]

@Fitterbyfifty I haven't written off Hardy?! I love Hardy and MoC is one of my favourite books!

[snowgal]

The Chamomile Lawn
Atonement

[moofolk]

The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante is not old but feels like a classic and I think would give the feelings you describe.

My Brilliant Friend
The Story of a New Name
Those who go and Those who Stay
The Story of a Lost Child

[Jaxhog]

Another vote for Wilkie Collins, especially 'No Name'. Best story of revenge ever written!

[bulletjournaller]

Okay some great suggestions, thank you!