Imagine that Jane Austen had written the opening line of her satirical novel Pride and Prejudice this way: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a good romp and a good wife although not necessarily from the same person or from the opposite sex.
A stinging satire of tell-all showbiz memoirs starring a self-deluded gay icon who has managed to ride every pop culture trend of the last forty years.
Edith Wharton's Twilight Sleep is a sharp, urbane satire of 1920s New York society, centered on Pauline Manford, a wealthy reformer and social organizer whose frantic schedule of committees, spiritual fads, therapies, and family management conceals emotional vacancy.
In this "e;wonderfully entertaining"e; novel, a famous domestic diva finds her perfect life falling to pieces (Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the City).
An Unpleasant Predicament: A Nasty Story is a sharp, darkly comic tale in which the well-meaning civil servant Ivan Ilyich Pralinsky attempts to demonstrate enlightened liberal benevolence by attending the wedding of a subordinate.
In Burmese Days, George Orwell, one of the most famous writers in the English language, draws on his own experience of living and working in Burma to write an unflinching novel about the dark side of imperialism.
The Voyage Out is Virginia Woolf's debut novel, a rich and introspective exploration of youth and self-discovery, centring Rachel Vinrace, a young woman embarking on a journey of both physical and emotional awakening.
First published in 1726, "e;Gulliver's Travels - Into Several Remote Nations of the World"e; is a prose satire by Jonathan Swift that satirises human nature and the "e;travellers' tales"e; genre of literature popular at the time.
Ernest Hemingway's first piece of long-form literature, The Torrents of Spring, is a satirical novella that the great American author wrote in just ten days and is a rare early example of his work.
First published in 1923, "e;The Fascinating Stranger and Other Stories"e; is a fantastic collection of classic short stories by American dramatist and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Newton Booth Tarkington (1869-1946).
