Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo (1831)
A Romantic Gothic fantasy of 15C Paris. Forget the Disney travesty: this is an unforgettable immersive adventure, like a mash-up of Walter Scott, Lewis’s The Monk and François Villon.
Claude, a brilliant young priest and alchemist, destroys himself and all around him over an unrequited and forbidden obsession with the dancer Esmeralda. She, in turn, is infatuated with the playboy Captain Phoebus, whose plans for her are far from honourable. Meanwhile, the anchoress Gudule still grieves for the abduction of her daughter, swapped in the cradle for a disabled child – adopted by Claude, named Quasimodo, and now working as the cathedral bell-ringer. The cast of 1000s ranges from King Louis XI to students, criminals and vagabonds…
Above them all the great church, Our Lady of Paris, witnesses and decides their fates.
South Riding by Winifred Holtby (1936)
Ever wondered what life was like here 90 years ago? Winifred Holtby’s South Riding is a great place to start. An activist and journalist, she lived on Thwaite Street in Cottingham.
South Riding, her final novel, was published after she died, still in her 30s, from kidney disease. It’s a slice of life – with characters from a wide cross-section of society – in the Holderness and Hull area in the 1930s. Withernsea, Hornsea, Hedon, Hull, Beverley, Spurn and Sunk Island are all recognisable.
There’s romance, tragedy, humour and political scheming (the author’s mother was the first woman Alderman: she apparently raided Mum’s waste-paper basket for notes for inspiration!).
Julian by Gore Vidal (1964)
A well-researched historical novel about the most engaging of Roman/Byzantine Emperors, that still holds up after over 60 years.
Many years after his death, Priscus and Libanius look back on their friendship with the Emperor Julian (Flavius Claudius Julianus). A bookish orphan, Julian spends his youth avoiding being murdered by his wicked uncle and cousins – who killed his father and other relatives. He rejects their Christianity in favour of the traditional Greek gods and mysticism. But the geeky young philosophy student proves to be a brave general, challenging his cousin Constantius for the throne. It’s an exciting, ultimately heart-breaking story (tissues may be needed by the end!).
There’s a local connection, too: Julian’s grandfather Constantius Chlorus died in York, and Uncle Constantine was acclaimed there (and now has a statue outside York Minster)!
By Dr Marianne M Gilchrist