The portrayal of Stephen Dedalus’s Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family, religion and Ireland itself, is also an oblique self-portrait of the young James Joyce and a universal testament to the artist’s ‘eternal imagination’. Both an insight into Joyce’s life and childhood, and a unique work of modernist fiction, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a novel of sexual awakening, religious rebellion and the essential search for voice and meaning that every nascent artist must face in order to blossom fully into themselves.

“The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”

Esther Greenwood is a beautiful and immensely talented young lady who dreamt of being a great writer. As a college student she travelled from Massachusetts to New York to work on a magazine for a month as a guest editor. While there, she is showered with fancy dinners, and elite networking. Esther knew she should be having the time of her life, but something was wrong, and she felt deadened.

Little she knew that this was the beginning of a clinical depression which would take all sense of life out of her. After a visit from a beloved professor, she starts to believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Months of treatment later, Esther leaves the mental hospital in time to start college. She now knew that life would be a seesaw of good and bad days, and the bell jar could ring either with sadness or elation, she just needed to hear it jingle and practice what she learnt.

The Bell Jar is an intimate, and uplifting narrative written with the expert stroke of the finest writers of the century; meant to make the reader feel supported and hopeful in their journey.

“I don’t know how to be silent when my heart is speaking.”

Set in the enchanting streets of St. Petersburg, this is a story of a young man who is a dreamer, and wanders on the city’s deserted lanes during long summer nights.

On a foggy night, under the hazy streetlights, a young man met Nastenka, who captured his heart with her beauty and innocence. They spent four consecutive nights together, as he becomes increasingly besotted with Nastenka, sharing his innermost thoughts and feelings.

Just as he was beginning to feel safe in their oasis, he discovers that Nastenka is in love with another man; a prince who has promised to return to her after a long absence. Yet, he is certain that even Nastenka is drawn to him, each grappling with their own sense of longing and desire for connection.

Through this vivid narrative of the intoxicating power of hope, the young man’s monologues reveal his absolute yearning for love, while Nastenka’s vulnerability and romantic idealism add layers of emotion to the story.

Through these fragile yet sublime characters we witness the beauty and pain of unrequited love

« I’ve found that there is always some beauty left―in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.’

Anne begins her diary entries at the age of thirteen in June 1942, recording all her experiences until August 1944. All people have the right to freedom, but Anne wasn’t sure that idea included her. During WWII, Anne and her family were forced to go into hiding like many other Jews.

Vivid snippets of two years of living in an annexe, without seeing the sun, are journalled by Anne. From their bones dwindling to her emotional growth all is reflected in her writings. She writes of her passion for literature and art, her desire to travel, the struggles of family ties in hiding: showing her incredible emotional resilience.

Catherine Morland is a seventeen-year-old romantic at heart, fond of reading Gothic novels. One weekend she is invited by friends to spend a season in Bath, and for the first time participates in glamorous balls unique to the nineteenth century London lifestyle.

So it happens, at one ball she meets the intriguing and wealthy Henry Tilney, her over-active imagination leads her to expect dramatic twists at every turn.

However, the truth turns out to be far more complicated and lot more mundane; and love happens to be a lot simpler than her novel obsessed young heart had imagined. Will the reality be a disappointment or sweet relief for her? Young Catherine goes through many self-induced trials to learn the simple lesson of life.

“Of the many things hidden from the knowledge of man, nothing is more unintelligible than the human heart”

Sequal to The Illiad, the story begins ten years after the Trojan War and the Fall of Troy, when Odysseus, one of the war heroes, has still not returned to his kingdom Ithaca.

The Odyssey, which means the story of Odysseus, highlight another universal truth about life which is the desire to return home, the destructions and sacrifices of war.

When assumed dead, Odysseus’s wife Penelope and son Telemachus struggle with a group of unruly suitors who have overrun their palace wanting to marry Penelope and take over his house. But Odysseus is still alive; imprisoned on the island of Ogygia by Calypso, who is possessed by love for him and desires to make him her immortal husband.

Homer’s epic poem, larger than life emotions, and philosophical thoughts is a reminder of the bitter-sweet melancholies and the simplest desires of life.