To Kill a Mocking Bird and Wuthering Heights

The last two books that I've read and crossed off the list.

The first is Harper Lee's only novel, published in 1960 narrated by a 6 year old girl called Scout Finch as she observes her neighbours and family in the 1930's southern America. Scout's father, Atticus, is a local lawyer who brings his two children, Scout and her older brother Jem, up on his own. They demonstrate a great deal of respect for their hard working father and this respect grows when he is called in to represent a local black man who has been wrongly accused of rape. Atticus senses what really happened during the incident that his client has been arrested for and questions the key witnesses with intelligence and strategic focus. He has to deal with the prejudice that black people faced everywhere in those days (and appear to face still in many parts of the world), prejudice that he is targeted with, due his representation of his client.

A parallel plot involves a neighbour that chooses to stay in his home all day and is rumoured to come out at night. He is the wonderfully named Boo Radley and he later lent his name to the equally famous band.

This is a great novel; a classic in the true meaning and Harper Lee has described a society that comes alive in every page. You can see the small town that the characters live in I was fortunate to read the book before seeing the movie. I suspect the movie will, as usual, be a poor version of this wonderful, coming of age and distinctly heartbreaking novel.

Wuthering Heights is a different animal altogether. Written by Emily Bronte and published in 1847 it tells the story of the dark character, Heathcliffe and his tragic relationship with Catherine Earnshaw. It's a brooding story full of malevolence, fear, fatigue and even love. It is essentially a tragic love story.

It is narrated by a Mr Lockwood through another character Nellie and spans two generations in Yorkshire. It's a short book and that's probably a good thing; it is full of isolation (reflecting the real lives of the Bronte sisters), barren landscapes complete with typical British shitty weather and the ubiquitous class system that forms the backbone of the relationships in the novel.

I'm now halfway through the Picture of Dorian Grey so watch this space.