Because you can only read Pride and Prejudice so many times.
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
Like Austen, Pym was an acute observer of female life, and, like Austen, her novels are filled with busybodies, tea, and a deceptively practical view on love. Imagine a comedy of manners set in post-war England with Charlotte Lucas as the protagonist, and you'll have a good idea of what Excellent Women is all about. Plus, Philip Larkin called Pym "the most underrated writer of the 20th century."
Plume / Via amazon.com
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Wharton's Lily Bart is the opposite of a Jane Austen heroine in almost every way: She's fickle and tragic with, most importantly, no happy ending. That being said, Wharton's New York society is richly drawn, Lily is at once frustrating and sympathetic, and the ending is perfect if you're in need of a good cry.
Penguin Classics / Via amazon.com
A Room With a View by E.M. Forster
You may remember this novel from Dunder Mifflin's "The Finer Things Club," and if that isn't recommendation enough, I'm not sure what is. Contrasting the free sensuality of Italy with the conventions of Edwardian England, the novel follows Lucy Honeychurch's coming-of-age as she chooses between two men and the values each represents. Particularly memorable, though, are the deftly drawn, absurd secondary characters like snooty Cecil, pompous Miss Lavish, and finicky cousin Charlotte.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform / foreveryoungadult.com
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Nancy Mitford, one of the famous Mitford sisters and a "Bright Young Thing" of 1920s London, writes what she knows: Her novels are filled with thinly veiled characterizations of her family members and friends, and many of the details that make the novel so fun are lifted from Mitford's childhood growing up in an eccentric aristocratic family. The Pursuit of Love follows Linda Radlett from her sex-obsessed (in a 1920s kind of way) childhood to her adulthood spent desperately trying (and failing) to find Mr. Right. While the novel's conclusion is a bit sobering, for the most part the book is lighthearted escapism.
Vintage / Via amazon.com
