Orange Inheritance

If you were to save just one book to preserve for future generations, what would it be? It’s a difficult choice for most readers, however, Orange, in partnership with Vintage Classics, has took on the challenge.

Coinciding with celebrations for the 16^th anniversary of the Orange Prize for Fiction, six previous winners have chosen a title to be released in a new series as part of Orange Inheritance. Kate Mosse, Co-Founder & Honorary Director of the Orange Prize for Fiction commented on the importance of the campaign ‘This wonderful collection reminds us of how classics become classics…the books we fall in love with when we are young, the books we inherit or come to be recommended by friends and family, those novels that influence us.’ The collection will feature the following novels:

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf selected by Helen Dunmore, Orange Prize winner in 1996		Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy selected by Anne Michaels, Orange Prize winner in 1997
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman chosen by Linda Grant, winner of the Orange Prize in 2000		So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell selected by Ann Patchett, Orange Prize winner in 2002
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates selected by Lionel Shriver, Orange Prize winner in 2005		Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac selected by Rose Tremain, Orange Prize winner in 2008

After much moaning which sounded like I was more in pain then choosing between books, I managed to decide on my choice – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. There are two main reasons for this, firstly, the author herself is part of the fascination of this novel. A painfully shy woman who overcame her terror of London in order to convince her publisher it was indeed a woman, not a man, who was penning these deeply gothic and disturbing novels. I would have paid good money to see the publishers face that day.

Ultimately, Jane Eyre is the ultimate Gothic Romance which so many British writers indulge in. Bronte contrasts the dark elements with the lighter love story whilst tackling some important issues for women at the time. If that isn’t enough to absorb a reader then what is? Jane Eyre has always been a classic and always will and I hope future generations will agree.

So, which book would you pick?