Banned or Challenged Books

Read these dangerous books at your own risk!

Updated June 7, 2023
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The Handmaid's tale
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
** THE SUNDAY TIMESNO. 1 BESTSELLER ** Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series. 'The Handmaid's Talechanged me profoundly, hopefully for the better'Lee Child, Guardian ...
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
Paper Book
The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Over 1 million copies sold in the UK. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of...
Running with scissors : a memoir
Burroughs, Augusten.
Paper Book
In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
Capote, Truman
Paper Book
Reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. In this title, the author's study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved.
As I lay dying : the corrected text
Faulkner, William
Paper Book
The death and burial of Addie Bundren is told by members of her family, as they cart the coffin to Jefferson, Mississippi, to bury her among her people. And as the intense desires, fears and rivalries of the family are revealed in the vernacular of the Deep South, Faulkner presents a portrait of...
The diary of a young girl : the definitive edition
Frank, Anne
Paper Book
This special educational edition of Anne Frank's unique diary, describing her family's plight during the Nazi persecution, is accompanied by substantial background material and photographs to help students to contextualise this teenager's account.
Lord of the flies
Golding, William
Paper Book
William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a dystopian classic: 'exciting, relevant and thought-provoking' (Stephen King). When a group of schoolboys are stranded on a desert island, what could go wrong? 'One of my favorite books - I...
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Haddon, Mark.
Paper Book
OVER TEN MILLION COPIES SOLD The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeis a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths...
The kite runner
Hosseini, Khaled.
Paper Book
1970s Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives... Since its...
Brave new world
Huxley, Aldous
Paper Book
Now more than ever: Aldous Huxley's enduring masterwork must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit "A masterpiece. . . . One of the most prophetic dystopian works." --Wall Street Journal  Aldous Huxley's profoundly ...
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Kesey, Ken.
Paper Book
Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse...
Lady Chatterley's lover
Lawrence, D. H.
Paper Book
Constance Chatterley feels trapped in her sexless marriage to the invalid Sir Clifford. Unable to fulfil his wife emotionally or physically, Clifford encourages her to have a liaison with a man of their own class. But Connie is attracted instead to her husband's gamekeeper and embarks on a...
To kill a mockingbird
Lee, Harper.
Paper Book
'Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.' Lawyer Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the...
The bluest eye
Morrison, Toni.
Ebook
Stunningly-designed new editions of Toni Morrison's best-known novels, published by Vintage Classics in celebration of her life and work. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, AUTHOR OF QUEENIE Pecola Breedlove longs for blond hair and...
The things they carried : a work of fiction
O'Brien, Tim
Paper Book
The million copy bestseller that redefined the way the world saw war. One of the ten books - novels, memoirs and one very unusual biography - that make up our Matchbook Classics' series, a stunningly redesigned collection of some of the best loved titles on our backlist....
1984 : a novel
Orwell, George
Paper Book
One of the BBC's '100 Novels that Shaped the World' 'Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past' Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit...
My sister's keeper : a novel
Picoult, Jodi
Paper Book
THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER AND MAJOR MOTION PICTURE 'Emotionally riveting and will test your tear ducts to the limit' Daily Express In all thirteen years of Anna's life, her parents have never given her a choice: she was born to be her sister...
The satanic verses : a novel
Rushdie, Salman.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "[A] torrent of endlessly inventive prose, by turns comic and enraged, embracing life in all its contradictions. In this spectacular novel, verbal pyrotechnics barely outshine its psychological truths."--Newsday ...
The catcher in the rye
Salinger, J. D.
Paper Book
The Catcher in Ryeis the ultimate novel for disaffected youth and has influenced countless coming-of-age stories since. Holden Caulfield is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up,...
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
Skloot, Rebecca
Paper Book
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells - taken without her knowledge - became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until...
Of mice and men
Steinbeck, John
Paper Book
Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie, have nothing in the world except each other - and a dream. A dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie - struggling against extreme...
Slaughterhouse-five, or, The children's crusade : a duty-dance with death
Vonnegut, Kurt.
Paper Book
Read Kurt Vonnegut's powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published. 'An extraordinary success. A book to read and reread. He is a true artist' New York TimesBook Review Billy Pilgrim - hapless barber's...
The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
'One of the most haunting books you could ever wish to read¿it is stunning - moving, exciting, and wonderful' Lenny Henry Set in the deep American south between the wars, this is the classic tale of Celie, a young poor black girl. Raped repeatedly by her father, she loses two children and...
All the king's men
Warren, Robert Penn
Paper Book
Young, passionate and determined, Willie Stark begins his political life as an idealistic man of the people, compelled by a desire to transform America. But when he is betrayed while running for governor in the Deep South s Mason County, he soon realises that pure ideals are worth very little in the...
Brideshead revisited : the sacred and profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder
Waugh, Evelyn
Paper Book
The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisitedlooks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by...
Black boy : (American hunger) : a record of childhood and youth
Wright, Richard
Paper Book
Richard Wright's memoir of his childhood as a young black boy in the American south of the 1920s and 30s is a stark depiction of African American life and powerful exploration of racial tension. At four years old, Richard Wright set fire to his home in a moment of boredom; at...

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