Reading Materials

Reading lists for session 2025/26 are available below.

For some of our creative writing and literature short courses, there are suggested texts or required reading for learners. Learners are advised to purchase the books in advance of the class to ensure they can participate fully.

Learners will read five texts which make use of an ‘unreliable narrator’, a character who recounts events in a way that is false, misleading, or otherwise untrustworthy. 

This course provides an insight into the development of the unreliable narrator and how it has been used across a variety of novels. The following novels will be covered in the January 2026 iteration of this course:

  • Dickens, C. (2008) Great Expectations. Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics.
  • Martel, Y. (2018) Life of Pi. Edinburgh: Canongate.
  • Thompson, J. (2006) The Killer Inside Me. London: Orion.
  • Galloway, J. (2015) The Trick is to Keep Breathing. London: Vintage.
  • Golding, W. (2022) Rites of Passage. London: Faber.

Please note, you are advised not to purchase any essential books until the course is confirmed to run. You can buy these books cheaply secondhand or borrow them from your local library. 


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