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the brooding Heathcliff— an author as masterly as Tolstoy could have
the prototype of dark and written about the agony of love with such
vengeful fictional heroes. lyricism.
Intense, passionate, bitter
this gothic novel with its Gone With the Wind (1936):
over dramatic structure, Margaret Mitchell wrote
has been recast into poems, just one novel, set during
films, and modern-day recreations, since and after the devastation of
the mix of tragedy and revenge never fades. the Civil War in America,
but the sprawling epic won
Jane Eyre (1847): several awards, become a
This Charlotte Bronte bestseller, and according to
novel often ties with Jane the net, as of 2014, a poll found it to be the
Austen’s books for the most second favourite book of American readers,
famous romantic novels just behind the Bible;, more than 30 million
ever. The book follows the copies have been printed worldwide. It
eponymous heroine from depicts the struggles of Scarlett O’Hara, the
girlhood to adulthood, and daughter of a plantation owner, who has to
her love for the aristocratic work hard to keep poverty at bay, when her
Mr Rochester, who could tie with Heathcliff marriage ends in widowhood. The passion
in the brooding hero race. Jane is an she and the rakish Rhett Butler share
orphan, who is treated very cruelly by her is scandalous, but also racing towards
relatives; she falls in love with Rochester, heartbreak. Rhett utters the memorable
but the path to that happy end (elusive in so line, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a
many classic love stories) is studded with damn,” to a distraught Scarlett, but she is
obstacles that she does manage to overcome not broken by his indifference. The film
with some help from luck. based on the novel, starring Vivien Leigh
and Clark Gable is an all -time masterpiece.
Anna Karenina (1878):
Leo Tolstoy’s epic, a 800 Love Story (1970):
plus page door-stopper of a It would be considered
novel, is considered one of cheesy by many readers,
the best books ever written. but when it came out,
Set at the time of Imperial Erich Segal’s novel about
Russia, it narrated the the romance between rich
tragedy of the titular Anna, guy Oliver and Jenny,
a married woman, who falls daughter of a baker, was a
helplessly in love with the handsome Count craze. Opposites attracted!
Vronsky, and elopes with him. Looking Against the wishes of Oliver’s father, the
forward to a life of love and excitement, two marry; he is cut off from the family
she gets disappointment, social isolation fortune. The two struggle but make a happy
and regret that ends with the unforgettable life for themselves till it is discovered that
jumping-in-front-of-a-train suicide. Only Jenny has terminal leukaemia. The book
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #56 | FEBRUARY 2024 29
