READING list




We each put together a list of our favourite edgy fiction and combined them below. The titles marked with a * denote an appearance on more than one list. There are a wide range of stories here, written over many decades. We think you might like them …


13 Reasons Why – Jay Asher

A Little Piece of Ground – Elizabeth Laird
After the First Death – Robert Cormier

Bang, Bang You’re Dead – Niarinder Dhami
Before I Die – Jenny Downham ***

Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger **

Dirty Work – Julia Bell
Doing It – Melvin Burgess

Exodus – Julie Bertagna

Fat Boy Swim – Catherine Forde
Feed – MT Anderson
For Esmee with Love and Squalor – J.D. Salinger
Forever – Judy Blume
Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
Freak and Revelations – David Wills Hurwin

Going Bovine – Libba Bray

How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff
Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

I’m Not Scared – Niccolo Ammaniti
Junk – Melvin Burgess

Killing God – Kevin Brooks

Let’s Get Lost – Sarra Manning
Looking for JJ – Anne Cassidy
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Lucky – Alice Sebold

Massive – Julia Bell
Midget – Tim Bowler 
Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman ***

Pigeon English – Stephen Kelman
Private Peaceful – Michael Morpurgo

Revolution – Jennifer Donnelly **
Rowan the Strange – Julie Hearn
Shamela – Henry Fielding
Skin Hunger – Kathleen Duey
Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson **
Stolen – Lucy Christopher **
Sugar Rush – Julie Birchill
Tess Of The D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
The Hate List – Jennifer Brown
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini **
The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
The Left Hand of God – Paul Hoffman
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
The Opposite of Amber – Gillian Philip
The Pigman – Paul Zindel
The Road of the Dead – Kevin Brooks
The Survival Game – Tim Wynne-Jones
The Wave – Morton Rhue
The Wife of Bath's Tale – Geoffrey Chaucer
Then – Morris Gleitzman
To Kill a Mocking Bird – Harper Lee ***

Warehouse – Keith Gray
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

Anything by Ellen Hopkins