The Polyglots (1925) by William Gerhardie

An young officer tells of his stay with an eccentric Belgian family while on his way back from the Far East. A largely autobiographical novel hailed at the time as a comic masterpiece

Proposed by William Boyd, 2006 Costa Award winner

The Rector’s Daughter (1924) by F.M. Mayor

A brief, unconsummated encounter awakens desire in Mary, 35, the dutiful, indistinct rector’s daughter, leaving her to weigh up the cost of an emotionally repressed life

Proposed by Susan Hill, wrote The Woman in Black

A Hero of Our Time (1839) by Mikhail Lermontov

Lermontov’s Byronic hero Pechorin was “a portrait built up of all our generation’s vices in full bloom”. A landmark in Russian literature that inspired Tolstoy and Dostoevsky

Proposed by Hari Kunzru, first novel bought for £1.5m

Esther Waters (1894) by George Moore

An illiterate kitchen maid is deserted by her lover and struggles to raise her illegitimate son in London. Not as bleak as Tess, this naturalistic novel was an immediate success

Proposed by Colm Tóibín, award-winning Irish writer

Many Dimensions (1931) by Charles Williams

Williams explores the relationship between fate and free will through his characters’ reactions to the fabled Stone of Suleiman, which enables its possessor to cross space and time

Proposed by Ruth Rendell, prolific crime novelist

The Quest for Corvo (1934) by A. J. A. Symons

Subtitled “An experiment in biography”, this is a study of the mysterious and self-destructive writer Frederick Rolfe, and an innovative self-portrait of Symons himself

Proposed by Beryl Bainbridge, five-time Booker nominee

The History of Rasselas (1759) by Samuel Johnson

Written in a week to pay for his mother’s funeral, this “little story book” about Prince Rasselas’s doomed search for happiness is Johnson’s only work of prose fiction

Proposed by Howard Jacobson, novelist and cultural critic

The Price of Salt (Carol) (1952) by Patricia Highsmith

Her second novel, which was published under the pseudonym Claire Morgan, was groundbreaking in its happy-ending depiction of a lesbian love story

Proposed by Val McDermid, Scottish crime novelist

The Snow Goose (1941) by Paul Gallico

A novella that won the O. Henry Prize in 1941 about Philip, a hunchback living in a lighthouse, and his friendship with a young girl with whom he saves a wounded goose

Proposed by Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse

Miss Mackenzie (1865) by Anthony Trollope

Originally titled The Modern Griselda, this is a novel about unloved Margaret, 35, whose unexpected inheritance lifts her prospects and attracts some untrustworthy suitors

Proposed by Joanna Trollope, dDomestic fiction doyenne

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