THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL – BARONESS ORCZY 
What my 68-year-old mum, Karen, says: “I always loved high adventure and romance, and this is a swashbuckling book. It’s like A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, but with less moralising.” You might be more familiar with Batman and Zorro, men who masquerade as silly, shallow playboys while their alter egos save the world. But the first guy to use the himbo disguise was the Scarlet Pimpernel, a British aristocrat named Sir Percy, who convinces everyone (even his clever, cosmopolitan wife) that he’s a superficial, self-obsessed dummy, when he’s actually rescuing French lords and ladies from the revolutionary guillotine. Marvel founder Stan Lee called Sir Percy the “first superhero” – one who leaves behind his signature red flower (the titular scarlet pimpernel) to annoy his enemies and rally his supporters. Published in 1905, The Scarlet Pimpernel tackles the complexities of living a double life. Plus, it has sword fights, daring rescues and a delightfully confusing love triangle between the public-facing Sir Percy, his wife and his ultra-suave other self.

CAT’S CRADLE – KURT VONNEGUT
What my 42-year-old friend, Naomi, says: “Although it’s funny, it’s also devastating. This book hit me at a time in my life when I first discovered that adults are not amazing, super-powerful beings with all the answers, but fallible and infantile.” Cat’s Cradle is exactly the kind of book that appeals to a young person coming to grips with the cruel absurdity of the world and the “untruths” we create to make it bearable. “My God – life! Who can understand even one little minute of it?” exclaims one of its characters, Dr Felix Hoenikker, the inventor of a mysterious substance with the power to destroy humanity. Written by Vonnegut as a response to the atomic bomb and what he saw as the carelessness of politicians and scientists, Cat’s Cradle follows a narrator, John, who falls in with the strange Hoenikker family. On his journey to a fictional island, John learns more about the dangers of the substance “ice-nine” and how people live with the threat of nuclear apocalypse. But yeah… it’s funny!

FOOL’S ASSASSIN – ROBIN HOBB
What Naomi’s 14-year-old daughter, Zoe, says: “The main reason to read this would be the character development: the naïve boy at the start of the series is a grizzly old man by the end, and that development is so sad and somehow so beautiful.” Fool’s Assassin is part of a hugely popular epic fantasy series, though ‘epic’ is an understatement – Robin Hobb has written 16 novels and several novellas about a richly drawn world known as Realm of the Elderlings. Let’s just say it’s got dragons, magic and plenty of political intrigue. But Fool’s Assassin, specifically, is a poignant look at what happens when the past catches up with you. The story follows a middle-aged man living peacefully with his family when a series of unexpected events connects him to his old life as an assassin named FitzChivalry Farseer (aren’t fantasy names the best?). As he tries to unravel the mystery, we get to see how Fitz reconciles the person he is with the person he used to be.

THE WESTING GAME – ELLEN RASKIN
What my 32-year-old sister, Ellie, says: “It’s technically a children’s book, but it’s the first book I read that felt like it was about adults. It’s smart, and it made me feel smart.” What kind of children’s book has 16 main characters with realistic, adult-sounding jobs like cleaner, medical intern, appellate court judge and podiatrist/part-time bookie? Published in 1978, The Westing Game is about a multicultural group of people who live or work in the “glittery, glassy” Sunset Towers apartment block owned by a reclusive and patriotic millionaire industrialist. When he’s murdered, they’re named as his potential heirs and given an intricate series of clues to solve the mystery of his death. It feels grown-up (we underestimate kids, don’t we?) to read a book where everyone and everything is hard to figure out; even the Sunset Towers face east and have no towers. Think Knives Out set in Milwaukee; it’s a puzzle-box murder mystery, as well as a snarky, tense and complicated allegory about American capitalism.

LIONBOY TRILOGY – ZIZOU CORDER
What my 20-year-old friend, Blue, says: “I find it difficult not to recommend Lionboy to people. It’s equal parts escapist fantasy (who hasn’t wanted to run away with the circus or speak to cats?) and an intelligent and unique perspective on corporate greed, as well as the importance of culture, place and family.” In the tradition of all great children’s fantasy series where nothing truly interesting can happen with your parents around, Lionboy begins when 10-year-old Charlie Ashanti discovers that his scientist mum and dad (who are on the brink of a major medical discovery) have been kidnapped by a powerful pharmaceutical company. Charlie embarks on a grand journey to find them, falling in with a troupe of French circus performers, including an entrapped pride of lions, while an evil corporation is hot on his tail. Charlie is brave, open-minded and, by the way, he can talk to cats! It’s a fanciful romp, but one that takes place in an imaginary near future plagued by global warming and mass privatisation (maybe not so fanciful, after all?).

LITTLE WOMEN – LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
What my 88-year-old grandma, Lillian, says: “We could relate to the March sisters; they were poor social outcasts who relied on each other. I was the studious one and often wished I was a boy, like Jo, because boys had all the advantages.” What more is there to add about one of the most famous novels of all time? I will say that Little Women is a fundamental coming-of-age text for a lot of women in my life (whether you’re Team Laurie, Team Bhaer or Team Jo Is Queer is still hotly debated!). Louisa May Alcott’s semi-autobiographical novel is about four sisters navigating adolescence against the backdrop of poverty, illness and wartime. It’s bittersweet and painfully familiar watching a tight-knit family grow up and go their separate ways: Jo as a writer, Meg as a wife and mother, Amy as an artist and Beth… well. Although it’s set during the American Civil War, it nails that weird and universal experience of having to define your version of personal happiness somewhere in the often conflicting spheres of love, passion, independence and family.

This rad pennant comes straight from the pages of issue 113. To get your mitts on a copy, swing past the frankie shop, subscribe or visit one of our lovely stockists.