What links the novels:[ul]
“Westward Ho!” (Charles Kingsley)
“Lorna Doone” (RD Blackmore)
“Bonjour Tristesse " (Francoise Sagan)
“The House of the Seven Gables” (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
“Beloved” (Toni Morrison)”
The Last Chronicle of Barset" (Anthony Trollope)[/ul]
No other information to help with this, except to tell (warn) you I have no answer myself, as yet.
Thanks for any suggestions…
Simple. They are all books I haven’t read.
Thanks mate. 
I’m sure that’s the answer I’m looking for.
Why do you think they are linked? If you could tell us the context of the question it might help us come up with an answer.
I’ve only read two of these books: “House of the Seven Gables” and “Beloved.” The only thing they have in common is a ghost.
Maybe all these novels have ghosts as characters?
I have no context, unfortunately. That is the question as set to me, in my monthly quiz. I’m buggered if I know even where to start.
Perhaps all the authors were the same age when they wrote those specific books. Perhaps they have the same publisher in the US. Maybe the original covers were designed by the same artist. I have no idea what the link is.
I know this is a lot to ask. Was just hoping these books might generate a spark in the mind of one person out there in the teeming masses. That’s all I can say at the moment.
Well?
Sorry, unless I source this myself I won’t have a definitive answer untill next month. I’ll keep looking though.
OK!
What are books that have never been in my kitchen?
They don’t all have ghosts.
Sagan was one of the youngest novelists ever published so that’s not it.
Unlikely it’s the publisher or the cover art as they were all published over the course of a century.
I’ve read most of them and I’m stumped
Well, Cliff I mean Tars, I’m sure that’s true. But It isn’t the answer we are looking for.
You didn’t bet all 22,000 dollars, did you?
Well, Cliff I mean Tars, I’m sure that’s true. But It isn’t the answer we are looking for.
You didn’t bet all 22,000 dollars, did you?
I’ve been pondering this for ages.
4 of the six texts are available online, and there’s a vast number of study guides on them.
http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/seven_gables/
http://www.literatureproject.com/lorna-doone/lorna-doone_1.htm
http://www.mastertexts.com/Kingsley_Charles/Westward_Ho_/Chapter00001.htm
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=3045 (Barset)
They’re all historical novels except Bonjour Tristesse and the last Chronicle of Barset.
I’m wondering if it’s to do with unpleasant deaths, but I can’t really substantiate it. There does seem to be a general theme of families destroying themselves in Beloved, 7 Gables and Bonjour Tristesse, while Lorna Doone features a man out to avenge his father’s death. I don’t really know about Westward Ho, but it appears to be something of an adventure story set during the time of the Spanish Armada (late 16th century) so I can’t imagine what it has in common with the rest. (Tho Westward and Lorna both feature pirates, I don’t think there’s many in Bonjour Tristesse.)
Or do they all have a basis in fact? There’s apparently an actual House of 7 Gables, Westward Ho!'s based on true events, and Beloved’s inspired by a true story. I think it gets a little tenuous after that, though.
Other than that: Westward and Lorna Doone are both set partly in Devon, England, with Barset being Trollope’s version of neighbouring Somerset. Trollope and Hawthorne were both I think civil servants (post office, customs) at the times the books were written, but I can’t see that for the rest. Or there might be a church connection.
I can’t imagine there’s much in common in terms of publication, since Barset was the last of an acclaimed series and published in serial form and Beloved was produced by a writer at the height of her fame, while Bonjour Tristesse was a first novel written by an 18 year old and not published for a few years after.
The mystery deepens. Does this ring any bells?
For anyone who still cares about this answer, here it is:
In all the books listed the title is precisely the very last phrase or word in the book.
(58% of the contestants got this answer right.)
Thanks for trying, and apologises to anyone who was tortured looking for an answer. Thanks…
I like my answer much better.
they were all in the oprah book club?
I was going to make a joke about Oprah eating a lot of Lorna Doone cookies but I just lost my train from there.