Ten top coming-of-age novels

Kate Clanchy was born and grew up in Scotland but now lives in Oxford. Her poetry collections Slattern, Samarkand and Newborn have brought her many literary awards and an unusually wide audience. She is the author of the much acclaimed Antigona and Me, and was the 2009 winner of the BBC Short Story Award. Her new book is Meeting the English.

For the Guardian, she named ten top coming-of-age novels, including:

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Passionate, clever Maggie Tulliver can't fit herself into the narrow world of St Oggs and her brother Tom, yet yearns to be accepted and loved. Love, lust, betrayal and superbly-rendered petite blonde envy all culminate in a melodramatic flood.

Read about the other books on the list.

Also see: Shani Boianjiu's five top novels about coming of age, Emily Bazelon's five top coming-of-age stories, and A.E. Hotchner's five favorite coming-of-age tales.

--Marshal Zeringue