The literary hero who has remained most dear to me is Geoffrey Willans's schoolboy, Nigel Molesworth - a fearless critic, a comedian, a subversive, a philosopher who discusses Camus on the football pitch and whose trenchant powers of social commentary are, as any fule kno, enhanced by his appalling spelling.Ĭhosen by Wendy Holden (The Wives of Bath) But what made me want to listen to the music was the feisty Elephant's Child, who, with his newly acquired trunk, has such sweet revenge on all his chastising relatives. The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling taught me to love the music in words. Nicer than I am by a long way.Ĭhosen by Michael Morpurgo (Private Peaceful) And, bless her, she is truly ashamed when she does, because she is actually very nice. She is always plunging into such embarrassing mistakes - and yet they're the mistakes one longs to make oneself, like telling the tediously garrulous Miss Bates to shut up. Always wise when present and strangely comforting even when predicting doom and destruction.Ĭhosen by Diana Wynne Jones (Conrad's Fate) JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings boasts the best white wizard in fiction - not morally ambiguous or neutral like Merlin, but not infallible either. Chosen by Mary Hoffman (Stravaganza City of Flowers)

What are brave characters in literature