Reading the Classics for Top Grades - The Hound of the Baskervilles

We all love a good mystery story, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, certainly knew how to tell one.

The classic novel The Hound of the Baskervilles is mainly set on Dartmoor in Devon - which I can now see from my village on a clear day, following our recent relocation to the South West.

Here is a description of Dartmoor from the novel – it’s a great example of weaving description into atmosphere and narrative:

We had left the fertile country behind and beneath us. We looked back on it now, the slanting rays of a low sun turning the streams to threads of gold and glowing on the red earth new turned by the plough and the broad tangle of the woodlands. The road in front of us grew bleaker and wilder over huge russet and olive slopes, sprinkled with giant boulders. Now and then we passed a moorland cottage, walled and roofed with stone, with no creeper to break its harsh outline. Suddenly we looked down into a cuplike depression, patched with stunted oaks and firs which had been twisted and bent by the fury of years of storm. Two high, narrow towers rose over the trees. The driver pointed with his whip.

“Baskerville Hall,” said he.

I’m currently using this novel with a tutee in Year 9, and he is really enjoying it.  I love to introduce students to the classics and it is one of the best ways to help them develop a mature vocabulary, a great writing style and sophisticated insights into a writer’s craft.

If you are interested in tuition, I offer a free 30 minute introductory session, which you can find out more about here.