Brit Book Worms

Britain's Top 10 most-loved books as per Stylist:

1. The Da Vinci Code

Following symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris, Dan Brown's novel reveals the secret battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to Mary Magdalene.

2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The second, but most well-known, novel in C.S Lewis' fantasy adventure series The Chronicles of Narnia. The story takes place during WWII when four siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie are evacuated to a country house to escape the Blitz. While playing in the house, Lucy discovers an old wardrobe which transports the Pevensie's to a magical world called Narnia.

3. Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell's dystopian novel is set in a society called Oceania: a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance and incessant public mind control - the original Big Brother. The novel's protagonist, Winston Smith, works for the government, however, the disappearance of his parents and sister when he was young has left him with a deep hatred and dreams of rebellion.

4. Great Expectations

This classic from Charles Dickens reveals the fortunes and misfortunes of a young orphan called Pip, whose life takes unexpected twists and turns thanks to two strangers from opposite ends of the social spectrum: Magwitch, an escaped convict, and a wealthy spinster named Miss Havisham.

5. The Fellowship of the Ring

The first volume in J.R.R Tolkien's epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's fantasy story takes place in the fictional universe Middle-Earth and follows the adventures of young Hobbit Frodo Baggins, who becomes the unlikely protector of a magic ring inviting all sorts of unwanted attention from those looking to harness the ring's powers.

6. The Hobbit

Another epic from J.R.R Tolkien, The Hobbit acts as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The novel details the quest of home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins - relative of Frodo Baggins - to win a share of treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Bilbo's journey takes him from his rural surroundings into more sinister territory, eventually leading to the possesion of the aforementioned magic ring.

7. The Wind in the Willows

Rural England is the setting for Kenneth Grahame's children's classic The Wind in the Willows, which focuses on four anthropomorphised animals, Mr Toad, Mr Badger, Ratty and Mole, who wile away their time on the river in the Thames Valley.

8. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams has since gone on to become a cult hit, spawning books, computer games, comics and TV and films. The main crux of the story follows the adventures of the hapless Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy meeting an array of weird and wonderful characters.

9. Jane Eyre

Written by Charlotte Brontë and first published in 1847, Jane Eyre was the voted most popular book by women that took part in ICaps study. Brontë's heart-wrenching story tells the tale of the eponymous orphan Jane Eyre as she goes from abusive childhood to turbulent romance, eventually finding love in the arms of the moody Mr Rochester.

10. To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel focuses on the six-year-old character Scout Finch who lives with her brother and widowed father, lawyer Atticus Finch. Set in the fictional US town Maycomb, Alabama in the Deep South, Lee's book explores issues of racial inequality and morality.