The Country and the Book Trivia Quiz

Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables", published in 1862, is set in 19th-century France, beginning in 1815 and culminating in the events of the Paris uprising of 1832. English translations usually keep the French title, but the meaning is something akin to "The Wretched Ones"; i.e. the poverty-stricken people with whom the novel is largely concerned.

The story focusses on the life of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict seeking redemption, and his struggles with Inspector Javert, the police officer who pursues him throughout the book.

Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote" was first published in two parts in 1605 and 1615. It tells the story of a contemporary Spanish nobleman, Alonso Quixano, who becomes so enraptured with tales and legends of historic chivalry that he decides to become a modern knight-errant, renaming himself "Don Quixote". Accompanied by his loyal squire, Sancho Panza, Don Quixote embarks on a series of misadventures.

The most famous of these occurs when he sees some large windmills which (in his distracted state) he believes to be giants and tries to attack them with his lance: an incident which has given us the modern phrase "tilting at windmills".

"Anna Karenina" was written by Leo Tolstoy and first published in serial instalments from 1875 to 1877. It follows the tragic love affair between Anna, a beautiful and sophisticated woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, and Count Vronsky, a dashing military officer.

Their passionate relationship ultimately leads to Anna's downfall and tragic suicide. The book lays bare the devastating consequences of adultery in the rigid social structure of 19th-century Russia, and examines the difficult moral dilemmas faced by those involved.

James Joyce's "Ulysses," first published in 1922, is one of the masterpieces of modernist literature. The novel is set in Joyce's hometown of Dublin, Ireland, although he wrote most of it while living in Zurich, Switzerland. It is a long book, but the events take place across the course of a single day - June 16, 1904 - with the events roughly following those of Homer's epic "Odyssey". It is written in a variety of widely different styles and follows the wanderings through the city of Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising agent, and Stephen Dedalus, a young writer and Joyce's alter ego.

June 16th is now celebrated in Dublin as "Bloomsday", and on that day it can be impossible to move around the city without tripping over fans of the book, engaged in following in the footsteps of its protagonists.

"The Name of the Rose" was published in 1980 by the Italian writer Umberto Eco, and became a surprise worldwide success, especially in William Weaver's English translation published in 1983. It is a historical mystery novel set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and the story follows Brother William of Baskerville (a name deliberately chosen in homage to the Sherlock Holmes stories), who is tasked with investigating a series of mysterious deaths within the abbey. Eco was a professor of philosophy, semiotics and medieval history, and the novel combines elements of all three, while also being an entertaining murder mystery.

Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" was first published in serial form between March 1852 and September 1853. Set mostly in and around London, it revolves around an interminable legal case known as "Jarndyce and Jarndyce", which concerns the difficulties arising from conflicting wills. Dickens pokes bitter fun at the British legal system, in which the only people to benefit from the case are the lawyers themselves. Various subplots enable Dickens to weave his usual complicated narrative, entwining the lives of multiple characters, from the aristocratic Dedlock family down to the poverty-stricken Jo the crossing-sweeper.

Orhan Pamuk was born in 1952 and is Turkey's best-selling writer. He first came to wider international notice with the publication of his 1990 novel "The Black Book". Written in the "magical realism" style that was popular among certain novelists at the time, it tells the story of Galip, a lawyer in Istanbul, who is searching for his missing wife, Rüya.

As he embarks on this quest, he navigates the labyrinthine streets of the city and delves into its history and culture, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.

In 2006 Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize In Literature (the first Turkish writer to be so honoured).

"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" is a 1994 novel by the British writer Louis de Bernières, set on the Greek island of Cephalonia during the Italian and German occupation of Greece during World War II. It tells the story of Captain Antonio Corelli, an Italian army officer, who falls in love with Pelagia, the daughter of the local physician. Following the surrender of Italy to the Allies in 1943, the Germans on Cephalonia turn on the Italians and massacre them. Corelli survives a firing squad and is hidden by his Greek friends, who then help him to escape to Italy.

"The Snowman" (2007) is the seventh novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø to feature the detective Harry Hole (pronounced hoo-leh). Set in and around the Norwegian capital, Oslo, the novel follows Hole as he investigates a series of disappearances of women, which occur on the first snowfall of winter.

The case becomes personal as he delves deeper into the chilling pattern and the sinister figure behind the crimes, who appears to be Norway's first serial killer. At first, he come to believe that one of his colleagues, Katrine Bratt, is the killer, but when the murders continue following her arrest, he realises someone else is the real perpetrator.

"Funeral in Berlin" is a 1964 novel by British author Len Deighton, set in the German capital during the Cold War. It is one of four books by Deighton featuring the same unnamed British spy, although in the films adapted from the books he is given the name Harry Palmer and is memorably played by Michael Caine.

In "Funeral in Berlin", the protagonist travels to Berlin to arrange the defection of a Soviet scientist, who is to be smuggled from East to West Berlin in a coffin following a staged funeral. Needless to say, things don't go entirely to plan.