Iliad by Homer

In Spike Heels, Andrew gifts Georgie a copy of Homer’s Iliad, an ancient Greek epic about the demands of masculinity and warrior culture through the lens of the decade-long Trojan War.

• Iliad on SuperSummary

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

In Spike Heels, Lydia gifts Georgie a copy of Pride and Prejudice, a subtly satiric novel of manners, set at a time when marriage evolved from a primarily financial transaction to a union based on love and mutual respect. Austen’s heroines do their best to negotiate matches that will ensure their financial security and also bring emotional satisfaction.

• Pride and Prejudice on SuperSummary

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1913)

In Spike Heels, Andrew makes a reference to Pygmalion, a play based on the Greek myth of a sculptor who despised women so much that he crafted an ideal woman out of marble, and then prayed to Aphrodite to give his statue life so he could marry this being entirely under his control. Shaw transfers the story to Victorian London, where Professor Henry Higgins transforms the Cockney Eliza Doolittle into a duchess on a professional dare and as a commentary on the shallow nature of class.