THOSE familiar with the BBC’s Desert Island Discs will know it’s all about the eight tracks celebrities would be cast away with to a desert island. But what about books? (aside from the complete works of Shakespeare, of course).

With everyone currently staying indoors due to lockdown, flatsharing site SpareRoom surveyed almost 4,000 flatsharers to discover the nation’s eight favourite Desert Island Novels.

The eight novels that received the most votes were: Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Shantaram, The Alchemist, Jane Eyre, The Hobbit and The Great Gatsby.

Jane Austen’s period drama Pride and Prejudice topped the list for flatsharers - if you’re going to be cast away, why not be cast away a few centuries?

The SpareRoom survey found that the majority of flatsharers have turned to books as a form of entertainment during the current climate, with one in two (46 per cent) having already re-read or planning to pick-up their favourite book again during lockdown.

Matt Hutchinson, SpareRoom director, said: “Books are one of the most absorbing, distracting and engaging forms of entertainment available, and it’s interesting to see that nearly half of us have read or are planning to read our favourite book during lockdown.

“There’s something magical about the way books transport us to other places and let us see the world from a different angle, something we probably crave more than usual right now.

“If the current climate has led people to consume the current bestsellers already, we hope they can turn to this list for a bit of classic inspiration.”