A lot of the people we love do not exist. Some aren’t even people. Some are impossible. We’ve even been known to form some serious attachments to unusual objects. But there they are, on the page, realised inside our heads - or on stage, in film - and sometimes they become so important that they form a part of us, stay with us, familiar, reliable, like an old friend that we can turn to again and again. Even if they’re a monster. And it’s why we study English Literature: to explore the magical ways in which the simple act of stringing word after word can create entire countries out of thin air. Studying English Literature will involve thinking. Thinking about thinking, thinking about everything in the world and out of this world (for there are no limits to what literature might be about). Studying literature will involve analysing and interpreting and discussing and debating. Your essays will be informed and coherent but above all opinionated. Studying literature will be rigorous, exacting, disciplined, difficult - and fun. As a highly respected A Level, English Literature can be instrumental in helping students gain university places in a variety of subjects, even if you chose not to study the subject further. And remember, as someone much wiser than us once said, just because it’s happening inside your head, it doesn’t mean it’s not real.