I've delved into Tennessee Williams before, and my favorite work of his is The Glass Menagerie. Williams' plays always seem to have a somber, heavy note to them, and a common theme is that we are often helpless to change our circumstances and the events that happen to us.

A Streetcar Named Desire has this same feel. Set in a working class America of the late 40s, it follows a woman named Blanche, a once Southern Belle who has fallen onto hard times and attempts to find refuge with her sister in the city. Her sister's husband, however, becomes angry at Blanche's airs and haughtiness, and he eventually leads to Blanche's further downfall.

This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 and in 1951 was adapted into a film starring Marlon Brando, and was awarded several Academy Awards.