The children's books and classics adults secretly adore

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Asked what book they are reading and many adults will come up with the name of some worthy or fashionable volume.

What they are less likely to tell you is that they are enjoying a children's book or a bodice-ripping tale of romance.

But these book are the favourite secret reads of British adults, according to researchers.

In fact, three-quarters of us still read children's stories such as Roald Dahl's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, The Chronicles Of Narnia and the Harry Potter books.

A quarter revealed their secret indulgence to be 19th century romances and classics such as Little Women, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

In many cases the readers are returning to novels they first encountered as youngsters or else when they were teenagers at school.

Page-turning romances in the form of Jilly Cooper novels and the Mills and Boon books also made the list.

Harry Potter tops the list of 20 secret reads, followed by the Cooper novels, Lord Of The Rings, The Chronicles Of Narnia and Mills and Boon.

The Hobbit, Black Beauty, Bridget Jones, Adrian Mole, and The Kama Sutra also feature in the top 20.

The survey of 2,000 adults was conducted for lulu.com by YouGov.