Tips for easy-to-read unabridged English fiction for language learners?

Question

I am looking for English fiction (novels, short stories, novellas) that are easy to read for English learners. I am especially looking for fiction that has roughly the same level as Tracy Chevalier's *Girl with a Pearl Earring* and George Orwell's *Animal Farm*. The people that I have in mind found many of the stories in *Fifty Great Short Stories* (Bantam Classics, edited by Milton Crane) too difficult. (Unfortunately, I don't know what CEFR level this corresponds to. This is not for people who are attending school.)I am not looking for simplified texts.

Answer 1

A few ideas that come immediately to mind are:

John Steinbeck's The Pearl and possibly The Red Pony

Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

William Saroyan's The Human Comedy

All of these are relatively short in relatively easy English. I am assuming that when you say "English fiction" you mean "English language" and not "British." These are all American texts (although Saroyan was born to Armenian immigrants). Despite their relative easy language, all of them provide fascinating characters and raise important questions for discussion.