As a genre, historical fiction is by its very nature eclectic. After all, it can and does often contain multitudes. From tales of ancient Greece and Arthurian Britain to stories set in Victorian-era ...

Let’s be real: 2025 is probably going to be the year where we need a whole lot of escapism. For some readers that means immersing themselves in the rich imaginative worlds of fantasy, for others, the ...

Founded in 1970, the centennial anniversary of Dickens's death, Dickens Studies Annual: Essays on Victorian Fiction publishes articles exploring the wide range of Dickens's interests and talents. The ...

In the 19th century, a butcher living in Australia claimed to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. The Tichborne trial, which sparked much controversy and even more attention in Victorian ...

This trio of new novels shows real people in their natural habitats, drawn with writerly flair. By Alida Becker Alida Becker was an editor at the Book Review for 30 years. She was the first winner of ...

In 1969, John Fowles caught readers off guard by offering three alternative endings to his Victorian historical fiction, The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Florence Knapp’s debut novel, The Names, not ...

Peter Lovesey: his first Cribb novel, Wobble to Death (1970), exhumed the bizarre Victorian phenomenon of the ‘wobble’ or endurance walking-race - Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock ​Peter ...

Good girls learn from bad girls in 19th-century fiction. In a recurrent plot, coquettes, paired with angelic heroines, instruct their purer sisters although their lesson plans are scorned. But erotic ...