historical fiction by the victorians

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and I have loved exploring the historical fiction written during the Victorian period!

Books I Mentioned:
The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer Lytton
Marius the Epicurean by Walter Pater
Antonina by Wilkie Collins
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Romola by George Eliot
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

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[nnjack]

I love Barnaby Rudge. It doesn't get enough love!

[jackiesliterarycorner]

A coworker was asking for some classics that were historical fiction, but I only knew A Tale of Two Cities.

[nicolalodge-bruce]

One of my favourite Victorian historical authors has to be William Ainsworth. He wrote such books as Old St Paul’s set in London during the plague in 1665, or there’s The Tower of London set in the reign of Henry the Eighth, Guy Fawkes, the Lancashire Witches and many more.

[mtnshelby]

Another excellent review, thank you. Romola is in the mail as I have just started revisiting George Eliot, having read her books too early in my life (for me, not saying for anyone else). ATOTC was one of the first classics that just grabbed me by the arm and said, follow me down this (life long love of reading) path. The other was The Scarlet Letter, but I understand why people have a hard time engaging with that one. Now that I think of it, this was Hawthorne's historical fiction. Thanks again Jennifer! Some Booktubers are as good as or better than college instructors.❤

[jf]

I was so happy to see A Tale of Two Cities mentioned as one of your favourites. I am 2/3 of the way through this Dickens for the first time and am really enjoying it. Finding it very propulsive and fascinating. Thanks for sharing your fave Victorian historical reads.

[capturedbyannamarie]

When my husband told me about the Napoleon movie I immediately thought you would be so excited. I am excited to watch that one as well! Until reading war and peace I never thought or read anything of napoleon.

[yolandasilverio]

Your have waken up my love for the books you review. You are very thorough in your review and I am happy to see you review some of the Victorian Classics much less talked about. Thank you for educating me more and more about my love for Victorian Novels.

[GMJ]

I'm glad to see you brought up A Tale of Two Cities. Just today, I was reading some Wodehouse and laughed out loud when he casually described one character as "a heavy-weight mother with beetling eyebrows who looked as if she had just come from doing a spot of knitting at the foot of the guillotine." Guess the man must've been a Dickens fan, though maybe not a Madame Defarge fan!

I'm due for a reread of Vanity Fair, too. I read it in close succession with Wives and Daughters, Middlemarch, and The Woodlanders, which have so much thematic overlap that the stories all sort of blended together for me. The one line I remember vividly from VF is, "Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children." I came across the quote unexpectedly when rewatching, of all things, the extremely dark fantasy film The Crow last Halloween season. It's easy to forget that Thackeray also penned Barry Lyndon, which certainly qualifies as historical fiction. I need to get my hands on a copy one day....

Given your love for historical fiction, have you ever given Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ a go? Granted, it was written across the pond from these Victorian novels, but it's still from the same era. Most people only know the 1950s film, but the original book from 1880 is every bit as good, if not better. I'm not even a religious person, but I got teary-eyed several times by the end!

[maryfilippou]

Great choices! I've had Marius the Epicurean for years. Your review spurs me to finally read it--if not culled in moving!

[subtlefire]

Vanity Fair has so much great stuff going for it, but it just drags on for too long. Especially given the satirical tone of the novel, I think it really would've benefited from being shorter and snappier.
I'm planning to read A Tale of Two Cities soon and I'm so excited for it!

[clarepotter]

I need to read 'The Trumpet Major' I think it might be a Thomas Hardy novel with agrees with me.

[lilliedoubleyou]

If you haven't heard of Alexandre Dumas' The Black Tulip, it's very good. It takes place during Louis XIV's invasion of the Dutch Republic during the tulip-mania craze. And unlike Dumas' other books, this one clocks in at just a little over 200 pages. It's not particularly character driven or "heavy, " but I was fascinated.
Also - not sure if he counts as Victorian, but Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a historic epic about the 100 Years' War called The White Company, which I have just started.

[mrsfruity]

I'm making my way through Antonina, slowly but surely. I got 50% through and put it down about 2 weeks ago. This video has inspired me to pick up that book again. I also read Vanity Fair. After reading my first mammoth, the experience as a whole, left me feeling very lukewarm. 🤷‍♀️

[juliealvar]

Hope you keep going with The Cloister and the Hearth. I just recently discovered it but haven’t read it yet and would love to hear your opinion.

[cassandra]

Hi Jennifer, I was so interested in this because I am reading Vanity Fair right now. 😊 AND a friend recommended Ivanhoe, by Walter Scott, which I had thought was ancient, but no, it was written during Victorian times. It is a medieval story and I so want to read it now. Also I’ve heard from Kate Howe that The Trumpet Major not Thomas Hardy is also historical. So those are some suggestions for you. Thanks so much.😊😊

[AmalijaKomar]

Does Walter Scott can count as a Victorian?