Open Books Challenge 2025: A Book Set in the Victorian Era (1837-1901)Unpublished

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A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other--the lesbian Bridgerton/Parent Trap you never knew you needed! Gwen has a brilliant...

A ghostly estate. A handsome caretaker hiding a secret. And the intrepid Hyacinth Bell, who is set on solving the mystery of both. 1887, the Cornwall coast For years, rumors have flown through the village of Suttonsbury about...

The true story for fans of the PBS Masterpiece series Victoria, this page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen--a Victoria for our times. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning portrait is a story of love and...

In this singularly powerful novel, bestselling author Louis Bayard brings Oscar Wilde's wife Constance and two sons out from the shadows of history and creates a vivid and poignant story of secrets, loss, and love. "Wonderfully researched, beautifully crafted, movingly...

In the Remixed Classics series, authors from marginalized backgrounds reinterpret classic works through their own cultural lens to subvert the overwhelming cishet, white, and male canon. This gothic YA remix of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde subverts the cishet white perspective of the original,...

What if you could write a new ending for yourself? England, 1898. When Evelyn first married the famous novelist William Aubrey, she was dazzled by his brilliance. But their newlywed bliss is brief when William is gripped by writer's block, and he becomes...

From the bestselling author of The Clockwork Universe and The Writing of the Gods, an "utterly delightful...hugely entertaining" (Air Mail) book about the eccentric Victorians who discovered dinosaur bones, leading to a whole new understanding of human history.

Fans of Lisa Kleypas and Julia Quinn will adore this opposites-attract romance featuring a dashing duke, a shy bookshop owner, and a wager that will change their lives forever. Evie Harlow runs a quaint little bookshop in London, which is the biggest adventure an...

Of Manners and Murder is the first in the delightful new Dear Miss Hermione mystery series from Anastasia Hastings. "Evokes the shocking revelations of Wilkie Collins, the social acuity of Jane Austen and the comic melodrama of Oscar Wilde."--Wall Street...

INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER! "So riotously clever it almost defies description...an alchemy of romantic elements held in perfect harmony."--NPR Rival ornithologists hunt through England for a rare magical bird in this historical-fantasy rom-com reminiscent of...

London, 1894. Albertine Honeycombe never wanted a husband, and certainly not the one with fifteen children that her cousin, Aubrey, is trying to marry her off to. She reinvents herself as Countess Von Dagga, a private detective aiding the upper echelons of women in society. As the Countess, she is a...

A true crime page-turner about a Victorian doctor, a serial killer ahead of his time, using poison for an international murder spree that kept ahead of the burgeoning field of forensics. "A tour de force of storytelling." --Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author...

This extraordinary true story introduces readers to the unforgettable Waterhouse Hawkins: Victorian artist and visionary who built the world's first life-size models of dinosaurs!Can you fathom a time when almost no one in the world knew what a dinosaur looked like? That was true in the mid...

Ana Maria Luna Valdes has strived to be the perfect daughter, the perfect niece, and the perfect representative of the powerful Luna family. So when Ana Maria is secretly sent to London with her sisters to seek refuge from the French occupation of Mexico, she experiences her first taste of freedom...

In this delightfully witty Victorian romance, a governess spy running away from her past falls for an ex-soldier turned railroad magnate--perfect for fans of Manda Collins and Bridgerton! The utterly charming Emily Leverton has a dark past and is determined to leave...

This #1 New York Times bestseller and deliciously creepy horror novel has a storyline inspired by the Ripper murders and an unexpected, blood-chilling conclusion. Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth...

As an incurable bluestocking from a family tumbling swiftly toward ruin, Evelyn knows she'll never make a match in a ballroom. Her only hope is to distinguish herself by making the biggest splash in the one sphere she excels: on horseback. In haute couture. But to truly capture London's attention...

"A gripping Gothic tale of grief and ambition, passion and intrigue." -- Jess Kidd, author of The Night Ship "An immersive blend of historical and science fiction brims with surprises and dark delights. . . . An incisive exploration of women's rights within the field of science....

Winner of the Bologna Ragazzi Prize 2020 The incredible story of a boy's quest to give the ultimate gift to a caged wild animal: freedom. London, 1880, 13-year-old Clay is a mud lark, scavenging on the banks of the Thames for anything...

"An atmospheric and evocative whodunnit steeped in suspense, mystery, and illusion." --Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the sensational...

Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction and of the Goodreads Choice Award for History & Biography The award-winning, best-selling book that changes the narrative of the "Ripper" murders forever Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and...

A strikingly original and absorbing mystery about a white-passing bookbinder in Victorian England and the secrets lurking on the estate where we she works, for fans of Fingersmith and The Confessions of Frannie Langton The library is under lock and...

The New York Times bestseller * One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year * One of NPR's Best Books of the Year * Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and BookPage * One of Oprah Daily's Best Novels of 2023 "[A] brilliant...

When Enola Holmes, the much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her mother has disappeared--on her 14th birthday nonetheless--she knows she alone can find her. Disguising herself as a grieving widow, Enola sets out to the heart of London to uncover her mother's...

Cora Dove and her sisters' questionable legitimacy has been the lifelong subject of New York's gossipmongers and a continual stain on their father's reputation. So when the girls each receive a generous, guilt-induced dowry from their dying grandmother, the sly Mr. Hathaway vows to release their...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! A Stonewall Honor Book in Young Adult Literature! A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare. New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White...

"Haunting...Ominous." --The New York Times Book Review A "wonderfully chilling" (Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author) polar gothic about a Victorian explorer in search of his lost shipmate-and redemption-from the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of...

Amelia Amesbury - widow, mother, and countess - is bored, crushingly so. In an attempt to fill the days, Amelia becomes an 'agony aunt' for a London penny paper, doling out advice on fashion, relationships, and manners. But when a lady's maid writes Amelia to ask for advice when she believes her...