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

Updated December 31, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Victoria the queen : an intimate biography of the woman who ruled an empire
Baird, Julia
Paper Book
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 Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning portrait is a story of love and...
The Wildes : a novel in five acts
Bayard, Louis
Paper Book
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.   In September of 1892, Oscar Wilde and his...
A lady's guide to marvels and misadventure
Bell, Angela
Paper Book
Named a Booklist Top 10 Romance Debut Miss Clara Marie Stanton's family may be eccentric, but they certainly aren't insane. London, England, 1860When Clara's ex-fiancé begins to spread rumors that her family suffers from hereditary insanity,...
Premeditated Myrtle
Bunce, Elizabeth C.
Stand-alone player
Dinosaurs at the dinner party : how an eccentric group of Victorians discovered prehistoric creatures and accidentally upended the world
Dolnick, Edward
Paper Book
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.
Of gold and shadows
Griep, Michelle
Paper Book
In 1888 Victorian England, Ami Dalton navigates a clandestine dual life. By day, she strives to establish herself as a respected Egyptologist, overcoming the gender biases that permeate academia. But with a heart for rescuing black-market artifacts, she is most often disguised as her alter ego, the...
The ornithologist's field guide to love
Holton, India
Paper Book
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...
The Mayfair dagger : a novel
January, Ava
Paper Book
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...
The case of the murderous Dr. Cream : the hunt for a Victorian era serial killer
Jobb, Dean
Paper Book
In the span of fifteen years, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream murdered as many as ten people in the United States, Britain, and Canada. Poison was his weapon of choice. Structured around the doctor's London murder trial in 1892, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream exposes the blind trust given to medical...
The dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins : an illuminating history of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, artist and lecturer
Kerley, Barbara.
Paper Book
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...
Stalking Jack the Ripper
Maniscalco, Kerri
Paper Book
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 and privilege...
The London Séance Society
Penner, Sarah
Paper Book
Don't miss THE AMALFI CURSE! Sarah's next spellbinding book to unearth a centuries-old curse, powerful witchcraft, and perilous love on the high seas.  "An atmospheric and evocative whodunnit steeped in suspense, mystery, and illusion." --Nita Prose, #1...
The bones of ruin
Raughley, Sarah
Paper Book
An African tightrope walker who can't die gets embroiled in a secret society's deadly gladiatorial tournament in this "bloodily spectacular" (Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights) historical fantasy set in an alternate 1880s London, perfect for...
The lady of rapture
Raughley, Sarah
Paper Book
Penny Dreadful meets The Gilded Wolves in this breathtaking finale to the young adult historical fantasy Bones of Ruin trilogy! For years, the elite secret society called the Enlightenment Committee has waited for the apocalyptic force known as Hiva to destroy the...
The five : the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper
Rubenhold, Hallie
Paper Book
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London--the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine...
The library thief : a novel
Shenjé, Kuchenga
Paper Book
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 fraud
Smith, Zadie
Paper Book
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...
The case of the missing marquess
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
Now a Netflix original movie starring Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter! Meet Enola Holmes, teenaged girl turned detective and the younger sister to Sherlock Holmes. When Enola Holmes, sister to the detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her...
Queen Victoria's bathing machine
Whelan, Gloria
Paper Book
Prince Albert comes up with a royally creative solution to Queen Victoria's modesty concerns in this true story that reveals an overlooked splash of history. Poor Queen Victoria! She loves to swim, but can't quite figure out how to get to the water without her devoted subjects...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.