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Open Books Challenge 2025: A Book Set in the Victorian Era (1837-1901)
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Updated December 31, 2024
RPL Staff
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Don't want you like a best friend : a novel
Alban, Emma R.
Paper Book
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...
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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 Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning portrait is a story of love and...
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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. "Wonderfully researched, beautifully crafted, movingly...
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My dear Henry : a Jekyll & Hyde remix
Bayron, Kalynn
Paper Book
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,...
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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,...
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Wishes and Wellingtons
Berry, Julie
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Julie Berry comes a brand new middle-grade fantasy adventure full of friendship, magic, and mischief. Be careful what you wish for ... Maeve Merritt chafes at the rigid rules at her London boarding school for "Upright Young...
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Midnight rooms : a novel
Coles, Donyae
Paper Book
"An immersive horror fairy tale marrying Crimson Peak to Pan's Labyrinth upon strange foundations. You're never really safe here, with Midnight Rooms wondrously defying expectation and refusing obedience. Donyae Coles leads us into a house of sinister magic, full of corners for...
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The silence factory : a novel
Collins, Bridget
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "A delicately woven novel with an utterly original premise, it ensnared me from the very first page." -- Emilia Hart, bestselling author of Weyward From the acclaimed author of the #1 international bestseller The Binding--a captivating story of...
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The clockwork crow
Fisher, Catherine
Paper Book
Evoking the classic fantasy adventures of Joan Aiken and Eva Ibbotson, this darkly delightful new novel from New York Times best-selling author Catherine Fisher glimmers with winter magic. Orphan Seren Rhys is on her way to a new life at the remote country mansion of Plas...
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Bookshop cinderella
Guhrke, Laura Lee
Paper Book
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...
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Of manners and murder
Hastings, Anastasia
Paper Book
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...
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Bitten by witch fever : wallpaper & arsenic in the Victorian home
Hawksley, Lucinda
Paper Book
Bitten by Witch Fever traces the arresting story of the manufacture, uses and effects of arsenic in the 19th-century home, in particular, the pigments ingrained in popular wallpapers. Lucinda Hawksley reveals how pigments, such as Scheele's green and Schweinfurt green, were created using...
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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...
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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...
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The case of the murderous Dr. Cream : the hunt for a Victorian era serial killer
Jobb, Dean
Paper Book
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...
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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...
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Ana Mari?a and the fox
De la Rosa, Liana
Paper Book
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...
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Fearless world traveler : adventures of Marianne North, botanical artist
Lawlor, Laurie
Paper Book
Scientist. Artist. Rule-breaker. The vibrant and daring life of Marianne North by the award-winning author of Super Women and Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World. In 1882, Marianne North showed the gray city of London paintings of jaw-dropping greenery...
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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...
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The nightingale affair : a novel
Mason, Timothy
Paper Book
In this twisty Victorian detective thriller from the author of The Darwin Affair, Inspector Charles Field hunts a serial killer with a sinister signature targeting Florence Nightingale's nurses in Crimea and women in London. Who is stalking...
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The siren of Sussex
Matthews, Mimi
Paper Book
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...
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Marvelous Mattie : how Margaret E. Knight became an inventor
McCully, Emily Arnold.
Paper Book
With her sketchbook labeled My Inventions and her father's toolbox, Mattie could make almost anything - toys, sleds, and a foot warmer. When she was just twelve years old, Mattie designed a metal guard to prevent shuttles from shooting off textile looms and injuring workers. As an adult,...
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Our hideous progeny : a novel
McGill, C. E.
Paper Book
"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....
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The London Séance Society
Penner, Sarah
Paper Book
"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...
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Maude Horton's glorious revenge
Pook, Lizzie
Paper Book
A young woman searches for the truth about her sister, who boarded a ship headed to the frozen Arctic and never returned in this "engrossing historical mystery" (The Washington Post). Twenty-year-old Constance Horton has run away from her life in Victorian London,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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The case of the missing marquess : an Enola Holmes mystery
Springer, Nancy.
Paper Book
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...
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The stranger I wed
St. George, Harper
Paper Book
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...
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The tumbling girl
Walsh, Bridget
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE HWA DEBUT CROWN AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA JOHN CREASEY DAGGER AWARD 'Splendid' Wall Street Journal 'A wry, warm and proper rib-tickling slice of dirty Victorian gothic'...
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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...
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The spirit bares its teeth
White, Andrew Joseph
Paper Book
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...
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Murder in postscript
Winters, Mary
Paper Book
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...
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