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

Updated December 31, 2024
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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 Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning portrait is a story of love and...
The Wildes : a novel in five acts
Bayard, Louis
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard, comes Atonement meets The Paris Wife, a brilliantly original, profoundly empathetic story about Oscar Wilde's wife Constance and their two sons in the aftermath of the famous playwright's imprisonment for...
My dear Henry : a Jekyll & Hyde remix
Bayron, Kalynn
Paper Book
A young man searches for the reason behind his best friend's disappearance and the arrival of a magnetic stranger in this haunting retelling of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson and Mexican Gothic. "Addressing invisibility, power, and...
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,...
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...
The haunting of Hecate Cavendish
Brackston, Paula
Paper Book
The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is book one in New York Times bestselling author Paula Brackston's new, magic-infused series about Hecate Cavendish, an eccentric and feisty young woman who can see ghosts. England, 1881. Hereford cathedral stands sentinel over the...
The stolen book of Evelyn Aubrey
Burdick, Serena
Paper Book
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...
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.
The love remedy
Everett, Elizabeth
Paper Book
"Beautiful and important."--New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn When a Victorian apothecary hires a stoic private investigator to protect her business, they learn there's only one way to treat true love--with a happily ever after. When Lucinda...
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...
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 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...
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...
Ana Mari?a and the fox
De la Rosa, Liana
Paper Book
"Pleasingly subversive."--New York Times Book Review "A perfect mix of slow-burn romance, geopolitical maneuvering and sisterly antics."--The Washington Post One of Library Journal's Best Romances of 2023! A BookList Editor's Pick of 2023!
Never blow a kiss
Lovise, Lindsay
Paper Book
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...
A shore thing
Lowell, Joanna
Paper Book
"Glorious.... Every scene in this book is a treasure."--The New York Times "A Victorian queer love story that will have you giggling and blushing... This book is full of charm and low-stakes adventure, just the warm and soft romance many of us are looking for."--NPR...
Stalking Jack the Ripper
Maniscalco, Kerri
Paper Book
This deliciously haunting #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...
The nightingale affair : a novel
Mason, Timothy
Paper Book
Who is stalking Florence Nightingale and her nurses? Is it the legendary Beast of the Crimean, or someone closer to home? In 1855, Britain and France are fighting to keep the Russians from snatching the Crimean Peninsula from the Ottoman Empire, and Nightingale, a wealthy young society woman, has...
The siren of Sussex
Matthews, Mimi
Paper Book
A PopSugar, Oprah Daily, and BookBub Most Anticipated Romance of 2022! Victorian high society's most daring equestrienne finds love and an unexpected ally in her fight for independence in the strong arms of London's most sought after and devastatingly handsome half-Indian tailor....
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,...
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 midnight hour
Read, Benjamin
Paper Book
For fans of portal fantasies like Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, Colin Meloy's Wildwood, and The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, and unlike so many other fantasies that introduce readers to a world of enchantment and wonder, The Midnight Hour is one...
The Five The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
Rubenhold, Hallie.
Ebook
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction and of the Goodreads Choice Award for History & Biography The award-winning, best-selling true crime book that changes the narrative of the "Ripper" murders forever Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane are...
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 : 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...
The stranger I wed
St. George, Harper
Paper Book
New to wealth and to London high society, American heiress Cora Dove discovers that with the right man, marriage might not be such an inconvenience after all. . . . Cora Dove and her sisters' questionable legitimacy has been the lifelong subject of New York's gossipmongers and a...
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...
The spirit bares its teeth
White, Andrew Joseph
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! A Stonewall Honor Book in Young Adult Literature! SPRAYED EDGES--Paperback edition features gorgeous violet edges! Bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time! ...

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