EPL Picks: Victorian Book ClubLike this list

12 items

• The Monk

  Lewis, M. G. (Matthew Gregory), 1775-1818

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  The Monk, Matthew G. Lewis's most famous novel was published in 1795 or 1796, before his 20th birthday. Readers were shocked by the Gothic Horror novel's explicit sexual content and themes of sexual violence. It was published anonymously,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Pride and Prejudice

  Austen, Jane

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  Published anonymously (although attributed to the author of the already-famous Sense and Sensability, identified as simply “A Lady”) in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has been called one of the best-loved novels of all time, and has inspired…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Frankenstein

  Or, The Modern Prometheus

  Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851

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  Mary Shelley was only 20 when Frankenstein was published in 1818. She wrote the story in 1816 when she, her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Polidori, and Lord Byron had a competition to see who could write the best horror story.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre

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  Said to be the first vampire romance novel, The Vampyre was inspired by a story told by Lord Byron during a competition between Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Polidori, and Lord Byron to see who wrote the best horror story.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

  Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885

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  Not only is this 1831 novel a classic of French Gothic literature, but also a plea for the preservation of Gothic architecture. It's hard to imagine Notre-Dame cathedral not being a symbol of Paris, but at the time this novel was written,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Jane Eyre

  Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855

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  Published in 1847 under Charlotte Brontë's pen name, Currer Bell, Jane Eyre is a complex novel containing romance, feminism, moral integrity, and social commentary. Reviews at the time were mixed, with some people calling it…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Wuthering Heights

  Brontë, Emily, 1818-1848

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  Emily Brontë's only novel was published under the name Ellis Bell in 1847. Set in the West Yorkshire moors, it was controversial when published because of the themes of physical and mental cruelty and the confusing extremes of love and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• North and South

  Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865

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  North and South was serialized in Household Words, edited by Charles Dickens, in 1854. It explores life in an industrial mill town in the north of England, as seen through the eyes of a lady from the rural south. Dickens didn't make it…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Woman in White

  Collins, Wilkie

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  This 1859 novel was originally published in weekly installments, following Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, and is hailed as the start of “sensation fiction”, using shocking themes to spark conversation and explore identity. Its…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Middlemarch

  Eliot, George, 1819-1880

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  Middlemarch was originally published as a series of volumes in 1871-72. It was written by George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans), who was considered to be England's greatest living novelist at the time. This large tome explores many…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Wilde, Oscar

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  Oscar Wilde's only novel was originally published as a novella in an American magazine in 1890. Considered to be a classic piece of Gothic literature, the story revolves around the handsome Dorian Gray, who is willing to sell his soul to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dracula

  Stoker, Bram

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  The story of Dracula is told through letters, newspaper articles, and diary entries. It is set in the English coastal town of Whitby, where Bram Stoker came upon the name Dracula in the library and was inspired by the spooky ruins of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation