Victorian Genre Books Summary at Celsius 233

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (1861)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens follows Pip, an orphan whose journey from poverty to wealth is shaped by mysterious benefactors and personal trials.

Charles Dickens

Classics Romance Satire

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens (1838)

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens follows young Oliver as he struggles to escape poverty and crime in 19th-century England, encountering figures like Fagin and Bill Sikes.

Thomas Hardy

Classics Satire

Tess of the d’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy (1891)

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy follows Tess Durbeyfield as she navigates love, betrayal, and societal judgment in Victorian England.

Charles Dickens

Classics Romance Satire

David Copperfield – Charles Dickens (1850)

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens is a semi-autobiographical novel chronicling David’s journey from childhood to maturity, facing love, loss, and personal growth.

Elizabeth Gaskell

Historical Romance

North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell (1855)

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell explores the contrast between England’s industrial North and agrarian South through Margaret Hale’s perspective.

George Eliot

Historical Satire

Middlemarch – George Eliot (1872)

Middlemarch by George Eliot is a social novel exploring ambition, marriage, and reform in 19th-century provincial England.

Wilkie Collins

Mystery Psychological Supernatural

The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins (1859)

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is a gothic mystery involving mistaken identity, crime, and a conspiracy that unravels through multiple narrators.

William Makepeace Thackeray

Satire

Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray (1847)

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray follows Becky Sharp’s rise and fall in 19th-century high society, contrasting her ambition with Amelia Sedley’s virtue.

Henry James