Victorian History

Drawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Albert’s voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, Prince Albert, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.

A grisly book dedicated to the crimes, perversions and outrages of Victorian England, covering high-profile offences - such as the murder of actor William Terriss, whose stabbing at the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre in 1897 filled the front pages for many weeks - as well as lesser-known transgressions that scandalised the Victorian era. The tales include murders and violent crimes but also feature scandals that merely amused the Victorians.

Now considered a classic, Light of the Home offers a wonderful evocation of the lives of women 100 years ago.

For more than a century, some of the world’s most important thinkers and leaders—men like Arthur Conan Doyle and William Butler Yeats—gathered once a month and discussed the supernatural at The Ghost Club in London. In the early 1900s the club's chairman was Harry Price, the world’s most well-known ghost hunter. He and other members, like Harry Houdini, sought to debunk the charlatans who preyed on vulnerable people with fake seances, tarot readings, and spiritual encounters.

Born into a respected Irish-Anglo family in 1860, Charles loves his native land and its long-suffering but irrepressible people. As a healer, he travels the countryside dispensing traditional cures while soaking up stories and legends of bygone times - and witnessing the painful, often violent birth of land-reform measures destined to lead to Irish independence. At the age of 40, summoned to Paris to treat his dying countryman - the infamous Oscar Wilde - Charles experiences the fateful moment of his life.

Vicky, Alice, Helena, and Beatrice were historically unique sisters, born to a sovereign who ruled over a quarter of the earth's people and who gave her name to an era: Queen Victoria. Two of these princesses would themselves produce children of immense consequence. All five would curiously come to share many of the social restrictions and familial machinations borne by 19th-century women of less-exulted class.

The legend of Maggie's Bridge is well known to locals. In the late 1800's a young girl, pregnant and frightened, loses her life on a lonely bridge in a terrible storm. But what is the truth behind the story? Who was Maggie Bloxom? What fates brought her to that dark place and stole her future away from her? Claire Ludlow is a local. She grew up visiting the bridge at midnight and calling for Maggie. One night when she was 16 she sees more than she thought possible. When life draws her back to her home town years later and drops her within arms reach of the bridge, can she use newly ...

LOVE, AMBITION & SCANDAL COLLIDE AT THE 1893 CHICAGO WORLD'S FAIR Dora Chambers may be the newest Lady Manager at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, but it isn't quite the plum position she expected. Instead of afternoon teas and fancy dinner parties, she finds herself on the dusty Midway Plaisance, tasked with overseeing the Egyptian dancers whose shimmies and scant costumes are stirring up a scandal. Fueled by the Fair's progressive spirit and heady enthusiasm, Dora rises above her disappointment and embraces a determination to fulfill her duty and aid her husband's social ambition. But as ...

The Oxford English Dictionary is one of mankind’s greatest achievements, and yet, curiously, its creators are almost never considered. Who were the people behind this unprecedented book? As Sarah Ogilvie reveals, they include three murderers, a collector of pornography, the daughter of Karl Marx, a president of Yale, a radical suffragette, a vicar who was later found dead in the cupboard of his chapel, an inventor of the first American subway, a female anti-slavery activist in Philadelphia . . . and thousands of others.

Eminent Victorians, Lytton Strachey's wonderfully witty and Wildean quartet of biographies, stands out as one of the most radical and groundbreaking works of its genre. With relentless precision, Strachey explores the lives of four exemplars of the Victorian age: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon, irreverently bringing to light the flaws, strengths, ambitions and hypocrisies of these treasured legends.

From a modern perspective, it may seem that the United States was a major powerhouse since its early days. However, the truth is far from it. This transformation from a weak and relatively poor dominion into a world-class international power was undoubtedly a long process, yet it achieved its peak in the late 19th century. At that time, the US managed to achieve change in many aspects, from economic and social to political and military. This period of growth has become known as the Gilded Age.

Something swooped down and killed him. Slit his throat, leaving deep claw marks. A second man is struck down the same way. Witnesses claim a dragon slew the man. Detective Dee does not believe in dragons. He takes the case and finds himself in pursuit of a mythological beast that can't possibly exist. But just might! Another exciting tale of mystery, intrigue and suspense in the mythology of ancient China, set in the Victorian London of Sherlock Holmes. Get your copy today.

If you want to discover the captivating history of England, then get English History: A Captivating Guide to the History of England and the Victorian Era, which includes two manuscripts that provide information on the history of England from antiquity to the end of World War Two, with a special emphasis on the Victorian Era.

From the author of 'A Year in Victorian Edinburgh' and 'Crime and Punishment in Victorian Edinburgh', a selection of tales from the Coroner's Court where so called 'remedies' went horribly wrong. The world of quack medicine with its spurious remedies and unqualified practitioners served to make a lucrative income for many in the Victorian era at the expense of the unwitting and often impoverished public. With little restrictions on the claims that could be made of the effectiveness of these remedies, many offered seemingly miraculous cures at a far cheaper price than traditional medicines ...

Full of larger than life characters and cinematically written, The Cure for Women documents the birth of a sexist science still haunting us today as the fight for control of women’s bodies and lives continues.

On 23 March, 1844, General Tom Thumb, at 25 inches tall, entered the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace and bowed low to Queen Victoria. On both sides of the Atlantic, this meeting marked a tipping point in the 19th century - the age of the freak was born. Bewitching all levels of society, it was a world of astonishing spectacle - of dwarfs, giants, bearded ladies, Siamese twins and swaggering showmen - and one that has since inspired countless novels, films and musicals.

"As the depth of truth of one's life can only be penned upon the pages of a diary, Jane Digby leads us through her passionate life . . . A wonderful piece of historical fiction that will delight your senses as well as your heart." - Peggy Lee Sprague, author of The Truth Hunters series. Jane Digby's Diary continues with Volume Three: Following an Eastern Star. Based on a true story . . . Bright, beautiful, and bold, Jane Digby led a remarkable life. Born to privilege in 1807 at Dorset, England, she soon scandalized Europe with her reckless pursuit of freedom. Kings, princes, barons, ...

Edwin James was among the most successful barristers during the mid-Victorian period: his rise to fame and success was meteoric and his name was known throughout the land. Queens Counsel, Recorder of Brighton, MP for the largest constituency in England, nothing seemed to be beyond him. He was on the point of becoming a Law Officer of the Crown, about to be knighted...when all collapsed around him. He fled to America but even there the disgraced lawyer found himself dogged by scandal and rumours of his disreputable behaviour. Roy Lewis traces the rise of Edwin James, the sensations he ...

The encyclopedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars and the most obsessive of editors, a good set conveyed a sense of absolute wisdom on its reader. Contributions from Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Orville Wright, Alfred Hitchcock, Marie Curie and Indira Gandhi helped millions of children with their homework. Adults cleared their shelves in the belief that everything that was explainable was now effortlessly accessible in their living rooms.

Headstrong, high-spirited, and already widowed, Isabella Walker became Mrs. Henry Robinson at age 31 in 1844. Isabella chose to record her innermost thoughts - and especially her infatuation with a married Dr. Edward Lane - in her diary. One day Henry chanced on the diary and, broaching its privacy, read Isabella's entries. Aghast at his wife's perceived infidelity, Henry petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery. The trial would be a cause célèbre, threatening the foundations of Victorian society.