February HistoryCAT: Georgian/Regency/Victorian Britain

I've surreptitiously expanded the category to include the Victorian era, which gives us an even wider scope. We have a choice of fiction published at the time, historical fiction set in the time period, and non-fiction.

Georgian Period: 1714 - 1837 (Including the Regency)

The Georgian period covers the reigns of the Hanoverian Georges I, II and II, as well as William IV. It includes the Regency period, from 1811 - 1820. Readers of historical romances will be aware that Georgian is used for the reigns of Georges I and II, and that the Regency period has undergone an expansion, beginning in the reign of George III and ending with Queen Victoria.

The American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars occurred during the Georgian Period. The period was also characterised by the Industrial Revolution and British Imperialism, with the first Australian penal colony being established in 1788.

Victorian Period: 1837 - 1901

During the Victorian period the British Empire reached its peak to become the most powerful empire in the world.

Fiction Published at the Time

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Evelina by Fanny Burney
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
Waverley by Sir Walter Scott
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

And many, many more including Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope....

Non-fiction Published at the Time

London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew
On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincy
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

Historical Fiction

So many books!

Historical Romances e.g. the works of Georgette Heyer and many others.
Adventure fiction e.g. Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian and Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
Science Fiction and Fantasy e.g. Babel by R. F. Kuang

Non-fiction about the Time

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey
The Making of the English Working Class by E. P. Thompson
Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's England by Rory Muir

Happy Reading!

Wiki

I am contemplating a Victorian novel for this month, possibly Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Aurora Floyd or a re-read of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.

This will be a good one! I have about 150 Victorian Era books on my TBR as well as 3-4 Georgette Heyers. Will narrow it down to a couple later in the month.

Planning to read John Kessel's Shelley/Austen mashup Pride and Prometheus.

I've been meaning to read Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women so I might read that. OTOH, she did also write a novel, so I might read that instead.

This will be a good time to get to Watery Grave by Bruce Alexander, next up in the historical mystery series featuring blind magistrate Sir John Fielding in mid-18th century London.

I think I will read Gentleman Jim book # 2 by Mimi Matthews in the Somerset Series set in The Georgian Period. I read book # 1 last year and enjoyed it.

This is my favourite time period (I'm probably not the only one to say that!) and I have so much to choose from! I'm going to listen to Slightly Wicked by Mary Balogh - apart from that I don't know yet, maybe there will be more!

A couple of options that appeal to me:
- Victoria / Daisy Goodwin
- Longbourn / Jo Baker

I will probably continue with my Bridgerton read. I am up to When He Was Wicked.

>1 pamelad: I just received a copy of The Reluctant Widow, perfect timing!

>11 fuzzi: A twofer! CalendarCAT as well.

>12 pamelad: eyup! I like it when that happens.

>13 fuzzi: I'm going for a trifecta. An Unexpected Companion by Janis Linford, a Regency Romance, won the Australian Romance Novelists Ruby Award for Historical Romance in 2021.

There are now 3 copies on LT, so it doesn't look as though the Ruby Award does a lot for book sales.

>14 pamelad: wow. It is fairly new, though.

Here's the cover, if you want to add it to your copy:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/apparel/rcxgs/tile._CB483369110_.gif

I'd do it myself, but I'd have to add the book to my library first.

Another book I'm considering is Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens, a historical novel written by a Victorian author and set in Georgian times

>15 fuzzi: You can't see the cover? Perhaps its an Internet problem.

>16 Robertgreaves: I'm in the minority, but I love Barnaby Rudge. It takes some time to get into, but the crowd and riot scenes are so good.

>17 pamelad: it's showing as a generic gray with white lettering, not a real cover.

>19 fuzzi: When I click the link I can see the cover, so there must be some sort of glitch. Let's ignore it.

>17 pamelad: Is this what you are looking for?

(Edited on request to remove the image. If you want to see it: https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/e3/27/e327b6a429ca0f96369756e3651426... )

>21 Robertgreaves: Thanks Robert. This is what I have been able to see all the time but perhaps others can’t. Let’s ignore it. Could you delete the image?

We're going down a rabbit hole!

I was a huge fan of Jean Plaidy's books when I was a teenager and I was thinking I might reread something from her Georgian Saga: https://www.librarything.com/nseries/31655/The-Georgian-Saga

I'll be reading Jane Austen's England in February.

Yesterday I finished Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose that qualifies since it is set in Regency London.

I read the sub-standard Regency romance, The Major's Mistake by Andrea Pickens, after giving up on An Unexpected Companion because there was too much waffle and I didn't have the patience. I'm sure to be back, and hope that next time it's with a book worth reading!

I'm reading two more that fit here. A Journey from this World to the Next by Henry Fielding was first published in 1755, so it's Georgian. Say Yes to the Princess is a Regency romance by Charis Michaels.

One for Victorian Britain is The woman in white which is set, unusually explicitly, in 1850.

I read a Regency romance, My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale, set in 1812. The politics of the day actually do have some bearing on the story!

I read a Victorian era mystery novel, Mrs. Jeffries and the Midwinter Murders by Emily Brightwell.

I read a gothic, Kirkland Revels by Victoria Holt, which is set in Victorian England.

Two historical mysteries, Victorian: Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder by Catherine Lloyd and Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld by Catherine Lloyd

I read a romance set in late Georgian London (1832, so after the Regency but before Victoria), Marry Me By Midnight.

March is posted!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/358453

Currently reading The Burial Circle by Kate Ellis, a dual timeline mystery set in the present day and the 1880s.

I did end up reading Watery Grave by Bruce Alexander, historical Regency mystery featuring Sir John Fielding. Fielding was an actual historical figure who helped found the first London police force.

I didn't think I would end up reading something that would fit this month's theme, but I just realized Possession would likely count, because even though it takes place in the 80s, it involves a mystery surrounding two Victorian-era poets and includes their poems and letters to each other, and a small part of the book describes their time together.

>37 LisaMorr: I'd say that counts!

I just finished Death Comes to the School by Catherine Lloyd, a historical mystery set in 1820. It's set in a country village rather than the London Season, which is unusual and in my opinion refreshing. I'd definitely recommend starting with book #1, though, Death Comes to the Village.

I finished listening to Slightly Wicked by Mary Balogh, a Regency romance.

I can join this month! I picked up When Gods Die by C.S. Harris, a Sebastian St Cyr mystery set in Regency England.

Also a big fan of both Barnaby Rudge and The Woman in White. Looking forward to hearing this month's readers' thoughts on both.

I finished a re-read of Treasure Island by R L Stevenson (1883). This is historical fiction written in the Victorian era and set in the latter 18th century Georgian period (2 eras for the price of 1!). I really enjoyed this re-read, which I did mostly on audiobook (read by Michael Page) and some on physical book. The first time I read this tale about 7 years ago, I wasn't as impressed but I think the audio narration this time enhanced my enjoyment quite a bit.

In addition to Treasure Island, this month I've completed re-reads of these Victorian novels:

Bleak House, Charles Dickens (1853)
Hard Times, Charles Dickens (1854)
Nina Balatka, Anthony Trollope (1867)

I'll be starting a re-read of Little Dorrit (1857) next week, but at 750+ pages I'll still be reading into March (and maybe April).

And finally this week I'll be listening again to the delightful Lady Susan by Jane Austen.
It's a sort of "hat-trick" for this challenge:
--Austen is generally considered a Regency author;
--Lady Susan (1794), however, was written in the Georgian era, when Austen was 19;
--BUT it wasn't published until 1871, well into the Victorian era and more than a half-century after Austen's death.

Another Regency romance for me, It Takes Two to Tangle by Theresa Romain. This one was a bit underwhelming, and it didn't really feel authentically historical, except that the hero was wounded at the Battle of Quatre Bras in 1815.

Finished A Journey from this World to the Next, a satire by Henry Fielding first published in 1749 (during the reign of George II).

I read Gentleman Jim by Mimi Matthews, a Georgian romance.

I read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It was written in the Victorian era but the story is in the Georgian era. I read it so long ago it was like reading it for the first time. So good.

I read It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian, which is set in 1817.

I read Paula Byrne's The Genius of Jane Austen: Her Love of Theatre and Why She Works in Hollywood. The book discusses Austen's novels (all published in the 1810s), as well as the plays and novels Byrne claims influenced Austen's work, most of which were written in the Georgian period.

Victoria / Daisy Goodwin
4 stars

This is a fictional account of Queen Victoria from right around when she turned 18 years old (just before she became queen) until she got engaged to Prince Albert, only a year or two after she became queen. So, it focused initially on her (strained) relationship with her mother (in part, due to her mother’s involvement with power-hungry Sir John Conroy). When Victoria became queen, the prime minister at the time, Lord Melbourne, advised her, despite his reputation with women and people worried that he would influence Victoria politically. The story then shifted to her meeting her cousins Ernst and Albert.

I listened to the audio and thought this was very good. In the past few years, I’ve read some about Victoria, so I don’t think anything in this book came as a surprise, but it was interesting and I feel like the author’s writing style is easy to “read” (or, in my case, listen to!).

Thank you all for participating, and feel free to keep coming back and adding books!

I have only now finished this, but anyone looking for something from the Georgian period could do a lot worse than Walter Scott's Guy Mannering which is mostly set in the early 1780s.