Various Authors
Victorian Courtship Stories: what to read next?
Books close in genre, era, author or reading level, to read in bilingual editions.
Henryk SienkiewiczQuo VadisUnder Nero, the patrician Vinicius falls in love with Lygia, a royal hostage raised in a Roman household and secretly Christian. Used to getting his way, he has her claimed for the palace; she escapes, and he discovers a community living by rules opposed to his own. When Rome…Same genreSame era
Charles DickensA Tale of Two CitiesCharles Darnay, a French aristocrat, renounces his origins to live a fairer life in England, while Sydney Carton, a disillusioned lawyer, struggles with his own inner emptiness. Their destinies intersect against the backdrop of the French Revolution, where social tensions erupt…Same genre
Victor HugoLes MisérablesFreed after nineteen years in the galleys for a stolen loaf, Jean Valjean finds neither work nor shelter, until a bishop takes him in. A different man under a false name, he takes in Cosette, daughter of a working woman dead in destitution, and raises her in hiding. Inspector…Same genreSame era
Victor HugoThe Hunchback of Notre-DameParis, 1482: the gypsy Esmeralda dances on the Place de Grève while the city keeps the Feast of Fools. Quasimodo, the cathedral's misshapen bell-ringer, and Claude Frollo, the archdeacon who raised him, are both overcome by her. Between cloister, Court of Miracles and pillory,…Same genre
Leo TolstoyWar and PeaceIn 1805 Russia goes to war against Napoleon, and the salons of Petersburg discuss it in French. The novel follows Pierre Bezukhov, an awkward heir seeking meaning, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who joins the army to escape his life, and Natasha Rostov, whose childhood ends between…Same genreSame era
Frederick DouglassNarrative of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass, born into slavery, recounts his journey toward freedom through a constant struggle against oppression. Deprived of education and rights, he gradually discovers the power of knowledge and of the spoken word. His testimony exposes the brutal reality of slavery…Same genre
Guy de MaupassantBoule de SuifDuring the war of 1870, ten travellers leave Rouen, occupied by the Prussians, in the same stagecoach: local notables, two nuns, a democrat and a prostitute nicknamed Boule de Suif. Held at an inn by a Prussian officer who sets his conditions, they discover what their…Same genreSame era
Arthur StringerThe Prairie WifeA novel by the Canadian writer Arthur Stringer, published in 1915 and written in the form of a diary. A young woman from New York high society, suddenly ruined, marries almost without thinking Duncan McKail, a Canadian of Scottish descent, a former engineer who now grows wheat…Same genreSame era
Jane AustenPride and PrejudiceElizabeth Bennet, the second of five sisters, belongs to a family of minor English gentry where marriage decides a daughter's future. The arrival of a wealthy neighbour and of his friend Darcy, thought haughty, unsettles the whole neighbourhood. Between gossip and hasty…Same genre
Jane AustenEmmaEmma Woodhouse, young, rich and sure of her judgement, has made a pastime of arranging the marriages around her. Convinced she is working for the happiness of others, she guides a friend of no fortune and reads everyone's intentions in her own way. Her arrangements slowly turn…Same genre
Harold MacGrathThe Place of HoneymoonsAn American romantic novel. Edward Courtlandt, a wealthy American, returns to Paris after two years in the jungles of Burma to see Nora Harrigan again, an Irish-American soprano who sings at the Opera under the name Eleonora da Toscana. When he forces his way into her…Same genreSame era
Stephen CraneThe Red Badge of CourageHenry Fleming, an inexperienced young soldier, goes to war with idealized notions of courage and glory. Confronted with the violence of combat, he doubts, flees, and struggles against his own fear. Gradually, he seeks to understand what it truly means to be brave. His inner…Same genreSame era