Books

Bleak House - Charles Dickens: Being Dickens, it’s a lot more dense and dark than Jane Austen, but quite good. Really interesting commentary on the legal system at the time, with very interesting characters, one tragic romance, and one very satisfactory one. I have linked a truly excellent reading of it.

Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens: The story is about a family whose father is in debtor’s prison, the trials, tribulations, and eventual romance of Amy Dorrit (the titular Little Dorrit) and Arthur Clennam. Of course, there’s the full complement of twists, turns, characters, and subplots necessary for any Dickensian novel.

Our Mutual Friend - Dickens: This one’s got it all. Murder, mystery, romance, mistaken identities, false accusations, society expectations, and finally, a reasonably happy ending. The river Thames is almost as much a character as the people!

The Chronicles of Barsetshire (The Warden, Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, and The Last Chronicle of Barset) - Anthony Trollope: These books are something of a combination of Dickens and Austen. Very involved like Dickens, but much lighter in tone, generally. It is about the families who live in and around the fictitious Barchester, primarily the Grantleys, the Hardings, the Proudies, Thornes, and the Stanhopes. There are very satisfying romances just about all of them (though I found The Small House at Allington less satisfactory than some of the others). (Regarding the audiobooks, some of the readings are better than others :/) Fairly religion heavy (doesn’t beat you over the head with theology or anything), simply because so many of the main characters are either in the church, or around the church.

The Belton Estate - Anthony Trollope: I really liked this one, but it’s not to everyone’s tastes, for sure, mostly because the main female character is kind of annoying at times.

Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell: If you love North and South, you’re probably already familiar, but just in case! Centres around Molly Gibson, her father, the doctor of Hollingford, her stepmother, and her step sister Cynthia, as well as the local squire and his two sons. 

Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell: Cranford tells the stories of various persons living in the fictitious small town of Cranford as told by Mary Smith, who used to live in Cranford, and now frequently visits it. There’s not a very strong over-arching plot, but each of the stories is still connected, both by the persons concerned, and by the locality.

Middlemarch - George Eliot: This one is kind of like the Chronicles of Barsetshire, but with some mystery and such. (Really, in a similar vein to the others recommended above.) (There IS a BBC production version of it, but I haven’t seen it, so have no idea if it’s any good. Ruffus Sewell is in it though, so that’s probably a good sign!)

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins: I love, love, LOVED this one. It’s mystery, suspense, and romance, and is told all through letters and diary entries of the various characters. 

The Scarlet Pimpernel and it’s sequels are also delightful, if you haven’t read those. They take place in England and France during the French Revolution, where a daring English gentleman and his band snatch aristocrats from the jaws of the guillotine itself.

And then ALL the Georgette Heyer. Georgette Heyer is basically Jane Austen lite. They’re SUPER easy reads, all of them, so they’re ideal if you need some period fluff to break up some of the much, much heavier books recommended above.

My favourites are the following (not necessarily in order) (You will also discover that my favourites include nearly the whole body of Heyer’s Georgian/Regency work…):

Cotillion - Kitty Charring is an heiress - upon condition that she marry one of her guardian’s nephews. Her first choice, Jack Westruther fails to make an appearance, so she talks Freddy Standen into entering into a fake engagement so that she can see London (and avenge herself on Mr. Westruther). You know the trope. You know how this ends.

The Grand Sophie - Charles Rivenhall’s life is orderly, respectable, rigid. He’s towing his family out of debt, his fiance is everything that is respectable and decorous. Everything is going according to plan until his cousin, the dashing Sophia Stanton-Lacy sweeps in and turns EVERYTHING upside-down.

Powder and Patch - Cleone Charteris would be more than happy to marry Philip Jettan…if only he would bother bringing himself more into the mode. Instead, he won’t wear a wig, or powder, or dress in the first style of fashion. So she (and his father) send him away to acquire polish, which he does. But when he comes back, everything they professed to want him to be, they discover that perhaps they were mistaken.

These Old Shades (Book 1 of the Alastair-Audly series) - Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, is known to his cronies as Satanas for a reason. Both for his uncanny awareness of all the things happening in society, and for his devilish lifestyle, which includes a longstanding feud with the Comte de Saint-Vire. When the fire-haired “Leon” stumbles into his life one dark night in Paris, the key to his revenge is his. 

Devil’s Cub (Book 2 of the Alastair-Audly series) - Lord Dominic Alastair, the Marquis of Vidal is every bit as bad as his father, the Duke of Avon, and Mary Challoner has no intention of letting him run away with her sister Sophie. Her intervention does NOT go as she planned…Lots of characters from These Old Shades make appearances!

Regency Buck (Book 3 of the Alastair-Audly series) - Miss Judith Taverner and her brother Peregrine are traveling to London to obtain the permission of their (presumably) elderly guardian, the Earl of Worth, to set up house in the metropolis. Julian Audley is not at ALL what they expected, but he may end up being just who they needed…Beau Brummell makes an appearance, as do a number of members of the royal family.

An Infamous Army (Book 4of the Alastair-Audly series): This is basically the War and Peace of regency romances. Julian’s brother Charles Audley is one of the primary characters, but plenty of the other characters from the series also are important players in the events leading up to (and during) the Battle of Waterloo.

Arabella - Arabella Tallent is the daughter of a Yorkshire clergyman, and is on her way to London for her first season when her carriage breaks down near the hunting lodge of the fabulously wealthy Nonpareil Robert Beaumaris. When she overhears him assuming that she’s throwing herself at his head for the sake of his fortune, her pride leads her to make a series of rash declarations which change the entire course of her visit.

Frederica - Respectable but poor, Frederica Merriville seeks the patronage of distant relation Lord Alverstoke in hopes that he will present her ravishing younger sister Charis to fashionable London society. He does, and they are both determined that that should be the extent of his involvement in their affairs. However, what with all the misadventures that Frederica, Charis, and their three brothers fall into, Lord Alverstoke becomes far more invested than he ever meant to be.

The Nonesuch - Miss Ancilla Trent considers herself on the shelf, due both to her age, and her occupation as the chaperone of the spoiled but lovely Tiffany Wield. Sir Waldo Hawkridge is, despite being the Nonesuch, blessed with wealth and good looks, a confirmed bachelor. Throw in outings to picturesque spots, spoilt heiresses, runaways, and balls, and you’ve got yourself a rollicking romance.

The Corinthian - Penelope Creed is running away to avoid marrying her fish-like cousin. Sir Richard Wyndham, a noted Corinthian, is about to make a loveless offer of marriage to the respectable daughter of a debt-ridden but noble family. Coming home slightly drunk, he encounters Pen climbing out of her window in the dead of night, dressed as a boy, and determined to set out for her childhood home - and promised husband, . Her neck-cloth and hair will never do, so he takes her in hand, and ends up embroiled in the adventure of a lifetime. 

The Talisman Ring - murder, mystery, romance, smuggling, and a stolen ring are all ingredients in this absolutely delightful romp.

Other good ones include Venitia, Faro’s Daughter, Charity Girl, The Unknown Ajax, The Quiet Gentleman, Bath Tangle, Lady of Quality, The Foundling, and The Masqueraders.(Really, what this boils down to is that I’d recommend all of them, except perhaps Friday’s Child.)

Movies/TV Shows

Bleak House (2005) - Charles Dickens: Has an AMAZING cast, including Gillian Anderson, Carey Mulligan, Burn Gorman, Louise Brealey, and a ton of others.

Little Dorrit (2008): Matthew Macfayden and Claire Foy are the main characters.

Our Mutual Friend (1998) - Paul McGann, Steven Mackintosh, Keeley Hawes, and Anna Friel are some of the primary characters

The Barchester Chronicles (1982) - a young Alan Rickman makes an appearance!

Doctor Thorne (2016) - Beautiful costumes, great cast! Tom Hollander is Doctor Thorne!

Wives and Daughters (1999) - Really terrific cast, as I’m sure you’re starting to notice, lots of overlap in those BBC pieces…

Great Expectations (2012) - there are a LOT of good versions of Great Expectations, but this one is probably my fav. This is, of course, the Bonham Carter/Fiennes version. Holliday Grainger is Estella. 

Jane Eyre (2011) - Wasikowska/Fassbender <3

Lark Rise to Candleford (2008-2011)

Cranford (2007) SO many good actors in this one, including Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Tom Hiddleston, Michael Gambon, and quite a few others.