Victorian History

Three Empires on the Nile tells of the rise of the first modern Islamic state and its fateful encounter with the British Empire of Queen Victoria. Ever since the self-proclaimed Islamic messiah known as the Mahdi gathered an army in the Sudan and besieged and captured Khartoum under its British overlord Charles Gordon, the dream of a new caliphate has haunted modern Islamists. The 19th-century origins of it all were even more dramatic and strange than today's headlines.

The shocking murders carried out by an unknown serial killer in London's East End during the autumn of 1888, haunted the public imagination at the time and have continued to exert a baleful influence ever since. But what was it like to live through those terrifying weeks? This audiobook looks at the crimes of Jack the Ripper through the eyes of Londoners, including the rumors that swept through the capital city, the alarms, the riots, the persecutions, the suspicions, and the sheer naked terror of the awful autumn when a killer stalked the streets.

The Whitechapel Murders of 1888 have remained unsolved for over 130 years and hundreds of theories have been suggested as to the killer's identity. Despite numerous books claiming to unmask the infamous Victorian villain, none have come close…until now. The authors of this book are all members of H Division Crime Club, the world's largest body of experts on the Jack the Ripper murders. They have all come together for the first time in history to deliver their own personal research into each suspect and to finally nail down the identity of the man known as Jack the Ripper.

The Day the Tripods Came is a gripping collection of interconnected tales that reimagines H.G. Wells' classic The War of the Worlds through the eyes of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. From a London clerk fleeing the devastation to an artilleryman's underground resistance, from a curate's crisis of faith to an astronomer's wife's scientific revelations, these stories weave a tapestry of human resilience in the face of cosmic horror. As Martian tripods lay waste to Victorian England, our heroes must confront not only the alien threat but also their own humanity. This ...

They both believe she is timid and fragile, until her grandfather's will forces them to learn how very strong she truly is.Living in fear, Mae Alden learned cowardice could protect her. Now, with her tyrannical grandfather dead, she dares imagine life can be different, until a flood of disasters spew from his horrifying will and extinguish all but the tiniest hope. In despair, this Boston blueblood seeks help from the attorney who executed the will, but after making a disastrous first impression, she doubts he will assist her. James Collins thinks quiet Mae would make an ideal wife. When ...

In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.

Isabel Archer is a young American woman swept off to Europe in the late 19th century by an aunt who hopes to round out the impetuous but naïve girl's experience of the world. When Isabel comes into a large, unexpected inheritance, she is finagled into a marriage with the charming, penniless, and - as Isabel finds out too late - cruel and deceitful Gilbert Osmond, whose connection to a certain Madame Merle is suspiciously intimate.

The Victorians invented mass entertainment. As the 19th century's growing industrialized class acquired the funds and the free time to pursue leisure activities, their every whim was satisfied by entrepreneurs building new venues for popular amusement. Contrary to their reputation as dour, buttoned-up prudes, the Victorians reveled in these newly created "palaces of pleasure".

From 1845 to 1852, the Great Hunger, also referred to as the "Potato Famine", was a period of a lot of starvation and illness in Ireland. The period was known in Irish at the time as a "Drochshaol"—loosely translated as "the hard days", or actually "the bad life"—with the most badly affected districts in the west and south of Ireland, where the Irish language was popular. The year 1847, at times called "Black '47", was the absolute worst year of the period. Around one million people died, and over a million left the nation throughout the Great Famine.

When diplomatic efforts to introduce opium to the Chinese market failed, the British Parliament approved an alternative: war. There were two wars: one from 1839 to 1842, and another from 1856 to 1860. They are collectively known as the Opium Wars. The British, who were joined by French and supported by the Americans and Russians, clashed with Imperial China, which was ruled by the Qing dynasty.

In 1876 Sophia Duleep Singh was born into royalty. Her father, Maharajah Duleep Singh, was heir to the Kingdom of the Sikhs. Exiled to England, the dispossessed Maharajah transformed his estate at Elveden in Suffolk into a Moghul palace. Sophia, god-daughter of Queen Victoria, was raised a genteel aristocratic Englishwoman: presented at court, afforded grace-and-favour lodgings at Hampton Court Palace and photographed wearing the latest fashions for the society pages. But when, in secret defiance of the British government, she travelled to India, she returned a revolutionary.

The only copy of a novel is found after 100 years. The author’s husband destroyed all the others. Was it too true to life? How was it found? HAPPINESS written by Countess Sofia Zubov in 1902: a Lithuanian-Polish-Russian novel set at the turn of the 20th Century in Lithuania. A story of recovered Lithuanian family history across three languages and three generations. The book contains the novel in English. Plus a history of Sofia and Vladimir Zubov's life and family. In addition, the story of how the book came to light, a timeline of the author's life, and a brief account of the historical...

This moment will change the lives of Watson and Holmes forever! "Watson, to change the future, we must kill the past!" He tells Watson. And with those nine words, Holmes sets out on a course that will change his and Watson's lives forever. Children are vanishing and then being found murdered brutally. Holmes knows who has done it. And he is determined to make sure that the man is not arrested, as he will only escape again and continue his serial killings. Holmes manages to trap the man in Switzerland. But now, to finalize his plan, two must die. That part of his plan Watson doesn't know. ...

On Halloween night, 1828, in the West Port district of Edinburgh, Scotland, a woman sometimes known as Madgy Docherty was last seen in the company of William Burke and William Hare. Days later, police discovered her remains in the surgery of the prominent anatomist Dr. Robert Knox. Docherty was the final victim of the most atrocious murder spree of the century. Together with their accomplices, Burke and Hare would be accused of killing 16 people over the course of 12 months in order to sell the corpses as "subjects" for dissection.

From late 1872 to 1876, H.M.S. Challenger explored the world's oceans. Conducting deep sea soundings, dredging the ocean floor, recording temperatures, observing weather, and collecting biological samples, the expedition laid the foundations for modern oceanography. Following the ship's naturalists and their discoveries, earth scientist Doug Macdougall engagingly tells a story of Victorian-era adventure and ties these early explorations to the growth of modern scientific fields.

From the author of 'Crime and Punishment in Victorian Edinburgh', a day by day account of Edinburgh life and events in the Victorian period, giving a unique insight into the social history of this city across all classes. Giving a snapshot into Victorian life in Edinburgh, this book will take you through all the events, both good and bad, of a typical year within this era. The year which has been chosen is 1869, a year in which Edinburgh was leading the way in scientific and medical research, greatly enhancing the lives of many; whilst poverty, crime and destitution still blighted the lives...

Honor and conviction clash with loyalty and love in this epic Civil War novel that pits brother against brother. Winner of the coveted John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction, Noble Cause chronicles the clash of a Confederate cavalry officer with a Union spy as they defend their beliefs, their country, and their honor.

When Arthur sat down to write the greatest detective on the planet, he had no idea he was also writing the name of whom would one day become also his best friend in real life. Oh, thee adventures that Conan is about to embark on as he joins with Sherlock Holmes to foil crimes and criminals larger than life and darker than the shadows. A novel that carries on the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, but lifts him into a whole new category of Urban Fantasy Mystery and Suspense! Science fiction at its finest!

London, 1857: Two teenage girls holding a sign that says "Fugitive Slaves" ask for money on the corner of Blackman Street. After a constable accosts them and charges them with begging, they end up in court, where newspapers pick up their story. Are the girls truly escaped slaves from Kentucky? Or will the city's dystopian Mendicity Society catch them in a lie, exposing them as born-and-raised Londoners and endangering their safety? With its many accounts of people like these who lived and made their living on the streets, Vagabonds forms a moving picture of London's most compelling period.

The Victorian era was a time of great change and rapid progress. Britain was undergoing the most tremendous development. Scientific discoveries had prompted the Industrial Revolution, which made Britain the world leader in iron and steel production. Science was undergoing a revolution, enabled by the groundbreaking work of Michael Faraday, who led the Royal Institution. Great swathes of Central Africa were mapped by the explorer David Livingstone and the understanding of humankind’s place in the world was being redefined by the theories of the great naturalist Charles Darwin.