The Best 19th-Century Books

By the end of the 18th century, the novel had reached its current form, paving the way for a flourishing of the genre. Early in the century, we have the books by Jane Austen, starting with Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811:

Only a few years later, Mary Shelley, daughter of the philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, published Frankenstein, viewed by many as one of the first science fiction books and, more than two centuries later, still a great book to read for its combination of page-turning suspense and thought-provoking questions about what it means to be human.

The early 19th century also saw the great novels of Sir Walter Scott, now viewed as a trailblazer of the historical fiction genre, including Ivanhoe and Waverley.

By the middle of the 19th century, the Brontë sisters were in full flow, with Charlotte Brontë’s great works, Jane Eyre and Villette, and Emily’s Wuthering Heights and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 

Other notable 19th-century novelists recommended on Five Books include Marie-Henri Beyle, aka Stendhal, author of The Scarlet and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma, who fought in, and was heavily influenced by, the Napoleonic Wars:

Also in French literature, we have Victor Hugo and his magnum opus, Les Misérables:

Another great 19th-century French novelist was Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and the great revenge tale, The Count of Montecristo:

Of books by Charles Dickens, the most frequently recommended on Five Books is Great Expectations, his exploration of the morality of money and featuring Pip as the much-loved main protagonist:

The most recommended of the 19th-century US novels are:

Books by Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian writer of the 19th century, include:

Others prefer Fyodor Dostoevsky and his masterpieces, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov:

One of the great horror tales dates from 1897:

If you love mystery novels, you can’t go wrong with books by Wilkie Collins. He claimed that on his gravestone would be written “author of The Woman in White“:

Finally in fiction, a few classic children’s books were published in the 19th century, including:

Also of note were the adventure books by Robert Louis Stevenson, as well as his work of Gothic horror:

The French writer Jules Verne was also originally marketed in the English-speaking world as a children’s author, though he is now often seen through a science fiction lens:

NONFICTION BOOKS

As readers immersed themselves in sensational or heartbreaking tales by reading fiction, nonfiction books also saw some landmarks written in the 19th century. The best place to start with books by German philosopher Karl Marx is probably his Communist Manifesto:

The same year, 1859, also saw the publication of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, the classic statement of liberal values. It remains more relevant than ever and is one of our most recommended books on Five Books:

Other notable nonfiction works of the 19th century include books by the French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote about both what made American democracy flourish and what caused the French Revolution:

Also of note is the theory of warfare laid out by the Prussian general, Carl von Clausewitz, in his book On War—still key reading if you’re interested in military strategy books:

In the sciences, meanwhile, Charles Darwin’s books shattered a millennia-old worldview that saw life as created by god by introducing his theory of evolution by natural selection.

Finally, published in 1890—but still recommended on Five Books by psychologists—is William James’s Principles of Psychology: