William Harrison Ainsworth (Gutenberg Index)

This is not a novel but a treasure map. William Harrison Ainsworth was the Victorian era's most prolific purveyor of historical sensation fiction, penning tales of Tudor intrigue, Restoration roguery, and Georgian debauchery that scandalized readers and inspired generations of playwrights. This comprehensive index catalogs every work in his staggering body of work, from the Gothic splendor of 'Windsor Castle' to the violent underworld of 'Jack Sheppard' and the plague-haunted streets of 'Old Saint Paul's.' Each entry offers a window into narratives that blend documented history with breathless melodrama, where real figures collide with invented characters in stories of love, betrayal, and ruthless ambition. For readers who have exhausted Dickens and Scott, who hunger for historical fiction before the genre became respectable, this index serves as the essential guide to recovering a writer whose popularity once dwarfed his contemporaries. Here you will find your next discovery.