One of the first and finest "sensation novels", the story begins when the protagonist, Walter Hartright, encounters a mysterious woman dressed all in white on a moonlit road in Hampstead. She is confused and in distress, and Hartright helps her to find her way back to London. In return she gives him a warning. Soon after, Hartright learns that she might have escaped from an asylum. The story is told by a succession of character, each with different motivations and agendas.

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford. The trip has been recreated many times since most recently in 2005 for the BBC. Quotes and references turn up regularly, ranging from references in Robert A. Heinlein's 1958 Have space suit will travel through to the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean.

Utilitarianism - achieving the greatest good for the greatest number. Well-known Western philosopher John Stuart Mill proposes the concept of utilitarianism as a moral standard by which to judge actions.

1865 Best Seller.

The story of Hans and his sister's participation in a skating competition is interwoven with their class reading of _The Hero of Haarlem_ (the boy who saved his country by plugging a dike with his finger). Somehow poplular myth has transferred Han's name to the dike boy.

1871 Best Seller.

The second of the 'Little Women' / 'March Family Saga' trilogy, follows the progress of Jo Bhaer and her students of Plumfield Estate school.

1874 Best Seller.

In his day E. P. Roe was a bigger seller than Mark Twain.

"In the Opening of a Chestnut Burr, Mr. Roe has made a marked advance upon his two previous stories. He has already exhibited a remarkable power of description, which in this volume he uses with good effect in the scenes of fire and shipwreck. It is thoroughly religious, thoroughly Christian both in tone and teaching." -- Harper's Magazine. (a contemporary review)

1855 Best Seller.

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room is temperance novel that helped demonize alcohol. In the story a miller gives up his mill and opens a tavern. The narrator visits intermittently over the years and charts the changes in the proprietor and the town due to the negative influence of alcohol.