I love stories set in the 1890s, within the explosive mixture of science and industrialisation and imperialism and religion and the occult and political movements. I like books with female leads or a variety of multi-faceted female characters. I also love urban settings. I’d love to get some recommendations!
by localbestie
3 Comments
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert is set earlier, mostly 1800-1860ish, but has a fantastic female main character and definitely covers science, religion, colonialism, and industrialism. Someone recommended it to me in this sub, and I absolutely loved it. For what it’s worth, if you like audiobooks, the audio version is very well done as well.
*A Scandal in Bohemia* is a short story within *The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes* featuring Irene Adler, one of the few people who could rival Holmes.
Not an urban setting but the rest is all over it — have you read the Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry? So good!
Also, fantasy and set in 1910s but I think you’d like Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark. Cool investigator woman in a world where someone bore a whole between worlds and now there are djinn. Set in a Cairo where the English have been kicked out. Very cool and fun.