Jarvis LorryJarvis Lorry is a character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities.
Jerry CruncherJeremiah Cruncher is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities.
French Revolution1789–1799 sociopolitical change in FranceThe French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse.
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens ( ; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and journalist. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.
BastilleThe Bastille (, French: [bastij] ) was a medieval fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a crowd on 14 July 1789, in the French Revolution, becoming an important symbol for the French Republican movement. It was later demolished and replaced by the Place de la Bastille public square in Paris.
The Big ReadThe Big Read was a survey on books that was carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, when over 700 thousand votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel. The year-long survey was the biggest single test of public reading taste to date, and culminated with several programmes hosted by celebrities advocating their favourite books.
Historical fictionGenre of fiction that is set in the pastThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris) by Victor Hugo (1831), a 19th-century example of a romantic-historical novel Prose genres Poetry genres Dramatic genresComedyLibrettoMusicalOperaPlayhistoricalmoralSatireScriptTragedyTragicomedyHistoryAncientMedievalEarly medievalEarly modernRenaissance18th19th20thContemporary21st MediaVoiceaudiobookspeechWritingbookdigital electronicsebookmanuscript Lists and outlinesOutlineGlossaryBooksEpicfolk-epicsPoetsWritersMovementspoetry groupsCyclesLiterary awardspoetryShort story collection / CycleLost literary worklacunaTheory and criticismSociologyMagazinesCompositionLanguageNarrativeComparativeCircleSocietyPost-literate SocietyPeerFeudEstateWorkshopCircleHistorical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictitious plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events.List of best-selling booksThis page provides lists of best-selling books and book series to date and in any language. "Best-selling" refers to the estimated number of copies sold of each book, rather than the number of books printed or currently owned. Comics and textbooks are not included in this list. The books are listed according to the highest sales estimate as reported in reliable, independent sources.
Reign of Terror1793–1794 political violence in FranceHistorical caricature of the Reign of Terror.Bertrand Barère by Jean-Louis Laneuville.The Reign of Terror (French: La Terreur, lit.
LondonLondon is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 9.14 million people in 2025. Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 15.4 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years.
ParisParis is the capital and largest city of France, with an estimated city population of 2.04 million in an area of 105.4 km2 (40.7 sq mi), as of January 2026, and a metropolitan population of 13.3 million (2023). Located on the Seine in the centre of the Île-de-France region, it is the largest metropolitan area and fourth-most populous city in the European Union (EU). Paris is nicknamed the "City of Light" mainly due to its leading role in the Age of Enlightenment.
BBCBritish public service broadcaster"The Beeb" redirects here. For other uses, see Beeb.The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state with its current name on 1 January 1927.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.