author
Walter Besant
1836–1901
Best known for vivid novels of London life, this Victorian writer mixed storytelling with real social concern. His work helped draw attention to poverty in the East End and to the idea that literature could speak to public issues.
34 Audiobooks
Jerusalem, the City of Herod and Saladin
by Walter Besant, Edward Henry Palmer
Westminster
by Walter Besant, G. E. (Geraldine Edith) Mitton, Mrs. A. Murray Smith
All Sorts and Conditions of Men: An Impossible Story
by Walter Besant
The Queen's Reign and Its Commemoration A literary and pictorial review of the period; the story of the Victorian transformation
by Walter Besant
The Strand District
by Walter Besant, G. E. (Geraldine Edith) Mitton
The Fourth Generation
by Walter Besant
The History of London
by Walter Besant
The inner house
by Walter Besant
Armorel of Lyonesse: A Romance of To-day
by Walter Besant
The Changeling
by Walter Besant
South London
by Walter Besant
London in the Time of the Stuarts
by Walter Besant
Holborn and Bloomsbury
by Walter Besant, G. E. (Geraldine Edith) Mitton
East London
by Walter Besant
Mediæval London, Volume 2: Ecclesiastical
by Walter Besant
Fifty Years Ago
by Walter Besant
The Orange Girl
by Walter Besant
London in the Time of the Tudors
by Walter Besant
The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies
by Walter Besant
Early London: Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and Norman
by Walter Besant
For Faith and Freedom
by Walter Besant
Mediæval London, Volume 1: Historical & Social
by Walter Besant
The Golden Butterfly
by Walter Besant, James Rice
In Luck at Last
by Walter Besant
The Chaplain of the Fleet
by Walter Besant, James Rice
As We Are and As We May Be
by Walter Besant
London City
by Walter Besant
London
by Walter Besant
Westminster
by Walter Besant
The Lady of Lynn
by Walter Besant
The Revolt of Man
by Walter Besant
The Ivory Gate, a new edition
by Walter Besant
The art of fiction
by Walter Besant
The Master Craftsman
by Walter Besant
About the author
Born in Portsmouth on August 14, 1836, Walter Besant became one of the most widely read English novelists and social commentators of the late Victorian period. He studied at King’s College London and Christ’s College, Cambridge, and later taught at the Royal College of Mauritius before returning to England and turning fully to writing.
Early in his fiction career he collaborated with James Rice, and together they found a large audience. Besant later wrote many novels on his own, along with histories and studies of London. He is especially remembered for books that explored everyday life and hardship in the city, including the East End, and for writing that combined popular appeal with a strong sense of social purpose.
He was also active beyond the page: he supported authors’ rights, worked with the Palestine Exploration Fund, and was associated with the movement that led to the People’s Palace in East London. Knighted in 1895, he died in London on June 9, 1901.