Quotes from book
The History of Henry Esmond

The History of Henry Esmond

The History of Henry Esmond is a historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published in 1852. The book tells the story of the early life of Henry Esmond, a colonel in the service of Queen Anne of England. A typical example of Victorian historical novels, Thackeray's work of historical fiction tells its tale against the backdrop of late 17th- and early 18th-century England – specifically, major events surrounding the English Restoration — and utilises characters both real and imagined. It weaves its central character into a number of events such as the Glorious Revolution, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Hamilton–Mohun Duel and the Hanoverian Succession.


William Makepeace Thackeray photo

“There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen to write.”

Bk. II, ch. 1.
The History of Henry Esmond (1852)
Source: The History of Henry Esmond, Esq.

William Makepeace Thackeray photo

“Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.”

Bk. I, ch. 7.
The History of Henry Esmond (1852)

William Makepeace Thackeray photo

Similar authors

William Makepeace Thackeray photo
William Makepeace Thackeray 69
novelist 1811–1863
Alphonse Karr photo
Alphonse Karr 3
French critic, journalist, and novelist
Emily Brontë photo
Emily Brontë 151
English novelist and poet
Louisa May Alcott photo
Louisa May Alcott 174
American novelist
George Sand photo
George Sand 38
French novelist and memoirist; pseudonym of Lucile Aurore D…
Jane Austen photo
Jane Austen 477
English novelist
Thomas Hardy photo
Thomas Hardy 171
English novelist and poet
Walter Scott photo
Walter Scott 151
Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet
Jules Verne photo
Jules Verne 44
French novelist, poet and playwright
George Eliot photo
George Eliot 300
English novelist, journalist and translator