Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I am pleased to announce the tenth year of Victober, where we spend the month celebrating Victorian literature (works written by British and Irish writers during the reign of Queen Victorian from 1837 to 1901)—and I'm also thrilled to be one of this year’s ten hosts! #Victober2025 #VictoberAnnouncement
HOSTS
Katie @katiejlumsden
youtu.be/_RWZlJaUU-E
Kate @katehowereads
youtu.be/HmcjpgJwayE?si=Q5Mi6IEhj1mX6EFQ
Marissa @BlatantlyBookish
youtu.be/ztsTdAcdmcw
Ros @scallydandlingaboutthebooks
youtu.be/kvMoJGm0YAs?si=uLw1fUXF08JorvOq
Elizabeth @elizabethaliteraryprincess
youtu.be/Egpr2t6NQIQ
Hannah @HannahsBooks
youtu.be/ZrN1y5VK3Z4
Jess @dickens-and-docks
youtu.be/qMttOTjhLVk?si=nZbH1z_bv5H5Cd0K
(Also at instagram.com/dickens.and.docks/)
Milena @MilenaReads
youtu.be/ExhyaqrJff0?si=qmRTe2je1Crb_qlV
Roy @royreadsanything
youtu.be/W7Knn7Owbec?si=_r8Vwh9wXsAJftTd
Catherine @takingteawithcatherine
youtu.be/cRWSGhLwkFk?si=hA2mA8vqC8MEKcIE
GROUP READ
Hester, Margaret Oliphant
bookshop.org/a/115310/9780199555499
2 chapters a day, 1st to 22nd October (with 3 chapters on the final day)
CHALLENGES
1. Kate’s challenge: Read a Victorian book where friendship is featured.
2. Katie’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature that is not a novel (i.e. a play, short story, poem or work of non-fiction).
3. Marissa’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature where a character experiences a change in social status (social mobility, rags to riches, fallen women, etc.)
4. Ros’s challenge: Empire spotting: see how many times you can spot signs of the Empire in your Victober reading.
5. Elizabeth’s challenge: Read a work by an underrated Victorian woman writer (meaning not the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, or Christina Rossetti).
6. Hannah’s challenge: Read a Victorian work that discusses education.
7. Jess’s challenge: Step back in time—read a Victorian work set in a different era.
youtu.be/qMttOTjhLVk?si=dsuMLbtglHGBO0X4
8. Milena’s challenge: Spin a (digital) colourwheel and pick a Victorian book with a cover that primarily features that colour. You can pick any edition.
9. Roy’s challenge: Read a Victorian work of fantasy.
10. Catherine’s challenge: Read a Victorian book that has a connection to Jane Austen.
CHALLENGE ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS
With ten challenges this year, we appreciate that not everyone is going to do all ten. How many will you meet?
1–3 challenges = Mr. Micawber level
4–6 challenges = Jane Eyre level
7–9 challenges = Sherlock Holmes level
10 challenges = Dracula level (because you might need to be a magical being who doesn’t need sleep in order to complete all ten challenges!)
VICTOBINGO CARD
Print from here:
drive.google.com/file/d/168mYn9yPWY1WbAvZZqAoC6Ny3IjCm_O8/view
Join us on DISCORD
for an exciting discussion group:
discord.com/invite/CzmtyGAnwJ
SOME VICTORIAN WORKS DISCUSSING EDUCATION:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Anne Bronte by Agnes Grey
Bread upon the Waters: A Governess's Life by Dinah Mulock Craik
Stories of the Governess by Anna Maria Hall
The Little Governess by Irene Clifton
East Lynne by Ellen Wood
The Daily Governess; or, Self-Dependence by Harriet Maria Gordon Smythies
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Household Education by Harriet Martineau
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
The Alice in Wonderland books by Lewis Carroll
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The History of Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray
Dr. Wortle’s School by Anthony Trollope
Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes
“The Three Students” by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel by George Meredith
The Student: A Series of Papers by Edward Bulwer Lytton
A Fellow of Trinity by Alan St Aubyn
A Sweet Girl Graduate by LT Meade
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Middlemarch by George Eliot
*Any Victorian bildungsroman—including:
Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Music: Reaper’s Song by Robert Schumann, courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Free trial here: share.epidemicsound.com/3jj9c7
READ MY BOOK:
Unspeakable amzn.to/47HdMh7
AFFILIATE LINKS:
Harney & Sons Fine Teas: harney.com/HANNAHSBOOKS
Smith Teas ($10 off): rwrd.io/1eso3lt?s
Bookshop.org: bookshop.org/shop/HannahsBooks
SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL:
Patreon: patreon.com/hannahsbooks
Kofi tip jar: ko-fi.com/hannahsbooks
Use the Super Thanks button right under each YouTube video
CONTACT ME:
Voxer: hannahsbooks
6383
I am pleased to announce the tenth year of Victober, where we spend the month celebrating Victorian literature (works written by British and Irish writers during the reign of Queen Victorian from 1837 to 1901)—and I'm also thrilled to be one of this year’s ten hosts! #Victober2025 #VictoberAnnouncement
HOSTS
Katie @katiejlumsden
youtu.be/_RWZlJaUU-E
Kate @katehowereads
youtu.be/HmcjpgJwayE?si=Q5Mi6IEhj1mX6EFQ
Marissa @BlatantlyBookish
youtu.be/ztsTdAcdmcw
Ros @scallydandlingaboutthebooks
youtu.be/kvMoJGm0YAs?si=uLw1fUXF08JorvOq
Elizabeth @elizabethaliteraryprincess
youtu.be/Egpr2t6NQIQ
Hannah @HannahsBooks
youtu.be/ZrN1y5VK3Z4
Jess @dickens-and-docks
youtu.be/qMttOTjhLVk?si=nZbH1z_bv5H5Cd0K
(Also at instagram.com/dickens.and.docks/)
Milena @MilenaReads
youtu.be/ExhyaqrJff0?si=qmRTe2je1Crb_qlV
Roy @royreadsanything
youtu.be/W7Knn7Owbec?si=_r8Vwh9wXsAJftTd
Catherine @takingteawithcatherine
youtu.be/cRWSGhLwkFk?si=hA2mA8vqC8MEKcIE
GROUP READ
Hester, Margaret Oliphant
bookshop.org/a/115310/9780199555499
2 chapters a day, 1st to 22nd October (with 3 chapters on the final day)
CHALLENGES
1. Kate’s challenge: Read a Victorian book where friendship is featured.
2. Katie’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature that is not a novel (i.e. a play, short story, poem or work of non-fiction).
3. Marissa’s challenge: Read a work of Victorian literature where a character experiences a change in social status (social mobility, rags to riches, fallen women, etc.)
4. Ros’s challenge: Empire spotting: see how many times you can spot signs of the Empire in your Victober reading.
5. Elizabeth’s challenge: Read a work by an underrated Victorian woman writer (meaning not the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, or Christina Rossetti).
6. Hannah’s challenge: Read a Victorian work that discusses education.
7. Jess’s challenge: Step back in time—read a Victorian work set in a different era.
youtu.be/qMttOTjhLVk?si=dsuMLbtglHGBO0X4
8. Milena’s challenge: Spin a (digital) colourwheel and pick a Victorian book with a cover that primarily features that colour. You can pick any edition.
9. Roy’s challenge: Read a Victorian work of fantasy.
10. Catherine’s challenge: Read a Victorian book that has a connection to Jane Austen.
CHALLENGE ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS
With ten challenges this year, we appreciate that not everyone is going to do all ten. How many will you meet?
1–3 challenges = Mr. Micawber level
4–6 challenges = Jane Eyre level
7–9 challenges = Sherlock Holmes level
10 challenges = Dracula level (because you might need to be a magical being who doesn’t need sleep in order to complete all ten challenges!)
VICTOBINGO CARD
Print from here:
drive.google.com/file/d/168mYn9yPWY1WbAvZZqAoC6Ny3IjCm_O8/view
Join us on DISCORD
for an exciting discussion group:
discord.com/invite/CzmtyGAnwJ
SOME VICTORIAN WORKS DISCUSSING EDUCATION:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Anne Bronte by Agnes Grey
Bread upon the Waters: A Governess's Life by Dinah Mulock Craik
Stories of the Governess by Anna Maria Hall
The Little Governess by Irene Clifton
East Lynne by Ellen Wood
The Daily Governess; or, Self-Dependence by Harriet Maria Gordon Smythies
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Household Education by Harriet Martineau
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
The Alice in Wonderland books by Lewis Carroll
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The History of Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray
Dr. Wortle’s School by Anthony Trollope
Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes
“The Three Students” by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel by George Meredith
The Student: A Series of Papers by Edward Bulwer Lytton
A Fellow of Trinity by Alan St Aubyn
A Sweet Girl Graduate by LT Meade
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Middlemarch by George Eliot
*Any Victorian bildungsroman—including:
Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Music: Reaper’s Song by Robert Schumann, courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Free trial here: share.epidemicsound.com/3jj9c7
READ MY BOOK:
Unspeakable amzn.to/47HdMh7
AFFILIATE LINKS:
Harney & Sons Fine Teas: harney.com/HANNAHSBOOKS
Smith Teas ($10 off): rwrd.io/1eso3lt?s
Bookshop.org: bookshop.org/shop/HannahsBooks
SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL:
Patreon: patreon.com/hannahsbooks
Kofi tip jar: ko-fi.com/hannahsbooks
Use the Super Thanks button right under each YouTube video
CONTACT ME:
Voxer: hannahsbooks
6383
