The C**k and Anchor

First published in 1845, Le Fanu''s The C**k and Anchor is one of the most interesting historical novels written in Ireland in the nineteenth century. It is many things at once: a record of Victorian Irish mores, a story of love struggling against class prejudice, a study of crime and punishment, and an engaging thriller. But first and foremost it is a full-bodied, energetic portrait of mid-nineteenth-century Dublin. (Goodreads)