Today in Bookish and Literary History, January 21

 1818 On a Lock of Milton's Hair by Keats - UK

1879 A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen - Norway

The play is significant for the way it deals with the fate of a married woman, who at the time in Norway lacked reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated world, despite the fact that Ibsen denies it was his intent to write a feminist play. It aroused a great sensation at the time, and caused a "storm of outraged controversy" that went beyond the theatre to the world newspapers and society.

1901 The Climbers by Clyde Fitch - US

The Climbers: A Play in Four Acts by Clyde Fitch is a dramatic work that explores the themes of social climbing, greed, and ambition in the late 19th century American society. The play revolves around the lives of two families, the Hunters and the Climbers, who are both striving to climb the social ladder and gain acceptance into the elite circles of New York City.

1921 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (first novel) - UK

In this official and fully restored edition, Hercule Poirot solves his first case in the Agatha Christie novel that started it all, now featuring a “missing chapter” and exclusive content from the Queen of Mystery.

1929 Journey's End by Robert Sherriff - UK

Hailed by George Bernard Shaw as 'useful [corrective] to the romantic conception of war', R.C. Sherriff's Journey's End is an unflinching vision of life in the trenches towards the end of the First World War, published in Penguin Classics. Set in the First World War, Journey's End concerns a group of British officers on the front line and opens in a dugout in the trenches in France.

1939 American Way by George Kaufman and Moss Hart - US

1950 The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot - UK

“An authentic modern masterpiece” (New York Post)—this is T.S. Eliot’s verse play about the search for meaning, in which a mysterious psychiatrist is the catalyst for a shift in a couple’s relationship after appearing at a cocktail party.

2020 Agency by William Gibson - US

William Gibson has trained his eye on the future for decades, ever since coining the term “cyberspace” and then popularizing it in his classic speculative novel Neuromancer in the early 1980s. Cory Doctorow raved that The Peripheral is “spectacular, a piece of trenchant, far-future speculation that features all the eyeball kicks of Neuromancer.” Now Gibson is back with Agency—a science fiction thriller heavily influenced by our most current events.

2020 Abigail by Magda Szabó - Hungary

There is something of Jane Austen in this story of the deceptiveness of appearances; fans of J.K. Rowling are sure to enjoy Szabó’s picture of irreverent students, eccentric teachers, and boarding-school life. Above all, however, Abigail is a thrilling tale of suspense.

2020 The Seep by Chana Porter - US

A blend of searing social commentary and speculative fiction, Chana Porter’s fresh, pointed debut explores a strange new world in the wake of a benign alien invasion.

• A 2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalist

2020 Homie by Danez Smith - US

Homie is Danez Smith’s magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith’s close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare power and generosity, Smith acknowledges that in a country overrun by violence, xenophobia, and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and family―blood and chosen―arrives with just the right food and some redemption. Part friendship diary, part bright elegy, part war cry, Homie is the exuberant new book written for Danez and for Danez’s friends and for you and for yours.

• FINALIST FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR POETRY
• FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR POETRY

2020 The Baudelaire Fractal by Lisa Robertson - CAN

The debut novel by acclaimed poet Lisa Robertson, in which a poet realizes she's written the works of Baudelaire.

2024 The Silver Bride by Isolde Martyn - UK

An enthralling and thoroughly researched historical romance set in late medieval England! Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory, Diana Gabaldon, Joanna Hickson and Elizabeth Chadwick.

2025 Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros - UK

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there's no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it's impossible to know who to trust.

2025 The Wickedest by Caleb Femi - Nigerian/UK

An immersive epic taking place over one night at an underground London house party, conjured by a multi-hyphenate sensation.

• Winner of the Sky Arts Award for Poetry

2025 Ballerina by Patrick Modiano - FR

In deceptively weightless prose, deftly translated by Mark Polizzotti, Patrick Modiano interrogates the clash of current and vanished realities, the paradox of growing older, and the spectral persistence of love.

2025 We Do Not Part by Han Kang - South Korea

Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully brings to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering, it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable pain—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be.

• WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE
• NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
• FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION
• LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD,
• LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
• LONGLISTED FOR THE NBCC BARRIOS BOOK IN TRANSLATION PRIZE

2025 Something Rotten by Andrew Lipstein - US

In his provocative, crackling new novel, Andrew Lipstein spins a wicked web through the heart of Copenhagen. You’ll question everyone and everything―even the very nature of truth.