This course surveys a range of sensational novels often forgotten by literary history. Students will examine gothic fiction, anti-slavery fiction, crime fiction, and “sensation fiction” ripped from the tabloid headlines. The well-known canon of British fiction underestimates nineteenth-century writers’ engagement with social issues, not only locally but in a transatlantic frame—and it leaves out a host of great writing. We focus on three authors: Mary Shelley, the well-known writer of Frankenstein; Frances Trollope, a writer who moved between gothic, anti-slavery, crime, and “social problem” fiction; and Wilkie Collins, a master of “sensation” and detective fiction. We also read short works by selected francophone writers crucial to antislavery fiction in this period, including Victor Séjour, the earliest known African American fiction writer.