本书是《美国通俗小说菁华》的姊妹篇，其编撰目的同《美国通俗小说菁华》一样，旨在为我国大专院校英语及相关专业的学生以及社会上广大英语文学爱好者搭起一座学习、欣赏英国通俗文学的桥梁。它将在我国国内首次展示英国各个历史时期的通俗文学发展的概貌，帮助广大读者在轻松、愉悦的阅读过程中，熟悉、掌握英国最贴近社会生活的语言，从而快速地提高英语运用能力。全书约300万字符，共分三卷，本册为18世纪和19世纪卷，汇集了该时期脍炙人口的英国通俗小说精华30篇，涉及到丑闻小说、哥特式小说、科学恐怖小说、历史浪漫小说、女性言情小说、感官小说、古典式侦探小说、科学推测小说、魔法幻想小说、灵异小说等10个主要通俗小说类型和30个重要作家。在编写体例上，突出实用性和系统性，每一章节之前均有类型介绍和作家介绍，正文则依据难易程度，加有数量不等的注释，以帮助理解。书末附有参考书目，供进一步学习、研究之用。

Chapter 1 Scandal Fiction

1. Overview

2. Aphra Behn: Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave

3. Mary Delarivier Manley: New Atalantis

4. Eliza Haywood. The Fortunate Foundlings

Chapter 2 Gothic Fiction

1. Overview

2. Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto

3. Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho

4. Matthew Gregory Lewis: The Monk

Chapter 3 Scientific Horror Fiction

1. Overview

2. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: Frankenstein, or The Modern

  Prometheus

3. Jane Webb Loudon: The Mummy! Or a Tale of the Twenty-

  Second Century

Chapter 4 Historical Romance Fiction

1. Overview

2. G. P. R. James: The King's Highway

3. Edward Bulwer-Lytton.- The Last Days of Pompeii

4. William Harrison Ainsworth: Windsor Castle

Chapter 5 Women's Fiction

1. Overview

2. Charlotte Mary Yonge: The Heir of Redclyffe

3. Rhoda Broughton: Cometh Up As a Flower

4. Florence Marryat: Love's Conflict

Chapter 6 Sensation Fiction

1. Overview

2. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White

3. Ellen Wood. East Lynne , or, The Earl's Daughter

4. Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Lady Audley's Secret

Chapter 7 Classic Detective Fiction

1. Overview

2. Fergus Wright Hume.. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

3. Arthur Conan Doyle.. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

4. Arthur George Morrison. Martin Hewitt , Investigator

5. Charles Grant Allen. An African Millionaire

Chapter 8 Speculative Science Fiction

1. Overview

2. George Tomkyns Chesney. The Battle of Dorking 

3. William Henry Hudson, A Crystal Age

4. George Chetwynd Griffith. The Angel of the Revolution

Chapter 9 Magic Fantasy Fiction

1. Overview

2. George MacDonald. At the Back of the North Wind

3. Henry Rider Haggard. She 

4. William Morris: The Wood Beyond the World

Chapter 10 Ghost Fiction

1. Overview

2. William Gilbert.. The Last Lords of Gardonal

3. Arthur Machen. The Great God Pan

4. Clemenee Housman, The Were- Wolf

Select Bibliography