Inventor of the English political novel, Disraeli famously said, 'When I want to read a novel, I write one.' And he did – twelve of them from the age of 22 – about poverty, wealth, love across the social and political divide, religious doubt, discovery of the Orient, and the politics of 'Tory democracy' – his other career stream.
Twelve volumes, a complete set: 'Sybil' (or 'The Two Nations') – perhaps the most important Victorian condition-of-England novel of its time, 'Vivian Grey', 'The Young Duke', 'Popanilla and Other Tales', 'Contarini Fleming', Alroy', 'Henrietta Temple', 'Venetia', 'Coningsby', 'Tancred', 'Lothair', and 'Endymion' – his last novel, published in 1880.
Egocentricity aside, the author should also be remembered for observing, 'We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end'.
