Historical fiction book · Curated
Lust for Life
Irving Stone · historical fiction
The prologue finds Vincent van Gogh a Goupil clerk in London in the 1870s, before the ministry in the Borinage and the decision to paint. Irving Stone's 1934 novel is Victorian biographical historical fiction of the life that follows—The Hague, Paris with his brother Theo, Arles with Paul Gauguin, the asylum at Saint-Rémy, and Auvers in 1890.
Why read it: A widely searched biographical novel—the Stone title readers look up by name (the 1934 bestseller and the film), and a Van Gogh counterpart to The Agony and the Ecstasy already on the shelf.
About this historical novel
Lust for Life by Irving Stone is historical fiction set around 1873–1890 in the Victorian / Gilded Age period with key settings including London, the Borinage, The Hague, Paris. The prologue finds Vincent van Gogh a Goupil clerk in London in the 1870s, before the ministry in the Borinage and the decision to paint. Irving Stone's 1934 novel is Victorian biographical historical fiction of the life that follows—The Hague, Paris with his brother Theo, Arles with Paul Gauguin, the asylum at Saint-Rémy, and Auvers in 1890.
On HisFic we tag it under 4. Biographical fiction and 1. Literary historical fiction so you can pair it with similar story types. Recurring themes include Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh, painting, Paul Gauguin, and poverty. A widely searched biographical novel—the Stone title readers look up by name (the 1934 bestseller and the film), and a Van Gogh counterpart to The Agony and the Ecstasy already on the shelf.
Use HisFic’s free journey planner to stay in this era or subgenre, save titles to a want-to-read list in your browser, and open Amazon when you are ready to buy. HisFic is discovery-only—not a bookstore—so pages like this exist to help you choose the next historical novel with intent.
Plot summary
The prologue finds Vincent van Gogh a Goupil clerk in London in the 1870s, before the ministry in the Borinage and the decision to paint. Irving Stone's 1934 novel is Victorian biographical historical fiction of the life that follows—The Hague, Paris with his brother Theo, Arles with Paul Gauguin, the asylum at Saint-Rémy, and Auvers in 1890. A widely searched biographical novel—the Stone title readers look up by name (the 1934 bestseller and the film), and a Van Gogh counterpart to The Agony and the Ecstasy already on the shelf.
Subgenres
Eras
Browse this mix
More like this on HisFic
Curated titles that share era, story type, or themes.
- An Officer and a Spy · Robert Harris
Colonel Picquart unravels the Dreyfus Affair in this tense historical thriller (Walter Scott Prize 2014).
- Alias Grace · Margaret Atwood
A doctor probes the mind of Grace Marks, convicted in a notorious Canadian murder case.
- Samarkand · Amin Maalouf
In eleventh-century Persia a judge who might punish Omar Khayyam for his verses gives him a blank book instead, and the Rubaiyat crosses the Seljuk court, the vizier Nizam al-Mulk, and Hassan-i Sabbah’s fortress at Alamut. Amin Maalouf’s 1988 novel (English translation) is medieval biographical historical fiction of that manuscript, taken up again in the 1890s by an American who carries it toward the Titanic.
- Possession · A. S. Byatt
In the London Library, researcher Roland Michell finds unsigned drafts of a letter from the Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash, traces them to the poet Christabel LaMotte, and with Maud Bailey follows a correspondence from their secret affair that the academy has never seen. A. S. Byatt’s 1990 novel is Victorian time-slip historical fiction of that affair’s 1859 crisis, and of the late-1980s academics who cross London, Yorkshire, and Brittany to possess the proof.
- Fingersmith · Sarah Waters
In 1862 London, pickpocket Sue Trinder is planted as a maid in a lonely Thames-side mansion to help a gentleman swindle an heiress—then the con turns inside out. Sarah Waters’s Booker-shortlisted Victorian novel is literary historical fiction of thieves, asylums, and desire, with crime-plot machinery that still startles.
- Anna Karenina · Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina has a husband, a son, and St. Petersburg society—until a Moscow railway station and the officer Count Vronsky pull her into an affair the salons will not forgive; beside that ruin, landowner Konstantin Levin tries to make a marriage and a farm mean something. Tolstoy’s 1870s novel is Imperial Russian historical fiction of passion, class, and the question of how to live—the tragic counterpart to War and Peace already on the shelf.
Regions & places
Europe · Britain & Ireland
London · the Borinage · The Hague · Paris · Arles · Saint-Rémy · Auvers-sur-Oise
Themes
- Vincent van Gogh
- Theo van Gogh
- painting
- Paul Gauguin
- poverty
Tags
biographical · classic · bestseller