Walter Besant began publishing novels in the early 1870s, and when the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 ushered in a new century, his death that same year signaled the demise of his immense popularity as a preeminent Victorian novelist. In critical discussions of fiction Besant is remembered for "The Art of Fiction," the 1884 lecture that he published the same year as an essay and to which Henry James responded with his own theoretical paper having the same title. While scholars regard Besant as a writer of popular literature and elevate James to the status of a "serious" artist, Besant's enduring contribution to social reform in the 1880s and 1890s capitalizes on his recognition as a popular novelist. His stories and magazine contributions, like his studies of the London he loved, reflect his interests in improving the education, entertainment, and standard of living of the working classes; protecting laboring...