British Library, Day Fourteen

In case you're wondering, it is not even remotely a good idea to attempt reading a historical novel about the Eastern Schism on about four hours of sleep. One may drift off towards a state of extreme somnolence.

• Margaret S. Comrie, Cameron's Keep or the Course and the Crown (RTS, n.d.).  Evangelical novella.  The tile alludes to an allegorical painting of a man who loses the worldly race but wins the heavenly crown.  Young Bessie is trying to win a scholarship that will eventually enable her to finish school and attend Girton, but domestic duties (ill siblings, replacement mothering, etc.) get in the way.  In the end, she learns the importance of cheerful sacrifice to God's will (and the dangers of following one's own), and although she can't return to the school during the next term, she finds someone to study with.  BODY COUNT: One. 
• Catharine Shaw, At Last; Or, Cuthbert Wins (John F. Shaw, n.d.).  Another evangelical novel, this time with a strong temperance subtheme.  Our narrator, Mary, is learning how to engage in cheerful self-sacrifice to God's will (there's a pattern here), and is helped along the way by her newly-impoverished grandmother. Mary assists a working-class girl, Lizzie, and her mother.  More seriously, her cousin Cuthbert and his entire family, except for his father, has fallen prey to alcoholism; Cuthbert overcomes his temptations through conversion, and helps his mother to salvation (and sobriety) as well; Mary assists his sister Mary.  In the end, Cuthbert "wins" teacher Ada Arundel, who had turned him down originally because he was not truly Christian, while Mary marries Ada's saintly brother Arthur.  BODY COUNT: Zero.
• "Cyril" [Henry E. Dennehy], Alethea: At the Parting of the Ways, 2 vols. (Burns and Oates, [1896]).  Here we have the kind of novel that makes the reader think she should have become a basketball commentator instead of an English professor.  A Catholic historical novel about the Eastern Schism, with obvious cheerleading for the Catholic side of things.  Emperor Basil comes off much better than he probably should, while St. Photios does much worse.  When the author isn't repurposing historical documents at rather too much length, he gives us a not-very-interesting romance between the angelic Alethea and the equally angelic soldier Theophylact, plus some occasional attempts at comic relief.  The whole thing ends after Ignatius has been reinstated as Patriarch, but before Photios takes over again.  On occasion, the author notes that this is really an allegory for contemporary religious quarrels over science and pluralism.  BODY COUNT: Three.
• Lady Mary Elizabeth Herbert, A Life's Struggle, and Its Result (Catholic Truth Society, 1896).   Catholic conversion novel.  Ritualist clergyman Arthur Hall feels called to convert, and does so; alas, his wife Amy is displeased (as is his father-in-law).  The priesthood is right out, so Arthur flails around for a bit before becoming a tutor.  Meanwhile, in a plot twist that will make twenty-first century readers grit their teeth, he does not allow Amy any say in their daughter's religious upbringing, which further alienates her.  However, Amy eventually realizes that such independent thought is entirely "selfish" of her, and she converts to Catholicism, while Arthur's financial situation is alleviated by the bequest of another convert.  They live happily ever after.  BODY COUNT: One.