Events Charles Dickens writes Bleak House, the first English novel to feature a detective. New Books An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street - Sheridan Le Fanu Bartleby, the Scrivener - Herman Melville Bleak House - Charles Dickens Clotelle - William Wells Brown The Countess de Charny - Alexandre Dumas, père Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell Ruth - Elizabeth Gaskell Digby Grand - George J. Whyte-Melville Helen and Arthur - Caroline Lee Hentz Hypatia - Charles Kingsley Life in the Clearings - Susanna Moodie Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour - Robert Smith Surtees Peg Woffington - Charles Reade Villette - Charlotte Bronte Births April 23 - Thomas Nelson Page, novelist (+ 1922) May 14 - Hall Caine, author (+ 1931) Deaths Awards