Fiction Story Briefs

Great novels are often connected-to (or based-on) real-life events. It's fun to search-for (and uncover) those connections. This Collection features fictional stories with real-life tie-ins.

Illustration, by George Alfred Williams, depicting Tiny Tim with his father, Bob Cratchit, from the 1905 edition of "A Christmas Carol."

Pretending to be tough gang members, Tom Sawyer and his pals form a "Band of Robbers."

John Boyne's novel - "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" - is now a major motion picture. This clip presents one of its trailer.

Around 1200 AD, in todays Trondheim (Norway), trolls, or gnomes were thought to be mischievous.

Uppsala, Sweden's fourth-largest city, plays a significant role in Lisbeth Salander's life.

Thackeray's drawings, in his 1848 edition of Vanity Fair, tell us something about the way he views his characters (and Victorian society).

In The Girl Who Played with Fire, a murder occurs in the Vasastan District of Stockholm.

Vsterbotten is a county in northern Sweden, consisting of numerous municipalities. It plays a role in the writings of Stieg Larsson.

Vsterbotten, in summer - as this photo demonstrates - can be "as pretty as a postcard" (to quote Stieg Larsson, from "Dragon Tattoo").

Major differences in social standing existed between people during Victorian times. We call these distinctions ''classes.''

Soon after the opening lines of Dante’s Inferno, the narrator (Dante) is joined by someone who can lead him on his journey.  It’s Vir...

An epic is a story, usually in the form of a narrative poem, featuring a hero who prevails despite terrible odds.

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