Henry Esmond is a historical novel set in early 18th-century England, following the life of Henry Esmond, a loyal, honorable man entangled in the political and domestic intrigues of an aristocratic family. Blending romance, wit, and historical detail, it explores themes of love, legitimacy, and loyalty amid the turbulent reigns of the first two Hanoverian kings.

The English Humourists and The Four Georges are companion nonfiction works: the former offers critical portraits of 18th-century satirists like Swift and Fielding, while the latter examines the manners, morals, and monarchs of Georgian England with Thackeray's trademark irony and social insight.