Benjamin Disraeli (who would become the Prime Minister of England in 1874) wrote "Sibyl" as a young adult in 1845. The book is alternately titled "The Two Nations" because it bespeaks a nation divided between the poor and the affluent and it is the second novel of the Young England Trilogy, which began with "Coningsby" in 1844, and finished with "Tancred" in 1847.

The novel depicts a group of wealthy Englishmen, amusing themselves by eating and drinking at different restaurants and attending horse races.

"Sybil" is considered one of the most prominent political novels of the mid-nineteenth century.