The article describes the image of the Crimean War (1853-1856) in the English literature of the 19-20th centuries, analyzing a number of components of this image in different literary genres. The author compares the literary image of the Crimean War with that of the Indian Rebellion of 1857-1859 and explains why Crimean war fiction is scanty, and why the first significant novel on the issue only appeared as late as 1998.