Victorian London was smelly, and that is where Ms Picard begins her nonfiction summation of the city from 1840-1870 (Victorian London by Liza Picard, published 2005). From her detailed descriptions of the polluted Thames to the horrors of being a “maid of all work” to the entertainments of the great capital, the city of London in Victorian times becomes both delightfully and (more frequently) disgustingly palpable.
Ms Picard determined to rely solely on nonfiction sources for her descriptions, and there are plenty of first-hand accounts of the grime of the city to make the telling engaging and interesting. Her book, which is just about 300 pages, is nonetheless comprehensive in surveying a general way of life (both the necessaries and the wants) for the rich as well as the poor in those interesting years in the city. It convinced me, for one, that had I lived in 1840 in London, I’d have done all I could to get out of there (the English countryside or even America in 1840 seems, from my perspective, to have been much more pleasant, or at least a lot less malodorous).
If Victorian London has a fault, it is that it is written for those familiar with London of today, as Ms Picard is obviously affectionately close it. As an American reader of Victorian literature and someone who has never been to London or England at all, I found myself lost in references to landmarks, neighborhoods, and even money and wished for a general map of the city (not a historic one of the sewers, as was included), with the key neighborhoods she mentioned indicated, as well as an explanation of how pence, shillings, pounds, and guineas all add up. I cannot, however, fault Ms Picard for my ignorance, and this book, for what is was, was quite excellent.
It does sound interesting. I don’t think I could live in that time period- too stinky!
Chris, yes, the smelliness really stood out to me — Ms Picard did a great job of making it real in this nonfiction account!! yuck…
I LOVED this book. It was so informative but still readable at the same time.
Stephanie, yes, it’s great, isn’t it!
This sounds fascinating! I’m familiar with London but have little knowledge of old coinage, so I guess that’d provide extra research. Thanks for such a detailed review!
Charlie, this book does NOT talk about the hows of London money, but it talks about how much things cost. If your interested in Victorian society, it’s a fascinating book!
Victorian London is one of my favourite fictional settings but I don’t think I’ve ever read a nonfiction book on the subject. This sounds like something I would really enjoy.
Helen, I certainly did! I liked how she only referred to nonfiction sources, and yet it really does help in my reading of fiction from the era.
My misspent Anglophile youth gave me lots of time to contemplate old British currency. If I recall correctly, it was twelve pence to a shilling, twenty shillings to a pound, and twenty-one shillings to a guinea. A crown is five shillings, so half-a-crown is two and a half shillings.
I want to read this–I have heard wonderful things about Picard’s histories. 🙂
Jenny, see something saying that in this book would have been incredibly helpful since I had to go look it up somewhere and kept forgetting how many pence and shillings and pounds all were. I thought it was a 16 base, like pounds and ounces. So confusing!
This sounds like fun!
I want to read this at some point and time. I seem to recall seeing it mentioned elsewhere, but the library didn’t have it.