Victorian London: The Tale of a City 1840-1870

I've been reading about the Victorians for a number of years. I tend to consume subjects, reading book and book, until I've satisfied my curiosity. Picard's Victorian London is the best written of them all and answered my most pressing questions concerning the Victorians. Her order is logical and her descriptions memorable. I had previously read a lot of descriptions of the Crystal Pavilion but only Picard's book walked me through the exhibition. The book also helped me realize I no longer wish for a time machine to transport me back to a simpler time. I think the Thames is just lovely now and it sounds as if it was rather nasty 150 years ago. I highly recommend the book.

I stumbled on Liza Picard's books quite by chance. After looking at the publishing date in some of the books it is apparent some of them have been around for several years. I am now recommending them to anyone and everyone and I am so glad I stumbled across the first one I read on a rainy afternoon, lonely and far away from home. I have now read them all. As soon as you start to read the book it becomes apparent that the author is passionate about her subject and wants the reader to enjoy the reading experience as much as she has in the writing of it. Liza Picard presents an enthralling picture of how life in London in the Victorian era was really lived. The Victorian era covers a large span in years and was a time when the world was changing more quickly than at any period in its history. A magical, mystical period in the history of a great City. Liza Picard was born in 1927. She read law and qualified as a barrister but did not practice. Quite where she gleaned all this information from I am not sure. That it was a labour of love is obvious to anyone who reads her books and I for one am grateful.

Liza Pickard is a barrister with a mighty pen. She has authored several books about London. These Include: Life in Elizabethan London: Restoration London; Dr. Johnson's London and now this fourth book in the series. Picard has done her homework: her reading of first person diaries and sources; periodical articles from the age. She includes excellent secondary sources giving the reader an accurate view of life when Victoria reigned the British Empire. The little Queen ruled for 64 years from 1837 to her death in 1901. Picard's chapters deal with such topics as: daily life for the poor, middle class and wealthy; the smells and the sights of London; male and female fashions; church life and the judicial system of Victorian England; Amusements from opera strolling in the park to riding a horse on Rotten Row. Household appliances and the chores of childrearing; Disease and Death traditions. Medicine made progress. the growth of the railroads and road construction; the Great Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851; Education expanding its opportunities through Ragged Schools and church schools. There are many other topics but you get the idea. The book is not thrilling but it is essential to a student of English history or literature who wants to sample life for the average Londoner living from 1840-1870.

This is an in depth look at how London became a modern city through the early Victorian transition. The insight starts with the key to any city the revision of the sewage system to eliminate the health problems and the odor that permeated much of the city from cesspits. As fascinating is the role of women, which differs depending on social class; unlike romance novels, the author furbishes a powerful look at the growing factory and municipal working class, those below the poverty line, and the servant class too. In these cases diaries and the writings of chroniclers like Jane Carlyle and Thomas Mayhew provide insight. This is a terrific look at three decades of transformation of one of the world's greatest cities. Readers who enjoyed the recently issued LONDON'S THAMES: THE RIVER THAT SHAPED A CITY AND ITS HISTORY as well as the author's previous captivating London historicals (see ELIZABETH'S LONDON and RESTORATION LONDON) will appreciate this deep look at the historical era of transformation of an urban center that never slept in the middle of the nineteenth century and still does not. Harriet Klausner