Liza Picard, Victorian London: The Tale of a City, 1840-1870 Review

Overall Rating

Victorian London: The Tale of a City, 1840-1870
Liza Picard
St. Martin's, Mar 2006, $29.95
ISBN: 0312325673

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.