By the time you read this, I will be sleeping off jet lag and ordering room service in a hotel in Vancouver, BC. Last week I posted about my favourite things about London, but one thing I didn't talk about was how odd the city is. There are so many weird and wonderful stories in …
This book is really beautifully bound if you get the hard cover edition. It's soft blue, with embossed gold flowers on the cover, and a swathed Victorian lady pictured in the centre. Perhaps it's slightly beside the point, but I do love a the pleasure of reading a beautifully bound volume. Kate Summerscale once again …
Continue reading Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace: The Private Diary Of A Victorian Lady by Kate Summerscale
Penned by the author of the bestselling The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, this book is the story of another Victorian crime which was notorious in it's time, The Plaistow Tragedy of 1895. Two boys, 12 and 13 years old, told neighbors and friends that their mother had gone to Liverpool and proceeded to attend cricket …
Continue reading The Wicked Boy: An Infamous Murder in Victorian London by Kate Summerscale
The word Bedlam became part of common usage as a slang word for chaos, anarchy and mess, but was originally a well known hospital for those suffering from mental illness. It was established in 1247 and existed at different sites til the 1930's. It's history is the history of the treatment for people who were …
Continue reading Bedlam: London And Its Mad by Catharine Arnold
In the heart of London's historic East End, where the streets are still cobbled, and Jack The Ripper walking tours wander the night, one of London's most eccentric museum experiences is hidden behind the doors of 18 Folgate Street. There is no sign outside to tell you what's within, so you could mistakenly walk past …
Continue reading London’s Silent Museum, 18 Folgate Street: Dennis Severs House
I haven't done a post about London in while, and I love sharing my adventures in the city with you, and places that I love. This time, I went to St Paul's Cathedral, which is a beautiful, peaceful place. Oddly enough, even though I've been in London for 8 years, I hadn't actually gone inside …
A more fun book this week than usual, a Victorian mystery/thriller about a girl who has inherited a criminal empire from her grandmother and must learn how to use her new power wisely. But as she is coming into her own, her long lost brother asks her to shelter a child, and she soon finds …
Continue reading Kitty Peck & The Child Of Ill Fortune by Kate Griffin
Although it's well written, capturing the mood and language of it's era, this book failed to really grab me. It follows the lives of a brother and sister, James and Charlotte, who have no one in the world except each other, until time and social circumstances pull them apart. But when something supernatural happens that …
Ackroyd is one of those writers who is passionate and knowledgable without ever being dull. Having read his biography of London years ago, I was a fan, and after completing the last few books by Dickens last year that I hadn't already read, I thought it was time to read a biography, and was delighted …
I grew up on the books of Charles Dickens. I cried when Dora Spenlow died, and was shocked by Miss Havisham in her crumbling wedding dress and her ward Estella. Dickens created such memorable characters and his plots have always kept me on the edge of my seat or glued to the fireside. I guess …
Continue reading 48 Doughty Street, the house where Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist.
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