Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2014
464 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
Ruth Goodman believes in getting her hands dirty. Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Victorian conditions, Goodman serves as our bustling and fanciful guide to nineteenth-century life. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of the most perennially fascinating era of British history. From waking up to the rapping of a "knocker-upper man" on the window pane to lacing into a corset after a round of calisthenics, from slipping opium to the little ones to finally retiring to the bedroom for the ideal combination of "love, consideration, control and pleasure," the weird, wonderful, and somewhat gruesome intricacies of Victorian life are vividly rendered here. How to Be a Victorian is an enchanting manual for the insatiably curious. 131 illustrations, 8 pages of color
"Starred Review. Goodman's impeccably researched account will raise readers' eyebrows with her adventures… [Her] charming guide ... succeeds in presenting 'a more intimate, personal and physical sort of history.'" - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Goodman skillfully creates a portrait of daily Victorian life with accessible, compelling, and deeply sensory prose… Compulsively readable." - Library Journal
"A lively, expert resource for historical minutiae." - Kirkus
"Exuberant, absorbing." - A. N. Wilson
"A triumph." - Judith Flanders
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ruth Goodman is a historian of British social and domestic life. She has advised the Royal Shakespeare Company's Globe Theatre and presented a number of BBC television series, including Victorian Farm. She lives in England.
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