Preview
  • Unmentionable

  • The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners
  • By: Therese Oneill
  • Narrated by: Betsy Foldes Meiman
  • Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (855 ratings)

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Unmentionable

By: Therese Oneill
Narrated by: Betsy Foldes Meiman
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Publisher's summary

Have you ever wished you could live in an earlier, more romantic era?

Ladies, welcome to the 19th century, where there's arsenic in your face cream, a pot of cold pee sits under your bed, and all of your underwear is crotchless. (Why? Shush, dear. A lady doesn't question.)

Unmentionable is your hilarious, scandalously honest (yet never crass) guide to the secrets of Victorian womanhood, giving you detailed advice on:

  • What to wear
  • Where to relieve yourself
  • How to conceal your loathsome addiction to menstruating
  • What to expect on your wedding night
  • How to be the perfect Victorian wife
  • Why masturbating will kill you
  • And more

Irresistibly charming, laugh-out-loud funny, Unmentionable will inspire a whole new level of respect for Elizabeth Bennett, Scarlett O'Hara, Jane Eyre, and all of our great-great-grandmothers.

(And it just might leave you feeling ecstatically grateful to live in an age of pants, superabsorbency tampons, epidurals, antidepressants, and not dying of the syphilis your husband brought home.)

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2016 Therese Oneill (P)2016 Hachette Audio
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Critic reviews

"A down-and-dirty perusal of the realities of hygiene and womanhood in the Victorian era. The truth behind slimming corsets, virtuous nuptials, and strict morals is sometimes shocking, occasionally alarming, but always funny with Oneill's wry commentary." ( Library Journal)
"Flat-out hysterical (and occasionally alarming).... Read it and be very, very glad you're a woman of modern times." ( Good Housekeeping)
"Oneill uncovers the filthy, untidy, licentious conditions of 19th-century women's lives that novelists of the period often glossed over." ( Elle)

What listeners say about Unmentionable

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully funny

I adored this book. It is so witty, so well read, full of fun and shocking facts any fan of the Victorian era will love.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Hard to enjoy but very well researched

It's filled with sarcastic comments and bitterness making it, most of the time, very hard to enjoy. I thought it would be a 19th century guide, and the criticism would be delivered in a more subtle way, but no. The author cannot deliver one single piece of information without mocking it, which turns out to be very annoying.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely hilarious 😂

If you are looking for a deep dive, and nuanced account of womens lives during the Victorian era, this book is not it. If you are however looking for deep belly-laughs while also learning a bit more about the lives of your foremothers, then dive in. I could barely put this book down, the wording is poignant, personal and hilarious. I will forever more speak of my vagina as "the sacred vestibule".

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Starts out entertaining, grows tiresome

I was hoping for something far more historical in nature, and while I did find some interesting facts at the beginning of the book, the latter half became tiresome and hateful. Sarcasm is an excellent spice, but makes a poor main course.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not the best

Not the best book, in the first couple chapters it mentions too much about bowel movements. Not exactly the humor that I was looking for....

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Eww just be ready to think it

It I am referring to is all the Unmentionable information in the Victorian age that no one talked about during our favorite films and books.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Couldn't put it down

Highly fascinating read. really delves into the day to day of wealthy women. I would have preferred a bit more of the other classes' lives. There's also a bit of a patronizing affectation by the narrator and text which is awkward. It's very clearly a deliberate and effective literary tool, but still awkward to listen to.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and informative

A well-researched exploration of women's life and health in the Victorian era that definitively de-romanticizes the time period. Topics covered included dress, marriage, masturbation, and menstruation, among others. The witty quips from the author to the reader, however, did become somewhat annoying - at some point I was more interested in the subject than the author's snarky commentary. Overall, would recommend this funny and informative read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Funny and Informative

I now know more than I need or necessarily (in some cases) wanted to know about the private lives of Victorian Women! The narrators were engaging and the content was interesting! Good read!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

very funny and learned a lot

Very well written and researched. if you ever wanted to know what it would really be like to live as a Victorian woman, this is the book. The fact she acknowledges what you know in the present and how it differs from that time period is great, and done in a humorous tone. I love this author.

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