Victorian London Audiobook By Liza Picard cover art

Victorian London

The Life of a City, 1840-1870

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Victorian London

By: Liza Picard
Narrated by: Anton Lesser
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Like her previous books, this book is the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life, and the conditions in which most people lived, so often left out of history books.

This period of mid-Victorian London encompasses a huge range of subjects: Victoria's wedding and the place of the royals in popular esteem; how the very poor lived, the underworld, prostitution, crime, prisons and transportation; the public utilities, Bazalgette on sewers and road design, Chadwick on pollution and sanitation; private charities, Peabody, Burdett Coutts, and workhouses; new terraced housing and transport, trains, omnibuses, and the Underground; furniture and decor; families and the position of women; the prosperous middle classes and their new shops, e.g. Peter Jones, Harrods; entertaining and servants, food and drink; unlimited liability and bankruptcy; the rich, the marriage market, taxes and anti-semitism; the Empire, recruitment and press-gangs.

The period begins with the closing of the Fleet and Marshalsea prisons and ends with the first (steam-operated) Underground trains and the first Gilbert & Sullivan. All the splendours and horrors of Victorian life will be vividly recalled.

©2005 Liza Picard (P)2005 Orion Publishing Group Ltd. 19th Century Europe Great Britain Ireland Modern England

Critic reviews

"Reading her book is like gazing at one of those energetic, crowded canvanses by the Victorian painter William Powell Frith." (Evening Standard)
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This book had been on my “to read” shelf for almost 7 years! It was worth the wait.

Very interesting and informative.

Very interesting!

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I quite enjoyed listening to the book because I am fascinated by Victorian history but the chapter structures were very loose - it often wasn’t obvious why the author had switched from one fact or story or another. One set of stories was clearly about education but, they appeared in a chapter with things that are only loosely related. The author also quoted things like how much it cost to rent an umbrella - but not when in the 30 year period the book covers. So it’s entertaining in that record but not useful as a reference. Still there is a lot of good information for my goals, researching a book about Victorian England and perhaps the sources are listed in the digital book? For an even better books about Victorian England, check out the works of a Judith Flanders.

A series of interesting facts and stories but somewhat disorganised

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The book itself is absolutely wonderful however, the abridgement has removed copious amounts of information and reduced this to a brief collection of ephemera. Do Liza Piard a favor and buy a physical copy to enjoy her wry asides and superb research, but for an audiobook look elsewhere unless you want a bare bones account of Victorian trivia. A real shame because the narration was excellent!

Great book, terrible abridgement

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This book is a whole series of tidbits about life in Victorian London and, in that regard, totally delivers on the promise of its title. But beyond that, there isn’t much depth in terms of scholarship or analysis. It’s entertaining, though, and Anton Lesser is enjoyable as a narrator.

Entertaining but not particularly insightful

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This title was an accidental discovery: I found it while searching for something narrated by Anton Lesser. What a nice surprise to find the book is not only narrated beautifully, but well written, fascinating, and highly entertaining!

If you enjoy the minutiae of history, this is great stuff. Go ahead and double that if you're already familiar with London. Ms Picard brings the city to life in truly unforgettable detail. I've studied a lot of English history, but I've neglected the Victorian era in favor of other periods. This book reminded me how much reading I've yet to do. That's a real treat with this kind of history: it leads you onward to still more discoveries.

I know this is a sign of getting old, but I find myself more and more unable to deal with people whinging and moaning about absolutely nothing. I'd like to put every snowflake (and helicopter parent and anyone else lacking what used to be known as a backbone) into a room with this book and let them listen until they could consider their blessings.

I enjoyed it so much I picked up the other three titles offered by Ms Picard. If they are as good as this, I'll be in for a triple treat. I recommend it without hesitation.

Unforgettable journey into the past

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Excellent book, but it is sadly abridged. Anton Lesser is a wonderful narrator, however. Tentative recommendation despite the abridgment.

Good but abridged

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Author Liza Picard is great but why can't we get the whole of her book?

Why abridged?

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