Victorian London

The Life of a City, 1840-1870

By: Liza Picard

Narrated by: Anton Lesser

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Critic reviews

"Reading her book is like gazing at one of those energetic, crowded canvanses by the Victorian painter William Powell Frith." (Evening Standard)

Very interesting!

This book had been on my “to read” shelf for almost 7 years! It was worth the wait.

Very interesting and informative.

Unforgettable journey into the past

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.

Good but abridged

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

Great book, terrible abridgement

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!

Entertaining but not particularly insightful

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.

Why abridged?

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