Customer Reviews

Victorian House

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Although the fifty page intro was a bit sluggish, it fortunately did not represent the rest of the book. Flanders devotes a chapter to each room in the stereotypical Victorian house, plus one for The Street. Her research gives new meaning to the word "depth". She has mined non fiction, letters, fiction,and just about anything that could possibly add insight to life in that very rigid time. The result is a wealth of analysis, as well as wonderful trivia (People did not want newfangled toilets in their bathrooms because bathrooms were clean!). From the weight of women's clothing (37 pounds), to the ways households detected adulteration in their food, and the number of mail deliveries per day (10-12), The Victorian House is a treasure trove of information. The three sections of colour plates add visual evidence to Flanders' text, and the whole thing is remarkably focused trip through this world.

I have no reservations about recommending this book.