Love in the Time of Victoria: Sexuality and Desire Among Working-Class Men and Women in 19Th-Century London

Rating:
Summary: Interesting look at the other side of the coin
Review: Much has been said of the strumpets of yor, of wenches and bawdy house queens of the score...(from The Wicker Man, the Landlord's Daughter).

Actually, much more have been written about the uptight, repressed era of Victoria's ton, were passions simmered just under the surface. This book goes into an area not mined, the views of sexuality and desire in the working-class men and women of 19th Century London. The Writer relied on first hand documents uncovered in the now-closed Archives of a London foundling hospital, love letters and first-hand testimonies in court cases, to details the views on rape, flirtation and prostitution to which many women of the period in London were driven to survive, and the inevitability of being pregnant and alone in this grinding poverty.

The book contains cynicism, cruelty, yet is balanced with tenderness, dignity and generosity giving us a fascinating look behind the notions of Victoria's reign.

A MUST for anyone interested in the period. Especially recommended for writers of Victorian romance.