How to be a Victorian - by Ruth Goldman -
by -alex-
Ever wondered how to wear a corset while you're swimming? Or maybe you've found yourself pondering how to groom your luscious Victorian beard, or how to tend your garden while wearing an enormous hoop skirt and crinoline. If so, How to be a Victorian has answers for you. Author Ruth Goldman offers all kinds of fascinating details, much of it drawn from her own personal experience living in, wearing, and working with the materials, clothes, and structures Victorians encountered in their daily lives. Goldman also draws from a wide array of historical sources and gives us an interesting and deeply moving picture of what it was really like living in the era, often drawn from the personal accounts of those who witnessed the excitements of the age of invention, and those who lived through the truly brutal realities of Victorian poverty.
The sheer array of subjects Goodman covers is impressive, and she knows how to mix the entertaining with the serious, and mixes the joyous in with sad truths. It's maybe the least likely page-turner you'll ever encounter, but it's a page-turner nonetheless. You'll find How to be a Victorian in our adult non-fiction section.
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