Great Scandals of the Victorians is an interesting and layman accessible guide to some of the more salacious scandals which played out in Victorian England written and collected by Debbie Blake. Released 23rd May 2024 in the UK, and 30th July elsewhere by Pen & Sword it's 256 pages and will be available in hardcover formats.
I love the Victorian era in theory.
I love the literature, the music, the dress, the civilized aspects. In
short, I love the curated sanitised version provided in a modern BBC
costume drama and would have in actual fact decried the squalid and
desperately short lives of the actual reality of the time (and probably
been locked up and/or beaten to death for my troubles). This interesting and wide ranging collection of scandals which were recounted in the broadsheets (newspapers) of the time period range from plainly tragic to almost comedic in scale and effect. People then as now love to read about scandals which don't touch them directly.
The text is annotated and the chapter notes make for interesting further reading. There are numerous illustrations and facsimile documents scattered relevantly throughout which are illuminating.The extensive bibliography invites exploration and will provide useful avenues for further research.
Four and a half stars. It would make a good choice for public or home library acquisition, as well as being a very good resource for writers interested in background research for the period.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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