How The Victorians Live by Shona Parker like most books covering the subject of all those who came before and how they lived I found this one was mainly based on poverty although they did cover how Victorians communicated what they wore and there was even a chapter on Charles dickens and his fathers stay in Detor‘s prison. She also put an information that in my opinion wasn’t true like the fact that boys got an education and if you were a girl then you did it well her exact words if you were a girl forget it but no don’t forget it because mini influential women started girls schools not to mention some parents educated the daughter on how to read and granite not a lot but I think when telling other people you should tell it all in detail and not caused people to think one thing when something else is the truth. I mean the author even discusses The changing styles of riding outfits but couldn’t put in that some girls did get an education. I found a lot of this book was told to you as opposed to engaging you in the story being told and Although I read the whole thing from how they cooked to what they wore to how they communicated ET see it just wasn’t my favorite book on the subject. I’m sure lots of people will love this book I only found it OK.#PenAndSwordPress,#NetGalley, #ShonaParker, #HowTheVictoriansLived,

As soon a I seen the cover for this book I knew I needed it! It did not disappoint!

“The Victorian era; a steady, relentless building of the modern world”.

Such a delight to read, very interesting and another reason why I love reading about the Victorian era :)

A must read for history and Victorian readers.

We learn about Victorian life from how the country was run, Victorian parliament, marriage, health, home, schools, and so much more.

“Men and women were expected to get married but if a man never married it wasn’t the end of the world”. (Rolls eyes!) I actually don’t know why I love this era so much when you have statements like this! Hence why I’m lucky I wasn’t born back then.

The only small issue I had was I wish there had been more pictures from this era to view.

How the Victorians Lived by Shona Parker is a highly fascinating and informative book about life in Victorian England from Christianity to Charles Dickens' experiences to classes to gender roles. But Parker goes much beyond that and writes in detail about education (25% of children went and often had to do lessons twice to accommodate everyone), the definition of "gentleman", buildings and shortcuts which led to damp and sagging, the "Blue Stocking Society", the usefulness of hedgehogs and slow worms, dame and rugged schools, debtor's prison and workhouses, laws regarding the poor, sewage/night soil collecting issues, implementation of the penny post, eating at "ordinaries", displaying dead insects, two-minute amputations and fingerprinting.

The book highlights the dreadful disparity between low, middle and upper classes and hopelessness of the poor. I've read countless books on the subject and am always grateful to learn more about this era. The influence of Queen Victoria was profound and impactful and truly changed the course of history. As a rabid Dickens fan, I'm always awed by his knowledge, compassion and reform. Thank goodness for his vivid and thoughtful accounts! We have much to learn from his timeless wisdom.

If you are intrigued by Victorian life, do not miss this book, chock full of riveting details on every page. It prompted me to do further digging into specifics.

My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this engrossing book.

How the Victorians Lived helps the reader to imagine how was it to live in Victorian times. It's an interesting book with plenty of details that help a person to immerse themselves in those times. All the photos from the book are great help to imagine those times.

A terrific insight into the era. The author has cleverly balanced detailed research with an engaging writing style to create this very easy to read book. It covers an amazing range of topics and touches on well known literature, characters and events of the time. I loved it. It finished sort of abruptly, though, giving me hope that perhaps there is another volume to come,

A fun look into Victorian life and times! The book was interesting and engaging , and just a good easy read.

I have always been interested in the lives of the Victorians and this book showed me so much information about the era in a large variety of topics and locations.

If you've seen my other review, you'll know that I am absolutely singing the praises of this publishing group, and of this author! This book was a delightful trip through time, bursting at the seams with facts and stories. I've not stopped talking about this book since I finished reading it, so much so that even my friends are clamoring to pick up a copy. I think anyone with interest in this topic will have a wonderful time reading through this, and I commend the author for the depth of research that shines through.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=3 | 😘=2 | 🤬=1 | ⚔️=3 | 14+

summary: a bunch of info on the Victorian era—fashion, education, crime, food, et cetera et cetera

thoughts: this is so weird. it’s like an extended Wikipedia article on everything (EVERYTHING) Victorian, except there’s a million misspellings and grammar issues and punctuation nonsense—enough that I feel it necessary to point them out, even though it is an ARC. I just expected something remotely focused on a specific area and it wasn’t at all?? but it’s still interesting content, however sloppily and briefly delivered.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I read a lot of history books, and i loved that this one had a different format than other ones ive read! The "chapters" were easy to read based on the fact that they were titled based on different sections of the book/different topics.

I found this book to be easy to read, unlike some other history books that i find i get lost in.

5 stars for me!