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Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum

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Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum

By: Kathryn Hughes
Narrated by: Jenny Funnell
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About this listen

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

A groundbreaking account of what it was like to live in a Victorian body from one of our best historians.

Why did the great philosophical novelist George Eliot feel so self-conscious that her right hand was larger than her left?

Exactly what made Darwin grow that iconic beard in 1862, a good five years after his contemporaries had all retired their razors?

Who knew Queen Victoria had a personal hygiene problem as a young woman and the crisis that followed led to a hurried commitment to marry Albert?

What did John Sell Cotman, a handsome drawing room operator who painted some of the most exquisite watercolours the world has ever seen, feel about marrying a woman whose big nose made smart people snigger?

How did a working-class child called Fanny Adams disintegrate into pieces in 1867 before being reassembled into a popular joke, one we still reference today, but would stop, appalled, if we knew its origins?

Kathryn Hughes follows a thickened index finger or deep baritone voice into the realms of social history, medical discourse, aesthetic practise and religious observance – its language is one of admiring glances, cruel sniggers, an implacably turned back. The result is an eye-opening, deeply intelligent, groundbreaking account that brings the Victorians back to life and helps us understand how they lived their lives.

©2017 Kathryn Hughes (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Great Britain England

Critic Reviews

"This is a wonderful book, so masterful and scholarly and wise, there will never need to be another. Hughes is an elegant writer, and a capable digger; no stone, however small or inaccessible, is left unturned." (Rachel Cooke, Observer)
"This is a brilliant biography, which tells the absorbing, strange and sad story with great aplomb. Kathryn Hughes has seen quite rightly, that one of the most important parts of the story is what happened after Isabella's death and, indeed, Sam's, and the life of Mrs Beeton is continued to the present day. It is so magical a feat of imagination, of intricate learning lightly worn, that you know that Kathryn Hughes would write a wonderful novel. But this splendid book is as good as any." ( Spectator)
"Seriously scholarly yet nonetheless accessible to the general listener...fascinating." (Margaret Forster, Sunday Telegraph)

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Profile Image for Jen

Half excellent, half blah

This book is divided into six distinct "stories". Two are excellent, two are ok but nothing to rave about and two are so dull and meandering that I didn't listen to more than 10 minutes of each.

I got this one for half price so I feel I got my $8 worth, but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend based on how incredibly dull a solid third of it is. Also avoid the introduction - again, meandering, dull and doesn't exactly get you revved up for the rest of the book.

The reader is very good though.

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Gripping

Every single essay in this book was fascinating, moving, well Oh paced. I’ll probably never get over the Fanny Adam’s essay.

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Profile Image for Sally Cousens

Life in Victorian times

Loved this account of living in the nineteenth century. Very interesting accounts of different celebrated people using their stories as opportunities to look at different aspects of life. Fascinating, interesting book very well narrated.

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1 person found this helpful

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