Ladies Smoking Forbidden

LADIES SMOKING FORBIDDEN

As always, accounts of 'Police News' in the popular press provide fascinating insight into the manners and mores of Victorian society. The limits placed on women in the period are always interesting, and it's here we find out that smoking was one area where the battle lines were drawn, as late as the 1890s (St. Pancras station, opened in 1868, contained a ladies smoking room, I believe, although some considered it scandalous). For an interesting history of society and smoking, including some nice stuff on the Victorians, see 'Giveup.ca'.

Mesmerising Book News

MESMERISING BOOK NEWS

Regular readers will know my next novel is The Mesmerist's Apprentice, the second adventure for Sarah Tanner. It starts with a 'horse-meat riot' and - needless to say, via a complicated series of twists and turns - leads our determined heroine into the clutches of a dubious physician, who allegedly achieves his success through the practice of mesmerism. Throw in the re-appearance of her erstwhile lover, Arthur DeSalle, now married, and she's in for a difficult time ... bet you won't guess the ending, either ...

The book is pre-order-able at Amazon and you can read the first chapter here.

No appearances planned as yet, with the exception of the Paris Book Fair, where you'll find me with my French publisher, Editions 10/18, promoting Le Jardins des Derniers Plaisirs ...

Those Erotic Victorians

THOSE EROTIC VICTORIANS

I am fascinated to have just stumbled across one Ida Craddock on the web; a Victorian 'sexual mystic' who believed in straightforward advice on sexual matters. A sample of her wisdom:

Well, I think that the very first thing for you to bear in mind is that, inasmuch as Nature has so arranged sex that the man is always ready (as a rule) for intercourse, whereas the woman is not, it is most unwise for the man to precipitate matters by exhibiting desire for genital contact when the woman is not yet aroused. You should remember that that organ of which you are, justly, so proud, is not possessed by a woman, and that she is utterly ignorant of its functions, practically, until she has experienced sexual contact; and that it is, to her who is not desirous of such contact, something of a monstrosity. Even when a woman has already had pleasurable experience of genital contact, she requires each time to be aroused amorously, before that organ, in its state of activity, can become attractive. For a man to exhibit, to even an experienced wife, his organ ready for action when she herself is not amorously aroused, is, as a rule, not sexually attractive to her; on the contrary, it is often sexually repulsive, and at times out and out disgusting to her. Every woman of experience knows that, when she is ready, she can cause the man to become sexually active fast enough.

It is remarkable that, for all its quaint language, this still seems a case of plain-speaking, some hundred years on. I'm not sure any UK writers were quite so frank; but I'm no expert ... if anyone would like to correct me, please write in!

Let's Make Tracks

LET'S MAKE TRACKS

Victorian slang is of particular interest to this novelist ... I'm always trying to reproduce accurate language that isn't a simple 'Cockney' pastiche; and doesn't sound odd to modern ears either. It's actually rather difficult - especially with words now considered entirely American that are good Victorian London English ("Station-house" for "police station" is one that always comes to mind). A pleasure, then, to find a Times article citing a lecture critical of 1850s slang. Much of it is familar, but I've never come across "make tracks" as a Victorian-ism ... or the likes of "walks his chalks". Enjoy the full article here

The Food of the Poor

THE FOOD OF THE POOR

A new addition comes from All the Year Round, 1877, Learning to Cook with the Poor, a Mayhew-esque, slightly satirical look at the food of the poor and how they scraped by. An anonymous piece (although perhaps a scholar can advise on that score) you may find it interesting, not least all about 'faggots', 'chitterlings', 'reeds' and other odd cuts and combinations of meat that I would rather avoid. To read the article, click here.