For much of the century, London's greatest contemporary observer, Charles Dickens, obsessively walked its streets, recording its pleasures and vices, curiosities and cruelties. In his company, the author leads us through the markets, sewers, rivers, slums, cemeteries, gin palaces and chop-houses of the Victorian capital, revealing the city in all its variety, vibrancy, and squalor. From the cacophonous cries of street-sellers to the uncomfortable reality of travel by omnibus, from the many uses of a dead horse to the unimaginably grueling working lives of hawker children, no detail is too small, or too strange. No one who reads this book will view London in the same light again.
"Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: London" is a unique collection of strange laws, heroic deeds, surprising revelations and other quirky stories that have shaped the unique history of Britain's capital. London's long history is an extraordinarily rich source of amazing facts, whether your interest is political, social, architectural or historical, you will find a variety of topics in this alternative guide to London. Brief, accessible and entertaining pieces on a wide variety of subjects makes it the perfect book to dip in to.
The farm lies in the shadow of a hill, and the farmyard rarely sees the sun, even in summer, when the flowering sukebind hangs heavy in the branches. Here live the Starkadders - Aunt Ada Doom, Judith, Amos, Seth, Reuben, Elfine . . . They lead messy, untidy lives, full of dark thoughts, moody silences, and sudden noisy quarrels. That is, until their attractive young cousin arrives from London. Neat, sensible, efficient, Flora Poste cannot bear messes (they are so uncivilized). She begins to tidy up the Starkadders' lives at once . . .
The Rich Are Different is the story of Dinah Slade, a young Englishwoman of immense vitality and great sensual power, whose life, loves, and fierce ambition become entangled with the fate of a great American banking family in the 1920s. When Paul Van Zale, a handsome patrician and powerful Wall Street banker, meets Dinah in London, he commits the imprudence of falling in love with her. When Dinah follows him to his world, she is caught up in the complex currents of Paul's life.
