This one was a keeper!

This book was an appropriate pick for the time of year. We all agreed we are thankful we live in our modern times, and not in Victorian times. While most of us could not contemplate life without central heat, indoor plumbing and Velcro, we did agree that this period of history in England was one of the most colorful and interesting. Thumbs up to the author for:

     Showing every aspect of life as a person of the period would have experienced it, both rich and poor

     Speaking directly, and not speaking down to the reader

     And props to actually living what she wrote about

Ruth Goodman, our author, has done several shows for British television, where she worked and lived as a Tudor, a Victorian farmer and a Victorian pharmacist. She worked, cooked, sewed her own clothes and even helped build the shelter she lived in. This woman knows whereof she speaks! The book is full of history, but it reads more like fiction, because the author can really get behind the facts she writes about. She takes us through an entire day in the life of people living both in the cities and on the farm, from early rising, work, education, leisure time and the end of the day. How the people worked, ate, learned and loved is all laid out before us, and it's a pleasure to read. This one gets an enthusiastic thumbs up.