I am a nerd. A nerd who really enjoys reading about History all the time. Especially if said History involves reading how people lived in the past. So this book is right up my alley.

In short, this book explores the daily life of Victorian people. What they wore, what they ate, what they did for fun. Schooling, hobbies, and everything else. I'm particularly interested in historical fashions (though I can't sew to save my life), so reading about how Victorian women's clothing was designed to constrict them in every step they took was amazing. And also how class intersects with sexism in that field: tighter skirts at the end of the century didn't allow for a lot of movement, so they weren't practical for working women. Also, rich women couldn't walk fast enough, which is pretty limiting on its own.

Also, crinolines were incredible dangerous. There's a ton of historical accounts of women's skirts bursting in flames. And in my country, Chile, a lot of women died in a fire in a church because their clothes either caught fire, or didn't allow them to flee the church in time. Yikes. There's also one who died crushed by a bell (and I know because I'm distantly related to her, poor thing).

The stuff about children was also really interesting. Childhood as we understand it now it's a late Victorian invention, and before that, it was only a rich people thing. Working-class children were forced to work since they were very young, and they didn't have lots of toys. And when they had them, they left them at very young ages (to go work in a factory). The idea of protecting and educating all children up to 18 is surprisingly new.

All in all, this book is really great. It brings an intimate and realistic view of the nineteenth century, which is something we don't see a lot. There's a lot of idealization of the past going on, and it was far from perfect for most people. Reading this book is a great way to realise that life was incredibly hard for our ancestors. We're so lucky that we can buy premade clothes (and we actually get a wardrobe, as opposed to having maybe two dresses for daily wear and one nice outfit for special occasion), most poor Victorians didn't get to wear different clothes every day.

This is a good resource for the general public to discover the Victorian worldview and it's so fun to read if you're interested in history.