{"id":14783,"date":"2025-07-17T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=14783"},"modified":"2025-07-17T08:10:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T12:10:03","slug":"review-htbav","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/review-htbav\/","title":{"rendered":"Review – How to be a Victorian"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

How to Be a Victorian: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Victorian Life<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Ruth Goodman<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Book<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Series: <\/strong>How to Be
Genres:<\/strong> History, Non Fiction, Victorian, English History
Release Date:<\/strong> October 6, 2014
Pages:<\/strong> 473
Purchase from:<\/strong> Amazon<\/a> | Barnes & Noble<\/a> | Google Books<\/a> | Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Rating:<\/b> \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>

View ratings overview<\/i><\/div>\n

\u2606\u2606\u2606\u2606\u2606 – Did not finish
\u2605\u2606\u2606\u2606\u2606 – Hated it
\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606\u2606 – Disliked it
\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606 – Okay
\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606 – Liked it
\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 – Loved it
Read the full explanation<\/a> of my book rating system.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lauded by critics, How to Be a Victorian<\/em> is an enchanting manual for the insatiably curious, the \u201cthe cheapest time-travel machine you\u2019ll find\u201d (NPR). Readers have fallen in love with Ruth Goodman, an historian who believes in getting her hands dirty. Drawing on her own firsthand adventures living in re-created Victorian conditions, Goodman serves as our bustling guide to nineteenth-century life. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work \u201cimagines the Victorians as intrepid survivors\u201d (New Republic<\/em>) of the most perennially fascinating era of British history. From lacing into a corset after a round of calisthenics to slipping opium to the little ones, Goodman\u2019s account of Victorian life \u201cmakes you feel as if you could pass as a native\u201d (The New Yorker<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I fell in love with Ruth Goodman’s style from the very first page. Perhaps because I’ve watched many of the video series she has been part of, I was able to sense her personality in the writing; her curiosity and enthusiasm shine through in a way I don’t typically notice with other authors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to be a Victorian<\/em> (HtbaV<\/em>) walks you through what could be a typical day, from first waking to going to sleep, with detours along the way. These detours explore how different classes would experience various activities, how activities and beliefs evolved throughout the nearly 64 years of the Victorian era, ways that certain ideas or activities inspired changes further into the future, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Goodman doesn’t shy away from the many<\/em> unsavory aspects of Victorian England. Everything from the myriad of inequalities to disease is covered, not necessarily in detail, but with enough information for you to be happy you weren’t a Victorian. But, she also includes interesting, innocuous tidbits that often provide an even deeper look into Victorian society. Some of my favorites include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n