SOCIAL SCIENCES

Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners

Little, Brown. Oct. 2016. 352p. illus. bibliog. ISBN 9780316357913. $25; ebk. ISBN 9780316358040. HIST
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Welcome to a highly irreverent tour of the darker sides of the Victorian age. Popular history writer and blogger Oneill points out that although films and fiction set in this period have great appeal today, they omit significant parts of the less-than-comfortable aspects of the time, including bad hygiene, poor medical knowledge resulting in hack treatments, and restrictions on social interactions. The author's wicked sense of humor saves the subject from devolving into a dry tome, instead providing laugh-out-loud moments on the most unthinkable and unmentionable subjects. The brilliance of this study is Oneill's ability to transport readers back in time and have them experience the day-to-day life of women battling the issues of the era. In doing so, this work both educates and amuses in its historical approach of the unseen and unseemly sides of the time.
VERDICT This fun romp of a book will appeal to history aficionados and lovers of the Victorian age and its etiquette, as well as anyone who enjoys a good laugh at the oddly absurd. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/16, p. 27.]
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