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Like its popular and acclaimed predecessor RESTORATION LONDON, this book is the result of the author's passionate interest in the practical details of the everyday life of our ancestors, so often ignored in more conventional history books. Based on every possible contemporary source - diaries, almanacs, newspapers, advice books, memoirs, government papers and reports - Liza Picard examines every aspect of life in London: the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework, laundry and shopping; clothes and jewellery, cosmetics and hairdressing; medicine, sex, hobbies, education and etiquette; religion and popular beliefs; law and crime. This book spans the years 1740 to 1770, starting when the gin craze was gaining ground and ending when the east coast of America was still British.`Accessible and vivid. Picard's curiosity and enthusiasm are infectious, and she has an instinct for what will interest the lay reader' Daily Telegraph
'Picard's writing is engaging and lucid, Fiona Shaw narrates with enthusiasm and the book has been thoughtfully abridged'
THE TIMES
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