I always imagined Mrs Beeton to be an old dear. Not at all - she was dead at 28.

Releasing at York BC meetup for women's history theme.

Picked up at the York BookCrossing meetup

This fascinating book is more than just a biography of Mrs Beeton, it's also an examination of Victorian society and attitudes at a time when more people were moving into the cities to seek their livings. Mrs Beeton herself is an interesting enough figure - she was raised in a huge family and spent part of her girlhood living with several of her siblings in the Epsom grandstand, which her family owned. She wrote her famous Book of Household Management at the age of 21, but knew nothing about cooking herself, and constructed the whole thing by pilfering recipes and tips from earlier books on the same subject. And she only lived to be 28, having been infected with syphilis on her honeymoon by her feckless husband.
This book is full of incidental detail about Isabella's life, but also looks at the almost legendary persona which emerged after her death, so that by the mid 20th century, many people weren't sure that she had ever existed as a real person, rather than just a publisher's sales trick.
My favourite episode is the description of how Mr Beeton unwittingly became a pornographer after his wife's death when he published a few too many "readers' letters" on the subjects of corsetry and flagellation. But there are many such diversions into stories which add to the vivid picture of the lives of the up-and-coming Victorian middle classes.

Released at York BookCrossing meetup

Recommended by a friend, so delighted to find the biography at the meetup. I've also recently seen a documentary about her.

Picked up at the September Bookcrossing meetup.

As LouiseB says, this is a really fascinating look at the emerging Victorian middle-classes. And yes, the bit on corsets and caning is hilarious! I'm not sure I agree with Hughes that this is evidence of Sam Beeton's insanity due to syphilis - the issues where corsets and canes were discussed in the letters pages were big sellers - any canny publisher would want that!

The book makes the point that it's easy to criticise Isabella Beeton as a poor cook in modern terms (boiling carrots for 90 minutes) but really we should be judging her in terms of her chosen career, that of a editor and journalist.

Really enjoyable, informative book. The only bits that dragged were the explorations of the Beeton legend in 20th century reporting - I felt that chapter could have been a third of the size it was.

A really interesting book, examining the legend of Mrs Beeton. Hughes looks at the argument surrounding Mr and Mrs Beeton - who was the genius behind the books*? But it's also a fascinating glimpse into the social and cultural history of Victorian households.

To be released at the September York Bookcrossing meetup.



*Spoiler - it's both of them.