Product Description

Like its acclaimed predecessors, RESTORATION LONDON and DR JOHNSON'S LONDON, this book is the result of the author's passionate interest in the practical details of everyday life - and the conditions in which most people lived - so often ignored in conventional history books. The book begins with the River Thames, which - from its surly water-men to its great occasions - played such a central part in the city's life. It moves on to the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework and shopping; clothes, jewellery and make-up; health and medicine; sex and food; education, etiquette and hobbies; religion, law and crime. 'Elizabeth's London is, like its predecessors, a storehouse of fascinating information. Every page contains a nugget' Daily Mail

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55911 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Liza Picard's Elizabeth's London completes a trilogy of books on London throughout history, starting with Restoration London and followed by Dr Johnson's London. From the outset, Picard admits that Elizabethan London proved an even greater challenge to reconstruct, as "few buildings survive", and "artefacts and clothes from the time are rare". Nevertheless, through painstaking detail, Picard wonderfully recreates the crowded chaotic sights and smells of everyday life in late 16th-century London.

Her journey starts, like so many admirers of the city from Chaucer to Ackroyd, on the river Thames, "a uniform opaque grey" in Elizabeth's time, but "fairly unpolluted, judging from all the fish in it," and "a superb processional route between the royal palaces." From here Picard surveys London life, from its main streets, its water supply and its civic buildings of timber and stone, to the houses, people, clothes, food, drink and entertainment that defined one of the most prosperous cities in 16th-century Europe.

Everything is told in all its raw, sensual detail, from the ways in which "the butcher's professional skills" were used to disembowel those unfortunate enough to be convicted of capital offences, to the cost of pins for dressmaking--one shilling and eight pence per thousand. At times, the sheer detail of Picard's book can be overwhelming, and there is no specific argument that unites her observations, but the sheer scale of information is extremely impressive. -–Jerry Brotton

EXPRESS
'Liza Picard brilliantly captures the spirit of the age.'

Review
'this is a book for ducking and weaving through.... this makes satisfying toilet reading - especially the bits about how private loos in the age of Shakespeare were even nastier than our nastiest public loos today.' (Christopher Bray THE DAILY TELEGRAPH )

'Liza Picard brilliantly captures the spirit of the age.' (EXPRESS )

'ELIZABETH'S LONDON is satisfyingly rich and substantial.' (Daniel Hahn AROUND THE GLOBE )

Customer Reviews

Re-hash of history
I was so looking forward to reading this book, but it was particularly disappointing. I learned very little more about life in Elizabethan London than I knew already. Some topics were poorly presented. The section on funerals, for example, was brief and mainly described Queen Mary's funeral. Hardly any mention was made of the poor/middle class people and Mary was buried when Elizabeth was barely on the throne. There was so much information that could have been put into this book and yet so much was left out. WHY ?? Unfortunately it came across as poorly researched and slightly amateurish. Absolutely the opposite of the book "1700 : Scenes from London Life” where Maureen Waller kept the reader enthralled with brilliant stories and snippets.

On the other hand...
Living in America, I don't have the wealth of intuitive understanding of your history as you do. I thought the book was a very easy read and had alot of very interesting facts and info in it. I like the way Ms. Picard catigorized her book and how breifly (but still getting across the idea) she described things and brought a dusty era to life. (That's a lawyer right there. I have read WAY too many long-winded historians!) Considering that there is not a whole lot of information out there for her to draw on regarding this subject, I think she did an excellent job. Of course her books on the 17th and 18th century will be better, as there were more diaryist out there and more things were written and saved. I liked this book. Looking to reading more of her.

Elizabeth's London
I stumbled on Liza Picard's books quite by chance. After looking at the publishing date in some of the books it is apparent some of them have been around for several years. I am now recommending them to anyone and everyone and I am so glad I stumbled across this one on a bookshop shelf. I have now read them all, but this one was the first.

As soon as you start to read the book it becomes apparent that the author is passionate about the subject and wants the reader to enjoy the experience as much as she has in the writing of it. How apt that the author starts the book with the life blood of the great City of London. Meandering like a great artery through the heart of the City. It moves on to the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework and shopping; clothes, jewellery and make-up; health and medicine; sex and food; education, etiquette and hobbies; religion, law and crime.

Liza Picard was born in 1927. She read law and qualified as a barrister but did not practice. Quite where she gleaned all this information from I am not sure. That it was a labour of love is obvious to anyone who reads her books and I for one am grateful.