Review
‘Flanders writes with absorbing detail and elegant analysis.' Sunday Times
'Judith Flanders's wonderfully entertaining book…a vigorously written, fact–filled cornucopia…it has nuggets of interest on every page.' Sunday Telegraph
‘Her account of how the Victorian age democratised pleasure and ordinary convenience should become a classic.’ Independent on Sunday
‘Flanders’s book is suitably fat and fact-packed…this is a generous survey of a world that is both far stranger and far more familiar than the one we think we know.’ Daily Telegraph
'Flanders is deft at making connections.' Observer
‘“Consuming Passions” tells the story of Victorian leisure and pleasure as an interrelated and intricate set of transformations…a fascinating, bewildering, marvel-crammed quest.’ Guardian
‘It is a world explored with much wit and insight…Flanders is excellent…It's a rich mix [and]…fluently written…It has every chance of becoming a bestseller.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘…her book, which is about the ways our forebears enjoyed themselves, is itself pure pleasure from beginning to end… [Flanders] is encyclopaedic in her range…This book is packed with goodies as a rich Victorian Dundee cake. Seldom has painstaking academic research been put to better use to produce a work which is pure joy. Every page crammed with interest.’ Daily Mail
‘A richly detailed work that translates a wealth of research with a light and readable touch.' Guardian
‘Formidable…[an] excellent study…a major achievement.’ Observer
'Full of fascinating nuggets, this book puts our modern obsession with buying stuff firmly into context. Reverting and revealing.' Time Out
‘If there’s a better social history this year, then I will eat my crinoline.’Sue Baker, Publishing News
‘Bulging bran-tub of a book, wonderfully rich and hugely enjoyable…There is something dizzily acrobatic about the mountains of evidence she constructs, and she produces her punch lines with a conjuror’s panache.’ The Sunday Times
‘Flanders is engagingly precise.’ FT Magazine
'Judith Flanders offers an absorbing insight into how the Victorians spent their leisure time…whatever your interests, Flanders's book is a detailed account that will please all readers.' Daily Telegraph
'A fascinating, kaleidoscopic exploration of what Victorians did for fun.' thelondonpaper
'Deeply satisfying…Bursting with original research and statistics, it gives a panoramic view of Victorians at play.' Country Life
'I don't think anybody could read this book without learning something new and finding things of interest. Flanders has an eye for piquant details.' Spectator
'”Consuming Passions” is an absorbing Gladstone bag of a book, from which curious items spill out in delightful profusion, some familiar, some very strange indeed.' Literary Review
