Elizabeth's London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London: Amazon.co.uk: Liza Picard: Books

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

Review

Lisa has done lots of publicity for this with a few more events to come. Thegreat news is that the book made the SUNDAY TIMES bestseller list the week of 25 May, going in at number 8 Lisa has done the following interviews: THE FIGLOVER SHOW (BBC Radio 5 Live) on 14 May, OPEN BOOK (BBC Radio 4) 18 May, BBC 3 COUNTIES RADIO, BBC RADIO SHROPSHIRE, BBC RADIO LEICESTER, ROBERT ELMS SHOW (BBC Radio London), BBC RADIO OXFORD and BBC RADIO BRISTOL on 13 May. ELIZABETH'S LONDON was also featured in the EVENING STANDARD's bestseller list asa 'dark horse'. Lisa has written a small piece on her favourite historical place for LIVING HISTORY MAGAZINE (the Tudor home, Charlecote Park). The reviews we've had so far have been excellent: 'ELIZABETH'S LONDON provides a wonderfully evocative portrait of this lively, if squalid, city, and is an essential companion to the author's previous books.'Giles Milton, LIVING HISTORY 'Picard's technique of using short entries to cover all aspects of daily life makes her books so rewarding to dip into'Maureen Waller, THE TIMES '...[an] exuberant book...a conscientious and scholarly analysis of London's condition inthe 16th century, contemplating every civic aspect from the sartorial to thegynaecological. Reading this book is like taking a ride on a marvellously exhilarating time-machine, alive with colour, surprise and sheer merriment It is a fantastick London Eye, perhaps, queue-less and five centuries retrospective.'Jan Morris, NEW STATESMAN 'ELIZABETH'S LONDON is, like its predecessors, a storehouse of fascinating information. Every page contains a nugget.'Lucy Moore, THE DAILY MAIL 'The author's third guide-book to the capital's past is as highly readable as her earlier examinations of Restoration and Georgian London.'Robin Blake, THE FINANCIAL TIMES 'For all the easy-going tone, this is a work of impressive learning, full of details of everyday practicalities that most history books ignore. Often a revelation, it's invariably a pleasure'SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'An evocative survey of the satisfactions and vexations of life in the capital in the later 16th century.'HISTORY TODAY 'she is unflappably curious in her sifting through 16th-century lives.'Andrew Holgate, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'This is vibrant, sparkling insight given with great zest and personality; it is to be hoped that London's earlier centuries will also soon receive Liza Picard's attention.'Alex Burghart, THE TLS 'much of Picard's material is fascinating and a great deal of the vitality and energy of the 16th century is captured in her book.'Nick Rennison, WATERSTONE'S QUARTERLY 'Liza Picard's rich evocation of Elizabethan London'John Cooper, THE TIMES With more to come in THE MAIL ON SUNDAY, GEORGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE, CONTEMPORARY REVIEW andTHE DAILY TELEGRAPH with more in the pipeline. Lisa did exellent talks at Hay and the Friends of the National Maritime Museum and still to come are a talk for the Museum of London on 26 June and a talk at the British Museum on 18 S

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

An enjoyable dip into Elizabethan life in London 5 Mar 2008

By Bulbous Blues

Format:Paperback

Although this book is not the best written account of life in historical London it is still an enjoyable read and would suit a coffee table of anyone interested in London or the Elizabethan era. The main sources used are John Stows survey of London first published 1598 and the Dairy of Simon Foreman, these are easily available and you may ask would it be best to read straight from these sources. Compared to Peter Ackroyd's amazing work of a biography of London this is a pale comparison. All this being said as a light read it is an enjoyable dip into Elizabethan Life in London

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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful

Re-hash of history 28 Sep 2003

By redhotchilli

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

More for reference 3 April 2011

By Graham James

I did not find that this was the kind of book that you could read from cover to cover. Unlike, for example, Life in Tudor England which I found more readable. Nonetheless I regard Lisa Picard's book a great reference source and very useful in giving detail about such matters as food, drink, entertainments, clothes and health.

There were areas where I was disappointed by what seemed to me to be omissions. In the medical section there was no mention of the sweating sickness for example which seems never to have been adequately explained in any book that I have read and, in general, I found this section and the chapter on sex and marriage particularly disappointing. I am never sure if it is because historians find the subject embarrassing or whether it is only that there is no detail left to us, but I have never been able to find any social history of the Tudor time, or any time up to the 19th century, which carries any meaningful detail about sexual behaviour.

My main beef, however, is the lack of a really good map. There were two very limited and on the whole unhelpful drawings from the time, but a map to accompany the opening chapter was, in my view, absolutely vital and its omission was a real spoiler.