- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Pan Books; New edition edition (2 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 033039228X
- ISBN-13: 978-0330392280
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 680,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
On 26th May 1854, Arthur Munby met Hannah Cullwick, the day after her 21st birthday. He was a solicitor, working for the Ecclesiastical Commission, a job he loathed. She was a servant, a maid of all work. This first encounter marked the beginning of a relationship which was to endure for more than 50 years. Both of them kept diaries and letters were exchanged throughout their clandestine love affair. Drawing on these documents and Munby's photographs of Hannah, all of which catalogue a tale of sexual obsession - Munby adored seeing Hannah "in her dirt" from scrubbing steps and cleaning chimneys and she reciprocated with a literally slavish devotion - this work paints a picture of the wilder shores of Victorian sexuality. It also tells the story of a deep and lasting love between two extraordinary individuals which breached the barriers of class and intellect that could have divided them and which meant that even after they married they had to keep the relationship hidden from their families and friends.
About the Author
Diane Atkinson lives in Shoreditch, London, with her husband the artist Patrick Hughes. A historian of women's lives, she is the author of a number of books and has curated several exhibitions at the Museum of London.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was fascinated by the underlying issues that this book took on but was a little disappointed that it didn't quite deliver what I have found to be fundamental to a strong biography: context and understanding of character from the biographer.
There are wonderful details in this book about what really went on 'downstairs' in the various types of households that Hannah worked in, and the fact that those in service could work in so many different households surprised me, but somewhere amongst facts and dates there is some emotional engagement missing.
Thank goodness for the level of interest that Munby took in working women of that time and his insistence that Hannah record the minutae of her working life, and that his thoughts on some of the more unusual aspects of their relationship are recorded. It is a fascinating read and I will pass the book onto a friend but I found it difficult at times to feel a real emotional connection with these characters that I have felt in other biographies. Where are the insights into why Munby found Hannah's dirty work so fascinating? What else was happening in their world outside Fig Tree Court that might have impacted on them? Are there other couples in a similar situation?
Overall very interesting but I felt a little disappointed. Not my favourite book but it proves that Victorian social structures and sexuality was more complex than we have been lead to believe.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A must-own for SMers
8 July 2006
Format:Hardcover
For those aching to find proof of dominant/submissive relationships pre 20th century, Diane Atkinson's well-researched book tells an intriguing story of Arthur Munby, a well-known social reformer, and Hallah Cullwick, a scullery maid. Their relationship grew into a very defined master/slave relationship, which spanned over 30 years beginning in 1850's England. Arthur's fetishistic obsession for dirt, Hannah's preference for the service positions on the lowest rung, seem the thing of Victorian erotica - but it is real.
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