Mayhew’s book pairs perfectly with the “poverty maps” of reformer Charles Booth, who in 1899 created a color-coded map of London showing the relative wealth and need of every single block of the city—I spent countless hours poring over this map, tracking every step of Nan’s journey. Younger readers interested in this topic would do well to look at John Thomson’s Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs. Inspired by Mayhew’s work, Thomson brought a camera (then a cutting-edge technology) into the slums to show these people as they really were. His pictures and accompanying essays are breathtaking—and those looking closely might even spot Shilling-Tom leaning in the background!
The role and position of Jews in Victorian England was complex. The new ideas of the Enlightenment began to find their way into legislation: For the first time in history, Jews were afforded the basic rights of their Christian neighbors—and with that came the opportunity to participate in broader society. The ensuing decades saw Jewish aristocracy assuming high seats of power, including a Prime Minister and the Lord Mayor of London. Simultaneously, London began to see a massive influx of Jewish immigrants—mostly poor families fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe. (Including countless children like Toby Schaal.) This new population led to a fascinating collision of class, faith, and ethnicity in the English Jewish identity. It also, depressingly, stoked anti-Semitism in the larger population. Readers curious about the lives of these immigrant families would do well to read Israel Zangwill’s wonderful Children of the Ghetto.
For a modern perspective on Victorian life, I would encourage readers to pick up any of historian Judith Flanders’s excellent non-fiction books, including Inside the Victorian Home and The Victorian City. Flanders has a gift for making even the tiniest detail exciting. She was also a historical consultant on the Victorian-set video game Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, whose digital rooftops I explored for hours in the name of “research.”
When I began the journey of researching Nan’s London, I thought I was learning about a different world. But I very quickly realized that I was looking into a mirror that reflected my own. Poverty, child labor, and anti-Semitism continue to this day, no matter how much we would prefer to ignore them. It is only in looking back that we have any hope of moving forward.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Auxier is the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Gardener, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, and Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard, which Kirkus Reviews noted “should be in the hands of every human young enough at heart to be enchanted by the written word.” He lives in Pittsburgh with his family. Visit him at TheScop.com.
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