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1763: Georgian London is brutal, bloody and bawdy…
The Butcher’s Hook
What you need to know before your trail
Anne Jaccob is coming of age, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. When she is taken advantage of by her tutor — a great friend of her father’s — and is set up to marry a squeamish snob named Simeon Onions, she begins to realize just how powerless she is in Georgian society. Anne is watchful, cunning, and bored.
Her saviour appears in the form of Fub, the butcher’s boy. Their romance is both a great spur and an excitement. Anne knows she is doomed to a loveless marriage to Onions and she is determined to escape with Fub and be his mistress. But will Fub ultimately be her salvation or damnation? And how far will she go to get what she wants?
Travel Guide
Journey to the London of Janet Ellis:
Castle Street
“Castle Street is a dull, brick corridor for any traffic to pass along without distraction”
St Paul’s
A good way for Anne to navigate the filthy smelly streets of the old smoke -” I must find a place where I can see St Pauls fat head of a dome, keeping always north of it”
Meek Street
This is now a street lost to the passage of time but it used to run from Lots Road across Tetcott, Upcerne and Uverdale Roads as far as Tadema Road.
Maryleborne Gardens
The Doctor has an interesting take on the area of Maryleborne – “No Maryleborne Gardens is out of bounds. Too much temptations and not enough pleasure after”On this tour, they speak of God and the fact that he is everywhere/St Paul’s seems to stand for all churches in this time of lack of faith and the poor who search for the meaning of life.
London
The London evoked here is one of distaste, poverty and bawdy backstreets. It is full of the stench of overcooked beef, the sky the colour of an old man’s snot and men like Dr Edwards who continue to collect their many luncheons in their thick curly beards and whose base tastes take them down to gutter level in a city already awash with vermin and more.
This is the confusing confines of one small girl’s world. Anne has an active mind and a reason for wanting to get ahead. She has to survive this strange world every which way she can. Anne’s city is cold and harsh, brutal and unforgiving.
To navigate these streets takes a very special someone
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Butcher’s Hook
Author/Guide: Janet Ellis Destination: London Departure Time: 1763
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