The Household by Stacey Halls is set in London in 1847 and centres around the real life opening of Urania Cottage in Shepherd's Bush. British philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts was one of the wealthiest women in England and a rich benefactor of the project along with Charles Dickens (yes, THE Charles Dickens). Set up in secret to offer fallen young women a new start in life, young girls - including prostitutes, thieves, orphans and model prisoners released from gaol - were offered the opportunity to live in the cottage, learn all of the skills necessary to enter into service and ultimately move to the colonies.
Inspired by history, The Household is told my multiple narrators, including the benefactor Burdett-Coutts, the housekeeper and several residents living at the cottage. This makes for plenty of drama playing out in the richly appointed cottage.
The young girls come from all backgrounds, but I was really moved when one of the characters described the conditions of the female prisoners picking oakum (unravelling rope) at the Tothill Fields, Westminster House of Correction. For those interested in learning more about picking oakum, I can recommend checking out this short segment from The Worst Jobs in History by Tony Robinson.
"The new girls often cry when their necks hurt and their eyes sting. Most are there a week or two, then vanish; some are on their sixth, seventh, eighth term, as though Tothill Fields is a hotel they return to at leisure. Above the platform, a painted sign declares PRISONERS ARE NOT TO SPEAK TO EACH OTHER. The room is quiet but never silent, punctuated every few seconds with a sigh, a sneeze, a cough. Now it is November, the infirmary is full, and the morgue waits below like a baby bird with its beak open." Page 32Well written and expertly researched, I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the project, the daily structure and routines at Urania Cottage and of course the challenges faced by the residents.
Thankfully Charles Dickens is a background character in this tale, regularly interviewing the girls about their history and downfall in an effort to prove they can be reformed and return to society. Here Martha reflects on everything that led her to Urania Cottage:
"But a fall is swift, sudden, when really it isn't like that at all. They imagine it to be a seduction or a moment of weakness, as if we carry this precious thing in a little box on our person. But it isn't a single thing, a single moment. It's more like a series of little deaths." Page 105Along with Burdett-Coutts and the matron of Urania Cottage, the reader comes to care for the characters, although sadly not all want to be saved. Finally, one of the girls (Martha) reflects on her changing fortunes:
"She looks back upon their meeting now with the distance of time, thinking how wondrous life is. Not long ago she was paying a penny to sleep over a rope in a boarding-house; now she is the wife of a clergyman." Page 254The Household by Stacey Halls is my fourth book by the author and each of them have been 5 star reads. They have all been stand alone historical fiction novels and I can't wait to see what the author writes next. Highly recommended!
For more, check out my reviews of:
The Familiars
The Foundling
Mrs England
