Poor Things, Emma Stone’s Oscar-winning film, showed 19th-century Britons as sex-crazed liberals. But it took a while to shake off the puritanical image of the era, as these five books show
If Emma Stone’s new film Poor Things is anything to go by, it was tricky to get the Victorians to keep their clothes on and their hands to themselves. All the same, their reputation as humourless puritans with a sideline in sadism took most of the 20th century to dislodge. Here are five of the best books that track how the Victorians gradually unravelled and learned to let loose.
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Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern World by Kathryn Hughes is published in April by 4th Estate (£22).
