Hundreds of years ago, at university, I did a course on Death and Mourning in Victorian Literature. I've been obsessed ever since. Give me an opportunity to talk about the overcrowding of graveyards in Victorian London and I'm there for twenty minutes minimum. This tapped right into my interests. I enjoyed the book. I think it's a great book for people who are starting to get interested in the subject. It struck the right note between scholarly and telling a great story. I would have liked to have seen a chapter on mourning rituals, which were so interesting in the way they kept women trapped in an ever increasing and complex ritual of behaviours that trapped her as much as the ideals of what a home maker should be. But for a short volume that covers many of the main points that created a fascinating time in human history, it's a great read.

This book is insanely entertaining, informative and well researched. I’ve always felt a strange fascination with Victorian times, so this read was like a time machine that allowed me to look at the people who lived those lives. The author makes a good case for the way Victoriana has influenced us through the years, including our views on life and death, our fascination with the supernatural and even the true crime podcasts that started only recently. Despite being centered on Victorian England, there is information about France and the US, including how views on the same subjects were similar and how they differed. I especially enjoyed the parts about literature and how it influenced media reports. Three of the books mentioned here: Dracula, The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Portrait of Dorian Grey are favorites, so it was fascinating to see how the coverage of the Jack the Ripper murders was shaped by them. The author also answered my question about how intelligent people could have fallen for obvious frauds trying to speak to the dead. I truly enjoyed this.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Pen & Sword History.

Quite fascinating about the perception of death in Victorian times – a time where death was more present for a majority than it (luckily) is today. Although it is a short book it covers many different views on death and the dead during this time period. It’s clearly visible that Mackinder has done his research.

Death and the Victorians is a fascinating read that covers a vast array of topics relating to views of death and the afterlife from the early 1800s to World War I. The writing style is conversational which makes is an easy and quick read. The title is a bit misleading in that there is much that goes beyond the UK, like discussions of the Catacombs in Paris and a number of sections about the US. I particularly liked the discussions of literature: gothic tales, ghost stories and the rise of the penny dreadfuls. My only criticism is that the overall organization of the material didn't seem clear, more a series of essays. However, that is a minor detail. If you are like me, and have a slight morbid fascination with death and the macabre, you will really enjoy this!
I will definitely recommend this title to readers who enjoy reading about the Victorian Era, a fascinating time in history and death, always a compelling topic!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This was an informative read, it was great to read more about the concept of death in general but also to learn more about the specific Victorian era regarding death was fascinating