Lee Jackson – författare

In Victorian London, filth was everywhere: horse traffic filled the streets with dung, household rubbish went uncollected, cesspools brimmed with "night soil," graveyards teemed with rotting corpses, the air itself was choked with smoke. In this intimately visceral book, Lee Jackson guides us through the underbelly of the Victorian metropolis, introducing us to the men and women who struggled to stem a rising tide of pollution and dirt, and the forces that opposed them.Through thematic chapters, Jackson describes how Victorian reformers met with both triumph and disaster. Full of individual stories and overlooked details—from the dustmen who grew rich from recycling, to the peculiar history of the public toilet—this riveting book gives us a fresh insight into the minutiae of daily life and the wider challenges posed by the unprecedented growth of the Victorian capital.

An energetic and exhilarating account of the Victorian entertainment industry, its extraordinary success and enduring impactThe Victorians invented mass entertainment. As the nineteenth century’s growing industrialized class acquired the funds and the free time to pursue leisure activities, their every whim was satisfied by entrepreneurs building new venues for popular amusement. Contrary to their reputation as dour, buttoned-up prudes, the Victorians reveled in these newly created ‘palaces of pleasure’.  In this vivid, captivating book, Lee Jackson charts the rise of well-known institutions such as gin palaces, music halls, seaside resorts and football clubs, as well as the more peculiar attractions of the pleasure garden and international exposition, ranging from parachuting monkeys and human zoos to theme park thrill rides. He explores how vibrant mass entertainment came to dominate leisure time and how the attempts of religious groups and secular improvers to curb ‘immorality’ in the pub, variety theater and dance hall faltered in the face of commercial success.  The Victorians’ unbounded love of leisure created a nationally significant and influential economic force: the modern entertainment industry.

“Jackson has crafted a droll, enigmatic ride through the 150-year-old phenomenon of Dickens tourism and its relationship with imagination.”—James Riding, Times (UK)“Meticulously researched and engaging . . . A delight for urban historians and fans of Dickens’s evocative fiction.”—PD Smith, The GuardianThe intriguing history of Dickens’s London, showing how tourists have reimagined and reinvented the Dickensian metropolis for more than 150 years  Tourists have sought out the landmarks, streets, and alleys of Charles Dickens’s London ever since the death of the world-renowned author. Late Victorians and Edwardians were obsessed with tracking down the locations—dubbed “Dickensland”—that famously featured in his novels. But his fans were faced with a city that was undergoing rapid redevelopment, where literary shrines were far from sacred. Over the following century, sites connected with Dickens were demolished, relocated, and reimagined.  Lee Jackson traces the fascinating history of Dickensian tourism, exploring both real Victorian London and a fictional city shaped by fandom, tourism, and heritage entrepreneurs. Beginning with the late nineteenth century, Jackson investigates key sites of literary pilgrimage and their relationship with Dickens and his work, revealing hidden, reinvented, and even faked locations. From vanishing coaching inns to submerged riverside stairs, hidden burial grounds to apocryphal shops, Dickensland charts the curious history of an imaginary world.

An engaging and original history of Covent Garden and its streets, places and peopleCovent Garden began as luxury housing for the elite of seventeenth-century London. Its elegant Palladian terraces marked the first purpose-built square in the capital. But the arrival of a few humble market stalls, and the founding of nearby Drury Lane Theatre, had far-reaching consequences. Tourists, traders and hedonists thronged the piazza. The area soon became a notorious pleasure district, packed with pubs, coffee-houses, gambling dens and brothels.In this insightful account, Lee Jackson explores four hundred years of urban upheaval, decay and renewal to tell the full story of Covent Garden’s history. We see the flourishing of the market, the origins of London’s “theatreland”, the opulent Georgian shops that served the aristocracy, as well as the district’s rowdy nightlife, from Restoration taverns to “swinging sixties” nightclubs.This is an intimate portrait of one of London’s most famous districts and its ever-changing inhabitants – a history of the beating heart of the city.

Written by the acclaimed historical novelist Lee Jackson, this book recreates the sights and sounds of Dickens' London and provides a detailed itinerary for those keen to follow in the footsteps of 'The Inimitable Boz'. Each of the eight walks conjures up forgotten scenes of London life – stage-coaches racing through the Borough; herds of cattle driven through suburban streets to reach Smithfield market; the uproar of a hanging outside Newgate Gaol – together with directions to the most atmospheric and intriguing parts of the Victorian metropolis which have survived into the twenty-first century.

Written by the acclaimed historical novelist Lee Jackson, this book recreates the sights and sounds of Dickens'' London and provides a detailed itinerary for those keen to follow in the footsteps of ''The Inimitable Boz''. Each of the eight walks conjures up forgotten scenes of London life – stage-coaches racing through the Borough; herds of cattle driven through suburban streets to reach Smithfield market; the uproar of a hanging outside Newgate Gaol – together with directions to the most atmospheric and intriguing parts of the Victorian metropolis which have survived into the twenty-first century.

'Her arms were bare and milky-white, her hands dainty and graceful; her smile as sweet as any I have ever seen. An awful shame...'In the disreputable dance-halls and 'houses of accommodation' of 1870s London a boastful killer selects his prey.Are these random acts of malevolence or is there a connection between the terrible murders, a mysterious theft at the Abney Park Cemetery and a long-forgotten crime?Inspector Decimus Webb, newly promoted to the Detective Branch at Scotland Yard, must investigate, and quickly, to prevent another tragedy...Taking readers through the dark alleys and gaslit parlours of nineteenth-century London, Lee Jackson's second Inspector Webb novel is a suspense-filled gothic mystery with the Victorian celebration of death at its morbid heart.

The last train of the night pulls into the gas-lit platform of Baker Street underground station. A young woman is found strangled, her body abandoned in a second-class carriage. The brutal 'Railway Murder' brings Inspector Decimus Webb to the newly-formed Metropolitan Line on a bleak winter's night. His investigation leads him through the slums of Victorian London to the Holborn Refuge, a home for 'fallen women', and to Clara White, a respectable servant. But Clara has her own tragic and shameful history. As her past is revealed, Inspector Webb must decide whether she is merely a victim of circumstance, or a prime suspect. Only then can he unearth a dark secret, hidden in the depths of underground London. Lee Jackson's second novel brilliantly recreates the sights, sounds and smells of Victorian London, taking readers on a suspense-filled journey through its criminal underworld.

A young woman, Natalie Meadows, jumps from Blackfriars Bridge, escaping from the horror she has just witnessed. But she is rescued and feels duty-bound to find out who murdered her best friend, the music hall star Nellie Warwick, and why. Natalie reinvents herself as Flora Thorne and finds a position as housemaid to the Reverend Wallace and his daughter. From the sanctuary of their home, she is able to investigate the circumstances of Nellie's murder. What she uncovers is a conspiracy of silence and corruption, and of unscrupulous men preying on women like herself and Nellie. Her attempts to unmask the killer and to bring him to justice exact a heavy price on Natalie. LONDON DUST is a powerful evocation of the underbelly of Victorian London, full of flavour, completely convincing and utterly gripping.

A sinister figure stalks the gas-lit groves of Cremorne Gardens, the last pleasure-ground on the banks of the Thames. His weapon, a sharp pair of scissors. His victims, young women in the first bloom of youth. HIs crime - merely to remove a lock of their hair. Inspector Decimus Webb of Scotland Yard suspects a harmless lunatic is at large. But when morbid obsession turns to murder, even Webb's loyal sergeant begins to doubt his judgement.As the press and his superiors clamour for answers, Webb's investigations lead him to Rose Perfitt, aspiring debutante and daughter of a respectable stock-broker. Will she fall prey to 'The Cutter' or does a worse fate beckon? One thing is certain - only Decimus Webb can save her.Lee Jackson's third Inspector Webb novel takes the reader into the forgotten world of the Victorian pleasure-garden, in a gripping mystery of garish gas-light and dark secrets.

From slums to suburbs, freak-shows to fast food, prisons to pornography, 'A Dictionary of Victorian London' is a fascinating exposé of everyday life in the Great Metropolis of Victorian London. Compiling authentic nineteenth-century voices from a multitude of sources, including advertisements, diaries, court cases, journalism and guidebooks, Lee Jackson paints a unique picture of life in a vibrant and diverse city in an alphabetical guide. With striking contemporary illustrations throughout, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the remarkable history of London and the enthralling lives of the Victorians.