Jean Fullerton

I thought I’d give those of you who want to read more about the fascinating East End of London a list of some books that have helped me. 

Some of the main books I’ve used to research No Cure for Love.

Books I constantly reach for.

Judith Flanders. 2004.  The Victorian House.  Deals with all aspects of Victorian living and society

Ralph Hyde. 1987 The A to Z of Victorian London.  

Henry Mayhew  1985. London Labour and the London Poor. A collection of contemporary accounts of the poor in London reprinted by Penguin. It’s as if you are listering to the London underclass speaking.

Henry Mayhew. 2005 The Victorian Underworld. Collection accounts of interviews with London criminals. More of Mayhew’s interviews but focusing on the criminal classes.

Gilda O’Neill The Good Old Days. A brilliant gathering together of contemporary sources by my fellow East End author. It don’t only give you the facts and details about the about area but discusses the issues from a contemporary point of view.    

Allan Palmer.  The East End: Four centuries of London Life. 1989 Nice section about the period and a good overview of the area.

Liza Picard. 2005 Victorian London: An excellent overview of the city and those living within it.

Millicent Rose. 1951 The East End of London. An fascinating book written just after the Second World War which is out of print.  

Sarah Wise.  2008: The Blackest Streets. A riveting account of the making of the Shoreditch slums. 

Fiona Rule  2008 The Worst Street In London. A wonderful account of Dorset Street where Jack the Rippers victim Mary Kelly was found, from it 17th century beginnings up to the Second World War.

Other books.

John Ayto. Oxford Book of Slang 2003. Speaks for itself, if you pardon the pun.

Charles Dickens Journalism Volumes I, II, III & IV  Like Mayhew these are first hand accounts of the Victorian poors’ lives.

Henry Goddard Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner. Diary giving the first hand account of the early years of the Metropolitan Police.  

Gilda O’Neill. 1999  My East End. This is Gilda’s memories of her East End childhood and although not contemporise  to the period I write it has the account from her family member of how the old East End used to be. 

Richard Tames 2004 East End Past. A collection of East End places and building that have disappeared. 

Richard Tames 2008 The London we have Lost. Again a collections of places now gone for ever.

Andrew Wear.  Medicine in Society 1992. Put the medical profession in the context as it developed into the profession we know today. 

Lastly some photo books of the East End I find useful when imagining where my characters are living.

Brian Girling East End Neighbourhoods 2005