After the Giant Fashion Book, Period Piece is probably the book I was most excited to get from my gift card haul. I'm not sure who first brought the book to my attention, though I suspect it was probably
jonquil, but I've been wanting to read it for a long while. Now that I have, I can't get the authorial voice out of my head.
This is not a bad thing! The authorial voice is delightful: Gwen Raverat is wry and funny and wonderful to read. I loved her reminiscences of her childhood in Cambridge, the descriptions of the houses and people she knew, and way she gently poked fun at the silliness and self-importance of Victorian society. The book was full of throwaway bits of humor that made me laugh much more than you'd expect them to-- one line, about fishing seven top-hats out of the river in a single day, still makes me giggle when I think about it.
For anyone interested in the Victorians, this is highly recommended. I love Raverat's perspective-- someone who saw the tail-end of the Victorians and also lived through the start of the modern era, looking back with fondness and wit.