The Limehouse Golem

Item: The Limehouse Golem
Author: WhichBook

Peter Ackroyd

Mid Victorian Music Hall Melodrama, Mayhem and Murder? Or a study of poverty and social awareness? Whichever, nothing, including gender or sexuality, can be taken for granted in this truly engrossing tale. Even London seems to take on a life of its own – pervading the very essence of those living there and determining their actions – for evil and for good.

Extract

'But don't you understand why they love it so? For them it is so sacred that they talk of the gods and the pit. I even discovered quite by chance that many of these halls and little theatres were once chapels and churches ....' So Karl Marx and Solomon Weil continued their conversation into the night, and while Jane Quig was being mutilated, the scholars discussed the material envelope of the world. 'It can assume whatever shape we please to give it. In that respect it resembles the golem.'

Parallels