Two darkly alluring novels set in the Victorian era form the backdrop to a discussion about the art of bringing the past to life.  Authors and Oxford graduates Katy Darby and Kate Williams write about a world of murder, prostitutes, mystery, death and disease.  In The Whores’ Asylum, Darby, who studied at Somerville College, brings to life the seedy streets of Oxford’s Jericho in 1887, where ill-lit taverns are haunted by drunkards and brazen women. Fellow Somerville graduate Williams is an expert on 18th and 19th-century history. She appears regularly on radio and TV, including as social historian on BBC’s Restoration Home. Williams recreates 1840 Spitalfields in London for a tale of murder, The Pleasures of Men.  Together, they discuss bringing the past to life. 

The event is chaired by Peter Conradi, a journalist with The Sunday Times and co-author (with Mark Logue) of The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy.