Summary of Bitten By Witch Fever: Wallpaper & Arsenic in the Nineteenth-Century Home by Lucinda Hawksley

Dive into the bizarre world of 'Bitten By Witch Fever' and discover how 19th-century wallpaper concealed deadly secrets behind its beauty!

Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of Bitten By Witch Fever, where pink wallpaper and poison are the hottest trends of the 19th century! Buckle up, folks, because we're about to embark on a journey through the bizarre and toxic domestic life of the Victorian era, where home decor wasn't just a matter of style-it was a matter of life and death.

Imagine this: you're happily redecorating your home, completely unaware that your glamorous wallpaper is more deadly than a three-headed dragon. That's right! The book opens our eyes to the dazzling designs of the 1800s while simultaneously giving us a good reason to be suspicious of floral patterns. Lucinda Hawksley dives into the history of wallpaper, particularly the lovely greens made with arsenic-a particular favorite among the chic hostesses of the time. Because nothing says "welcome to my home" like a hint of lethal poison!

Hawksley meticulously documents how the desire for beauty led to homes being outfitted with materials that would make modern-day health inspectors faint. Spoiler alert! If you thought indoor air quality was a hot topic now, try discussing it with someone who just inhaled a lungful of arsenic-laden wallpaper fumes in 1880. You can almost hear the Victorians saying, "What a lovely shade of green! What's that smell? Oh, just my impending doom!"

Throughout the pages, the author uncovers the scandals and tragedies that surrounded these fashionable homes. Children playing in toxic environments, coughing up tiny lungs, and women swooning over their exquisite, albeit fatal, decorations. It's a mix of quaint domesticity and tragic irony that's both fascinating and horrifying. Forget "keeping up with the Joneses"-these folks were literally risking their lives for a pop of color!

Then there's the wallpaper trend that turned every home into its own personal grave-who thought that gilded designs would be so deadly? Hawksley takes a closer look at not just the wallpaper but also the domestic practices that included the use of arsenic in everything from household paints to medicine. It's like a horror movie plot wrapped in floral prints!

Along the way, she introduces us to the notable figures and dreadful events that shaped 19th-century perceptions of health and safety. As we flip through the pages, we learn about families stricken by illness, homes tragically lost, and the relentless pursuit of beauty that led people to ignore the red flags-literally! (Yes, the color red is a thematic motif here, representing both beauty and danger!)

By the time you turn the last page, you'll be left questioning everything you thought you knew about vintage decor. Do I really want that retro wallpaper from the flea market, or am I just inviting a little bit of Victorian doom into my modern home? Trust me, after reading this book, you'll have a much healthier skepticism towards that "rustic charm."

Bitten By Witch Fever is a deep dive into how aesthetics and toxicity intertwined in the homes of the 1800s-a wild ride through social history that reminds us to always check what we're bringing into our homes. So, next time you find a lovely wallpaper at an estate sale, just remember: it might be charming, but it could also be a one-way ticket to the afterlife. Thanks, Lucinda, for taking us on this rollercoaster of domestic bliss and arsenic chaos!

Maddie Page

Classics, bestsellers, and guilty pleasures-none are safe from my sarcastic recaps. I turn heavy reads into lighthearted summaries you can actually enjoy. Warning: may cause random outbursts of laughter while pretending to study literature.