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1880s: Be afraid of what you might see in Victorian London, but be more afraid of what you can’t…
The Limehouse Golem
What you need to know before your trail
The Golem is not the kind of man, creature nor beast you would ever care to meet. It’s not even known if he ressembles something of an enigma or myth but what ever this thing is, it’s on a killing rampage across the capital. Only a few years before Jack the Ripper would hit the streets of London, the Golem slivers and slides all over the streets leaving blood and death in his wake.
Then there’s Elizabeth Cree, an actress who is to face her final audience – a small one at her hanging.
It’s this world of the Victorian theatres which could play a part in the unfolding of this mystery. This world was one where those who could afford it, could escape life for an evening. But for others, there is no escape at all….
Travel Guide
The world of London Theatre
The Victorian Music Halls were a very unique place in London in the 1880s. This was a world where people escaped from the worst of reality. The fog covers London like a black cloak of an old man sheltering his face from the rain. This is the face no one ever sees – whether it’s the London of the music halls or the Golem itself.
In this London, Karl Marx and George Gissing play their roles – real people in a world that flits between real and fictional through fog and gore. They both play their roles of intellectuals analyzing the suffering of people living on the streets and the society of the time. Karl Marx says that these theatres are the true opiate of the masses.
That’s if the fog, stench, alcohol, dirt and squalor doesn’t kill them first.
Dan Leno another leading man in a fictional role here was really called George Wild Galvin, and was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor.
Golem
In the area of Limehouse, a character known as a Golem creating fear. He himself has been created from myths and either described as an artificial being or a Jewish Rabi in the 15th century. Bodies pile up and there are some very dark and gruesome murders which take place in and around the city’s streets. You can run after the Golem, try to catch him, but as soon as you think you might catch him, it vanishes into thin air…
But it’s those Jewish myths that Karl Marx is very interested in the whys and what fors. The how and the when.
Streetview Maps
D) Limehouse - Commercial Road
E) Limehouse - St Anne's Church
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
You’ll need all the lights on when you read this and even then the room will be dark. This is dark and then some. There is a lot of layers to this – great portrayals of historical figures, a horrific murder, a hanging, a trial and all this with a musical backdrop and an insight into the music halls of the 1800s
There’s mentions of the Ratcliffe Highway murders, references to Jack the Ripper but this Limehouse Golem is quite something else. The story and the mystery of this creature unfurls like a snake, then there is silence and stillness and then BAM the snake strikes
I enjoyed the mix of fact, fiction and myth and tales of what might be lurking in the dank London streets. If the book is this good I can’t wait to see the film but I saw the book play out in my mind and it’s a dark world out there.
It reads more like something written in Mary Shelley’s day – and there’s plenty of Frankenstein- esque moments in this book.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Limehouse Golem
Destination: London Author/Guide: Peter Ackroyd Departure Time: 1880s
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