Arthur Munby, barrister and published poet, met Hannah Cullwick, Shropshire scullery maid, on London's Oxford Street in 1854. They had in common a sexual obsession: Munby adored watching Hannah 'in her dirt' and she responded to him with a literally slavish devotion. Amply documented in their letters and diaries, this is the compelling tale of a clandestine relationship that was to last for over fifty years. 'Shadowy figures at the edge of Victorian life, they might almost have stepped out of a Dickens plot' Claire Tomalin ...
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Arthur Munby, barrister and published poet, met Hannah Cullwick, Shropshire scullery maid, on London's Oxford Street in 1854. They had in common a sexual obsession: Munby adored watching Hannah 'in her dirt' and she responded to him with a literally slavish devotion. Amply documented in their letters and diaries, this is the compelling tale of a clandestine relationship that was to last for over fifty years. 'Shadowy figures at the edge of Victorian life, they might almost have stepped out of a Dickens plot' Claire Tomalin, Evening Standard 'Arthur and Hannah have been lucky with their biographer...Diane Atkinson has a generous appreciation of all the nuances and paradoxes of their bizarre relationship' Mail on Sunday 'In the letters and diaries of Hannah Cullwick and Arthur Munby, Diane Atkinson has discovered a gem of a story...Love & Dirt successfully presents an important historical document in a highly readable, accessible form...a fascinating insight into aspects of Victorian sexuality' Sunday Independent
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