Jerry White
Save the Children
Orphans of Empire: The Fate of London’s Foundlings
By Helen Berry
Oxford University Press 364pp £20
‘Florella Burney Born June the 19: 1,758: in the Parish off St Anna SoHo. Not Baptiz’d, pray Let porticulare care be take’en off this child, As it will be call’d for Again.’ The love felt by desperate mothers forced by circumstances to abandon their babies in the 18th century emanates clearly from this note, left with the 8,959th child admitted to the London Foundling Hospital a few days after her birth. It is one of myriad telling details unearthed by Helen Berry in her attractive retelling of the hospital’s fascinating history.
The Foundling Hospital was London’s pet charity. Its founding father was Thomas Coram, a stalwart Dorset-born seaman and merchant who finally settled in Rotherhithe, alongside the banks of the Thames. He was moved to pity by the plight of babies abandoned in the streets to die or perhaps
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm