Previous studies of James Thomson [B.V.] failed to consider adequately the significant relationship between the man and his poetry, a failure which Mrs. Walker corrects in the present work. That poet of the Victorian Age who was so correctly labeled "The Laureate of Pessimism" will find renewed appreciation from students of the period who read this book.

Of all eras of London’s history, the Victorian and Edwardian city continues to stimulate the literary, visual, and popular imaginations like no other. This collection explores the unique relationship between the literary, and more broadly, artistic imagination and experience of the Victorian and Edwardian city. It includes some major figures such as Wordsworth, Dickens, and James, but also other writers and artists who are all but forgotten. Bringing together some of the leading scholars working on representations of Victorian and Edwardian London, this collection will be of interest to scholars, researchers and students working on literary London and more broadly the urban in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries.

Secret City is Richard Pawley's analysis of the life and writings of James Thomson, one of the most tormented authors of the Victorian era, best known for his work 'The City of Dreadful Night.' Pawley creates an emotional profile of Thomson not through secondary sources alone, but also through his writings. He does not simply give a critical evaluation of Thomson's writings and his contribution to the literature of the period. Pawley's analysis of Thomson's life allows Thomson to tell of his own agonies through his writing, and gives insight to the darker side of the Victorian era.