I'm a big fan of historical novels and Stacey Halls is one of my favourite authors in the genre. The Household is a richly detailed slice of London history from the mid 1800's and I loved the way the novel featured real life people from the period, such as Charles Dickens and Angela Burdett-Coutts, and their involvement with Urania Cottage. The narrative deftly weaves them into the lives of a cast of engaging characters and their stories really brought home to me the poverty and harshness of life at the time, and the huge divide between rich and poor. Urania Cottage was both a charitable endeavour and a social experiment and I found the subject fascinating. It's always a good sign when the subject matter of a book interests me enough that I have to go off and research the reality behind the story, this one definitely ticked that box for me.