Not all Regency novels, especially romances, venture into the seedier parts of London. In the East End were warrens of streets and alleys, buildings all crammed together and the poor unfortunates who lived and worked there.
The rookeries were hotbeds of crime, havens for drug users and dealers, prostitution and worse. It was these areas that Charles Dickens quite often focused on in his chilling tales. It was in the rookery of Jacob's Island (pictured here) where the villain Bill Sikes met his end in Oliver Twist. The full title of David Copperfield was "The Personal History, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery which he never meant to be published on any account."
*Further reading: The Regency Underworld by Donald A. Low, What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool and the Wikipedia article titled Jacob's Island.
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