The first part of Ghost Map is spent setting up a mental image and trying to help the reader understand what it would be like to live in London in the 1850s. London was the largest city in the world at the time and was a sort of experiment to see if millions of people could live in a confined area without imploding upon itself. The cholera epidemic that struck London’s Soho region around the broad street pump was going to be a catastrophe that needed to be dealt with, even though nobody really new how to. People started dieing in their homes from cholera and the disease spread at an alarming rate throughout the community. It was particularly interesting when the book spoke of several people finding the actual cure for cholera but that they were overshadowed by other less scientific or effective “cures”.
