When I first ordered this book, I didn't quite know what to expect. I have only begun to dabble in corsets and thought this book would explain the basics of shapewear and corset training. However, the book was geared more toward the history of corsets and how they affected the daily life of young ladies a mere hundred years ago.

There were several specific stories of young women and the lengths that they would go to in order to achieve the desired hourglass body shape. From training corsets which the girls would wear 24/7, to changing the times of their daily bowel movements so that they didn't have to take off the corset unnecessarily; I learned several interesting facts about the history of figure training. The author also went into detail about the accessories associated with figure-training. For example, girls would be fitted for their corsets and then laced into high heels designed to mold their feet into "proper" feminine shape. She also went into detail about the pain the girls endured to get the perfect figure. Girls were often laced into their training corsets and were not allowed to remove them at any time. Sometimes, this led to the girls being tied to the bed in order to not mess with the laces in the middle of the night. Definitely not the most comfortable way to spend the night, but most women (even to this day) will put up with a little pain in the pursuit of physical perfection.

It was a good read, well-written, with advertisements for corsets makers and photos of ladies in waiting lacing their wards as part of their morning ritual peppered in to spice up the literature. If you want to learn more about the history of corsets and figure training, I would highly recommend this book.