Oh, The Small Room is interesting! I remember being frustrated by it, but feeling like there was a good novel in there somewhere.

Alas Poor Lady sounds VERY interesting. I had no idea there were charities for poor gentlefolk, how odd: I assumed gentlefolk were so busy pretending they weren't poor they didn't ever seek help, but that's probably not very nuanced of me. The books sounds like a very interesting exploration of that particular period.