“Most people think Sherlock Holmes is real. About 60 percent. And we can’t tell them no,” says Carmen, a Victorian maid at 221B Baker St. “So if someone asks, ‘Does he live here?’ I tend to say yes.

Opening the door to her mistress's bedchamber, the maid knew she was risking the wrath of Victorian society. Taking her upperclass lover by his hand, she drew him in. On her lady's bed lay a lavish ...

In 19th-century London, class lines are sharply drawn, and the social standing to which people are born dictates the path their lives will follow. Emma, an honest and hardworking young maid, never ...