The city of London sought in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that baked the metropolis. An even more detestable force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial discharges had transformed London's lifeblood into a stench. The stench was all-consuming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and saturated

The year eight hundred forty-five AD. A chill wind swept across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent emanating from salt and fear. The Norsemen were upon us, a horde swarm of warriors seeking riches. Their longships, like beasts of the north, sliced through the waters, their flags fluttering in the wind. A city once proud now trembled beneat