THE THAMES RAN FOUL: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London sweltered in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that parched the metropolis. An even more repellent force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial effluents had transformed London's lifeblood into a nauseating odor. The stench was oppressive, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and

The year eight hundred forty-five AD. A chill wind swept across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent of salt and fear. The Norsemen had arrived, a stormy swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like wolves, sliced through the waters, their standards waving in the wind. A city once peaceful now trembled beneath the shadow of Ragna