the merely spectacular

Maybe the authors are London-centric, as some believe? Liverpool gets tagged with a mis-placed 'Street' at one point, while the WCML is described as the main route for passengers to major cities in the Midlands and North West; Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. No mention of southbound travel or Glasgow or Scotland. [Liverpool Street is a major rail terminus in London.]

[…] if the supply of canes slackened at the mill, the field driver was flogged for not flogging the cane cutters.

At first she had wondered what he wanted of her, when (so she had heard) plenty of round-heeled Washington girls were his at a push.