Old Style Inspiration Books

Margaret54

oh yes Helen Forrester has written some great books too. I felt so sad for her when i read her first one. She lived in abject poverty:(

thriftmonster

A lot of the Fairacre and Thrush Green books by Miss Read have quite a lot of stuff about OS country living in as well.

Hornetgirl - I love Family from One End Street and have just replaced all 3 copies of the trilogy that I had lost.

Seakay

Thriftmonster - I hadn't realise that The Family From One End Street was part of a trilogy, what are the other two called?

balmaiden

I remember The family from one end street, I remember a follow up called A holiday at Dew Drop inn. I think one of the children was sent there to convalese but I may well be wrong on that.

nodwah

I've just finished reading The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham. I really enjoyed it, funny, good story and a few recipes dotted through it.

Another really good book is I think just called 'Cod' by Mark Kurlanski it's all about the history of cod fishing I know that might sound a bit odd but It's fascinating and has a lot of traditional recipes in it,

nodwah

Oh yeah! My mum has a copy of Enquire within .. From about the 1920's it's brilliant.

I also have an up to date version from the 1980's which TBH just ain't the same.

_ this was meant to have a quote in it about Enqure within upon everything- a great household book from the 1890s to the 1940's(?) worth buying if you see one at the charity shop

thriftmonster

Hi Seakay,

Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street
Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn (thanks, Balmaiden)

Both are out of print, so I had to buy (quite expensive) 2nd hand copies. My sister and I loved these as kids.

lilias

Has anyone else read " The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Children on 25 words or less" by Terry Ryan? It's a true story about a very poor family with an alcoholic father, The mother keeps the family going by winning competitions. She must have been an amazing woman.

luxor4t

thriftlady wrote: »

What about I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith (she of 101 Dalmations) ? It is set in the thirties and is about the Mortmain family who live in a crumbling castle with no money. Its theme is growing up and first love but the descriptions of the family's efforts to manage on nothing are inspiring and fun.

Yes, I really enjoyed this when I first read it (aged 12), bought the film tie-in for DD, who was charmed too. A very 'lost' world though - imagine leaving school and not expecting to have to work so enduring grating poverty instead!

Dodie Smith's 3 volume auto-biography is fascinating, but hard to come by. As a young woman she lived in Central London on a very tight budget and was involved in the theatre. I think each book is called 'Looking back with ?????' (1st is 'love' ?).

New York author Helene Hanff had a fascinating life, I love 'Underfoot in Showbusiness', which tells how she survived as a talented but unsuccesful script writer and book reviewer in the most expensive city in the world. (She wrote 'Charing Cross Road' too, amongst others!

Seakay

Thanks for the info, I did not realise that Dodie Smith had written autobiography- I'll definitely be adding them to my "look out for" list!
Checked on Wikki and found these:
Smith, Dodie (1979). Look Back With Astonishment. London: W.H. Allen. ISBN 0491021984.
Smith, Dodie (1985). Look Back With Gratitude. London: Muller, Blond & White. ISBN 058411124X.
Smith, Dodie (1974). Look Back With Love: A Manchester Childhood. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0434713554.
Smith, Dodie (1978). Look Back With Mixed Feelings. London: W.H. Allen. ISBN 0491020732.