Twopence to Cross the Mersey - Helen Forrester

Tough times, and a lively tale well-told, of the days before the Welfare State, and the lengths people were forced to when unemployed.  As the blurb says, there's no wallowing in self-pity, though there is anger, as Helen was forced to look after her siblings and neglect the schooling which she loved.

Helen Forrester died last November, and it was through reading her obituary that I decided to get hold of the book.  Worth a read, for itself, as well as to remind us of how we take our current safety nets for granted.

Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue - Lynn Knight

I caught this on Radio 4 early on August 3rd - I guess it was the mention of Chesterfield and in particular Whittington Moor which caught my ear. So, I ordered it.

It turns out Lynn Knight used to be an editor at Virago, too, and has written some women's history books

I think anyone would find the social and personal history interesting - Lynn concentrates on the three adopted children, her great-grandfather, Dick, her great-aunt Eva, and her own mother, Cora.  Around their tales, she includes a lot of local history.

For me, the book has a particular resonance, since my father's family lived in Chesterfield, and the Whittington area at that.  She talks about Pearson's Pottery, where my grandfather and uncle still worked when I was a child, and Shentall's grocer's - the yard was very close to Queen Street where my father and his brothers and sisters grew up.

My Friend the Enemy

by Paul Briscoe. Autobiographical. Insights into Nazi Germany, and how easy it was to be caught up in the general approval of Hitler and the anti-semitism.

Paul's mother was involved in