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Adams Family Saga #2
Our Emily
Emily had been a quite horrible child. Pushy, rough, and none too clean (for it must have been Emily who passed on her head-lice to the Adams family), she had been the bane of Mrs Adams and her children who lived next door, and especially she had been a trial to Boots, who had avoided her whenever he could.
But Emily grown-up was a different matter. She was still a cockney girl, but now she had a certain elegance, a style. The fighting toughness was still there - and she needed it. For Boots, back from the trenches, was blind, and Emily was to prove the mainstay, the breadwinner, and the love of his life.
Here again is the Adams family from Down Lambeth Way - Chinese Lady determined more than ever to be respectable, Tommy facing unemployment, and Sammy well on the way to becoming a street market tycoon. And above all here is Our Emily.
But Emily grown-up was a different matter. She was still a cockney girl, but now she had a certain elegance, a style. The fighting toughness was still there - and she needed it. For Boots, back from the trenches, was blind, and Emily was to prove the mainstay, the breadwinner, and the love of his life.
Here again is the Adams family from Down Lambeth Way - Chinese Lady determined more than ever to be respectable, Tommy facing unemployment, and Sammy well on the way to becoming a street market tycoon. And above all here is Our Emily.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Mary Jane Staples
59 books44 followersMary Jane Staples is a pseudonym used by British author Reginald Thomas Staples (1911-2005). He is also published under the name Robert Tyler Stevens, R.T. Stevens, and James Sinclair.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 31, 2015
So in "Our Emily", book 2 in the Adams family chronicles, we have the kids all pretty much grown up.
Boots is back from the war, married and making due with his disability until an operation hopefully gives him his freedom back.
Ned and Lizzy are building a family, Tommy trying to find work in a depressed economy and Sammy making a killing in his various business ventures. Emily is still very much Emily, excelling in her workplace but feeling a failure as a wife.
The title is a bit of a misnomer as the book dwells equally as much on Sammy and his enterprises (and possible romance) as it does on Emily and Boots. (In fact, the cover picture is of Susie, not Emily at all, although they got the hair color wrong)
I found this book weaker than the the first one (Down Lambeth Way). It seemed to rely too heavily on cheeky banter/ flirting than real happenings and some of the humor was rather off color. I especially didn't like the flirting carried on by married individuals to those not their mates.
It is still a good story but some bits were disappointing to me.
CONTENT:
SEX: A few brief, non-explicit-but-still-tmi-moments, (may not be appropriate for young readers); some off color humor and innuendos, frank talk about making love, conception/ contraception, as well as illegitimacy and sowing wild oats.
VIOLENCE: A few get beat up (not described blow for blow)
PROFANITY: G, JC, B's
MY RATING: PG-13 (for sexual content)
Boots is back from the war, married and making due with his disability until an operation hopefully gives him his freedom back.
Ned and Lizzy are building a family, Tommy trying to find work in a depressed economy and Sammy making a killing in his various business ventures. Emily is still very much Emily, excelling in her workplace but feeling a failure as a wife.
The title is a bit of a misnomer as the book dwells equally as much on Sammy and his enterprises (and possible romance) as it does on Emily and Boots. (In fact, the cover picture is of Susie, not Emily at all, although they got the hair color wrong)
I found this book weaker than the the first one (Down Lambeth Way). It seemed to rely too heavily on cheeky banter/ flirting than real happenings and some of the humor was rather off color. I especially didn't like the flirting carried on by married individuals to those not their mates.
It is still a good story but some bits were disappointing to me.
CONTENT:
SEX: A few brief, non-explicit-but-still-tmi-moments, (may not be appropriate for young readers); some off color humor and innuendos, frank talk about making love, conception/ contraception, as well as illegitimacy and sowing wild oats.
VIOLENCE: A few get beat up (not described blow for blow)
PROFANITY: G, JC, B's
MY RATING: PG-13 (for sexual content)
August 2, 2025
I absolutely love this series and this book was another good one
I like the way its written, i like the characters and i really enjoyed the storyline
these books always have me hooked and wanting to read more
I like the way its written, i like the characters and i really enjoyed the storyline
these books always have me hooked and wanting to read more
October 14, 2016
First of all, I haven't read the first part of Adams Family Saga (Down Lambeth Way). Nevertheless, this (second of the saga) novel is written in a way that I didn't feel I had missed something. I mean, a reader gets all information needed to understand the past and the present circumstances.
The book is one of those that are nicely and professionally written. The language which characters speak is as it should be, their dreams and views too (aptly to time and place in which the story happens). It is perhaps a little to much optimistic, I mean almost all people are good and all goes around that 'good always wins'. But one expects it from this kind of books.
I have read it with pleasure. It is funny and enjoyable. There wasn't a time when I was bored. I love an interaction between Sammy and Susie, how it evolved. It is the best part of the book, in my opinion. (I am going to read now the next part of the saga to see how it will going on further between them). And I like that thanks to this book I got to know better the people which lived in poorer part of London after IWW and their world.
So, it is a book to read in a train or to have a nice evening. But it isn't a book which takes your breath away nor squeezes your heart. And it isn't a book I will remember long nor I will go back to it. [Although, I think I will remember long about Sammy and Susie's relationship.]
The book is one of those that are nicely and professionally written. The language which characters speak is as it should be, their dreams and views too (aptly to time and place in which the story happens). It is perhaps a little to much optimistic, I mean almost all people are good and all goes around that 'good always wins'. But one expects it from this kind of books.
I have read it with pleasure. It is funny and enjoyable. There wasn't a time when I was bored. I love an interaction between Sammy and Susie, how it evolved. It is the best part of the book, in my opinion. (I am going to read now the next part of the saga to see how it will going on further between them). And I like that thanks to this book I got to know better the people which lived in poorer part of London after IWW and their world.
So, it is a book to read in a train or to have a nice evening. But it isn't a book which takes your breath away nor squeezes your heart. And it isn't a book I will remember long nor I will go back to it. [Although, I think I will remember long about Sammy and Susie's relationship.]
September 12, 2023
A comfortable read for a sick day. I devoured this in about 24 hrs, which considering I'm dealing with the worst cold I've had since about 1968 tells you something.
I was delighted to find a series of novels that deals with the same set of people, but can indeed be read out of sequence or as stand alones. It's all a little magical--the warmhearted East End family whose problems always seem to find their solution in the nick of time--but what can I say? I enjoyed it, barring the flag waving on the part of Mr Finch, but then I've never liked flag waving in any nation. However, I can't in good conscience shelve it as "social realism" because of the coinkidinks.
I was delighted to find a series of novels that deals with the same set of people, but can indeed be read out of sequence or as stand alones. It's all a little magical--the warmhearted East End family whose problems always seem to find their solution in the nick of time--but what can I say? I enjoyed it, barring the flag waving on the part of Mr Finch, but then I've never liked flag waving in any nation. However, I can't in good conscience shelve it as "social realism" because of the coinkidinks.
March 4, 2011
If you haven't read Mary Jane Staples stories of "The Adams Family" then you should. She tells a real story about real people full of humour laughter life and loves. I have read all of these a number of times and will definately read again.
August 2, 2024
This is the second book in a 31-book series, the “Adams Family”, by Mary Jane Staples (aka Robert Tyler Stevens, and the pseudonym of Reginald Thomas Staples).
This book continues directly from where #1 left off. Five months prior, Boots had been blinded in the First Battle of the Somme (1 July–13 November 1916) during World War I, aka ”The Great War” (28 July 1914–11 November 1918).
Unlike the first book, which was told from Robert Alfred Adams’, i.e. Boots’ point-of-view, this book is written in the third person. This makes it easier for the author to hop from character to character, as the story unravels.
As in the first book, I find the title of the book misleading. The first book “Down Lambeth Way”, in which I don’t think Lambeth was mentioned even once, but Walworth several times and Caulfield Place, the street on which they lived, was described to some extent. But then again, Charlie Chaplin always said he was from Lambeth when the actual specifics were too complicated to relate. This book’s title of “Our Emily”, would have the reader expecting the majority, if not all of the book, to be about 18-year-old Emily Castle, the girl from next door, that now lodged with the Adams family, and that Boots was to marry. However - yet again – it's mainly about the men: the eldest brother Boots and even the middle brother Tommy, but in particular the youngest brother Sammy William Adams and his employee Susie.
The book starts at the beginning of December 1916. The war had been going on for two years. The conditions in the trenches were horrendous, there were high casualty figures and men were lost at sea, and yet the newspapers reported on the deeds of heroism, rather than the negatives, to keep up morale.
On the home front, rationing was tightening, and food was worryingly short, especially meat, butter, cheese and eggs. Margarine was rationed, like other foods. Lots of women had jobs they normally wouldn’t have had as the men were away at war. So at least there was money coming in.
The book next hops to May 1920. The war is over. England has suffered from an expensive and hallow victory. A million are dead, there are no jobs for many of the returning men, suffragettes protest at the unfairness of the system whenever women are sacked to make way for the returning ex-servicemen, and the government is busy trying to lift the economic depression.
During this time of widespread unemployment, as always, the make-do Walworth housewives are proud and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their husbands against everything life can and does throw at them. “… but a pride almost ferocious made the housewives keep their doorsteps, their windows and their faded curtains clean. They fought a constant battle against the invading hoards of the enemy, the enemy being the smoking, sooty chimneys of Walworth, where fogs were thick and yellow.”
As in the first book of the Adams Family -saga, I enjoyed this book for its social historical aspect. I especially like stories from both world wars. In this book, you can see the juxtaposition between the old way of life and thinking, with Chinese Lady, the mother Mrs. Maisie Adams, representing the: ”That was what a man was for, to work and provide.” train of thought, and the actual realities of the time.
The re-entry of the family lodger Mr. Finch into the story took me quite by surprise, and I found Emily’s visit to Dr. McNamis to ask for a prescription for a contraception, and his recommending “washables”, quite a shuddering thought.
The best part of this book, however, was the hilarity of 18-year-old five-foot-ten, brown-faced and blue-eyed Sammy’s battle against his feelings for Susie. I found the author’s description of how Susie wormed her way into Sammy’s affections wonderful. Sammy noticed and tried to put up his barriers: ”’She’s not believable,’ thought Sammy. ‘She’s a danger to my peace of mind. First her starving eyes, then her religious mania, then buckets of tears, then kisses, and now an invitation to meet her parents. If he wasn’t careful, she’d get him to become a second father to her and make him feel responsible for her welfare.”
This book continues directly from where #1 left off. Five months prior, Boots had been blinded in the First Battle of the Somme (1 July–13 November 1916) during World War I, aka ”The Great War” (28 July 1914–11 November 1918).
Unlike the first book, which was told from Robert Alfred Adams’, i.e. Boots’ point-of-view, this book is written in the third person. This makes it easier for the author to hop from character to character, as the story unravels.
As in the first book, I find the title of the book misleading. The first book “Down Lambeth Way”, in which I don’t think Lambeth was mentioned even once, but Walworth several times and Caulfield Place, the street on which they lived, was described to some extent. But then again, Charlie Chaplin always said he was from Lambeth when the actual specifics were too complicated to relate. This book’s title of “Our Emily”, would have the reader expecting the majority, if not all of the book, to be about 18-year-old Emily Castle, the girl from next door, that now lodged with the Adams family, and that Boots was to marry. However - yet again – it's mainly about the men: the eldest brother Boots and even the middle brother Tommy, but in particular the youngest brother Sammy William Adams and his employee Susie.
The book starts at the beginning of December 1916. The war had been going on for two years. The conditions in the trenches were horrendous, there were high casualty figures and men were lost at sea, and yet the newspapers reported on the deeds of heroism, rather than the negatives, to keep up morale.
On the home front, rationing was tightening, and food was worryingly short, especially meat, butter, cheese and eggs. Margarine was rationed, like other foods. Lots of women had jobs they normally wouldn’t have had as the men were away at war. So at least there was money coming in.
The book next hops to May 1920. The war is over. England has suffered from an expensive and hallow victory. A million are dead, there are no jobs for many of the returning men, suffragettes protest at the unfairness of the system whenever women are sacked to make way for the returning ex-servicemen, and the government is busy trying to lift the economic depression.
During this time of widespread unemployment, as always, the make-do Walworth housewives are proud and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their husbands against everything life can and does throw at them. “… but a pride almost ferocious made the housewives keep their doorsteps, their windows and their faded curtains clean. They fought a constant battle against the invading hoards of the enemy, the enemy being the smoking, sooty chimneys of Walworth, where fogs were thick and yellow.”
As in the first book of the Adams Family -saga, I enjoyed this book for its social historical aspect. I especially like stories from both world wars. In this book, you can see the juxtaposition between the old way of life and thinking, with Chinese Lady, the mother Mrs. Maisie Adams, representing the: ”That was what a man was for, to work and provide.” train of thought, and the actual realities of the time.
The re-entry of the family lodger Mr. Finch into the story took me quite by surprise, and I found Emily’s visit to Dr. McNamis to ask for a prescription for a contraception, and his recommending “washables”, quite a shuddering thought.
The best part of this book, however, was the hilarity of 18-year-old five-foot-ten, brown-faced and blue-eyed Sammy’s battle against his feelings for Susie. I found the author’s description of how Susie wormed her way into Sammy’s affections wonderful. Sammy noticed and tried to put up his barriers: ”’She’s not believable,’ thought Sammy. ‘She’s a danger to my peace of mind. First her starving eyes, then her religious mania, then buckets of tears, then kisses, and now an invitation to meet her parents. If he wasn’t careful, she’d get him to become a second father to her and make him feel responsible for her welfare.”
January 23, 2025
Brilliant book.
This like all the other Adams family books are very well written. So enjoyable to read about the family. It is like you are in the house with the family watching their interactions. Unlike the first book, which was written in the first person ( Boots), this book and the rest the writer is more like a narrator of events but not anyone in particular. Although you do get each character's thoughts etc. But her seamless way of writing, it's not awkward at all. Some books devote one chapter per character's point of view and it does get a bit clunky, this is just as I said seamless, you don't feel that it impacts on the storytelling.
Highly, highly recommended.
This like all the other Adams family books are very well written. So enjoyable to read about the family. It is like you are in the house with the family watching their interactions. Unlike the first book, which was written in the first person ( Boots), this book and the rest the writer is more like a narrator of events but not anyone in particular. Although you do get each character's thoughts etc. But her seamless way of writing, it's not awkward at all. Some books devote one chapter per character's point of view and it does get a bit clunky, this is just as I said seamless, you don't feel that it impacts on the storytelling.
Highly, highly recommended.
November 23, 2018
Love these books, I’m rereading them and I’m enjoining the second time around,just going to start the the third book, I love the way people lived years ago and it makes me sad reading about the 1st world war especially now that we have remembered all those brave men that were lost, if your going to start to read these books I think you should start from the beginning that you get to know all the characters. Enjoy
June 16, 2017
Re-reading the whole series.
When I left England 8 years ago, I gave a huge box full of this Adams Family saga to my Nan. She sadly passed away and no one knew where the books went. I'd read them all and loved the whole collection. So now, I'm collecting them on my kindle, never to be lost again.
When I left England 8 years ago, I gave a huge box full of this Adams Family saga to my Nan. She sadly passed away and no one knew where the books went. I'd read them all and loved the whole collection. So now, I'm collecting them on my kindle, never to be lost again.
March 23, 2024
This is the second book in the Adams family series set in east London after the First World War. What I like about the series is that the characters are likeable and the historical fiction is well-written to take you back to the time. I didn’t think this was as good as the first book, but it depicts the boys grown up.
March 18, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this second book about the lives of the Adams family which began in Down Lambeth Way. Brilliant mix of humour and pathos. Storytelling at its best. Can't wait to start book three.
January 24, 2023
Once again I found myself in the centre of this wonderful family.
The story flows well and the characters so endearing
After two books in this saga I am hooked and can’t wait for the next one
The story flows well and the characters so endearing
After two books in this saga I am hooked and can’t wait for the next one
February 3, 2023
Pity it wasn’t focalized through Boots as much, but still funny! It is getting a Peaky Blinders turn and I love it.
April 6, 2023
Wonderful to see Emily coming into her own as she is a hugely likeable and believable character.
March 24, 2024
Feel good read
December 2, 2018
Lovely book
Good read, enjoying the series so far, nice fun easy book about life in London. Will be reading the rest of the series.
Good read, enjoying the series so far, nice fun easy book about life in London. Will be reading the rest of the series.
December 11, 2021
This is the second book in this family series I have read and I really like it. There’s warmth and humour in these books. I loved the two children sent to the office Emily works at, Orrice and Effel. Emily still has the fire and feisty personality that she had as a child, but she has much more self control of her self. Emily and Boots were always destined to be together and make a wonderful couple.
Also throughout the novel is Boots' sister Lizzie and her husband Ned, it's a must to mention them as their story runs throughout the first and second story, their relationship and marriage. So we don't forget Lizzie and Ned! Ned and Boots both were involved in WWI and were injured, Emily and Lizzie both cared for the respective young men at home.
This series is highly recommended to all readers.
Also throughout the novel is Boots' sister Lizzie and her husband Ned, it's a must to mention them as their story runs throughout the first and second story, their relationship and marriage. So we don't forget Lizzie and Ned! Ned and Boots both were involved in WWI and were injured, Emily and Lizzie both cared for the respective young men at home.
This series is highly recommended to all readers.
Read
October 6, 2022This wonderful read follows the lives of the Adams family of Walworth but introduces Emily, the girl next door.
Mary Jane Staples has a wonderful voice that brings the characters to life, helping the reader engage in a way that is unique to her style of writing.
At the beginning, you almost feel sorry for Emily, but throughout the book, you begin to see a kind-hearted, generous-spirited young lady whom it is impossible not to fall in love with.
If you love a light-hearted, family oriented, fun-filled read, then this is definitely for you.
Mary Jane Staples has a wonderful voice that brings the characters to life, helping the reader engage in a way that is unique to her style of writing.
At the beginning, you almost feel sorry for Emily, but throughout the book, you begin to see a kind-hearted, generous-spirited young lady whom it is impossible not to fall in love with.
If you love a light-hearted, family oriented, fun-filled read, then this is definitely for you.
August 22, 2012
I just loved this book! Funny, emotive, gave you a sense of history. Made you cry too!
February 25, 2013
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I loved the adams so much i wished i cud hv bn apart of it,ts a ril family book.no way u cn stay the same aftr readng t
I loved the adams so much i wished i cud hv bn apart of it,ts a ril family book.no way u cn stay the same aftr readng t
August 22, 2025
Loved this much more on my second read
January 31, 2015
A solid second book in the Adams family saga.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews