A Cuppa Tea and an Aspirin: the story of a Liverpool childhood that will break your heart

by Helen Forrester

Timeless family drama from the best-selling author of Tuppence to Cross the Mersey. With over 3 million copies sold around the world, Helen Forrester’s heart-warming and gripping fiction, set in Liverpool during the Depression, continues to move readers.Life in a Liverpool tenement block is a grim struggle for Martha Connelly, who works hard every day to protect her family from hunger and disease.

When rumours of war reach the neighbourhood in 1938, it becomes clear that life will soon be changed forever. As tough as it is, this is the life that Martha knows and loves — she’ll fight not to lose it, but will she succeed?

Despite their troubles, the community is full of warmth and support from friends and neighbours. Through hardships and small triumphs, they’ll strive to survive together.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary

498 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2003

About the author

Helen Forrester (real name June Bhatia) (born 1919, Hoylake, Cheshire (now in Merseyside)) is an English-born author famous for her books about her early childhood in Liverpool during the Great Depression as well as several works of fiction.

In 1953 Forrester moved to Edmonton, Canada.

Reviews

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story set in Liverpool in the late 30s in the lead up to the war.
The action is set around the Connelly family who live in the infamous "courts" Martha is head of the clan and struggles day to day to keep body and soul together and to feed and clothe her family with the little menial jobs she is able to scratch together along with the help of charities and neighbours. The family saga tells of the exloits of her, her husband Patrick, her nine children and the friends and neighbours who pull together as a community to make a hard life more bearable, some aspects of the story are told in retrospect as some chapters jump to 1965 which sees Martha in an old folks home where she is suffering brutal treatment at the hands of an uncaring matron and overworked nurses aides. At times touching, sad, funny but overall a great read with an air of realism and immediacy that makes you feel the poverty of the characters involved with a touch of Catherine Cookson / Josephine Cox. Wonderful and well worth reading if you enjoy these kind of novels.

[Ngdecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This followed a couple of families in Liverpool from 1938 to 1965. They were extremely poor and many times it was disturbing and difficult to read, but, on the whole, I enjoyed the book. It surely shows a whole different world and makes you appreciate your life.

[Doreen Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this as it brought the old days to life. Yes some parts were hard reading but more for the detail poverty and how degraded people of a lower class were treated. But this book also showed how bonds were built and broken, the views we have long forgotten about like family but not necessary blood as this made me laugh with the adopted aunties and uncles, as growing up and until my adult life I have gathered many new family members. Martha the main character had a rough time and as she went through her story you felt that many choices that she made affected how she ended up where she was and how a new auntie Sheila came along with the help of the "dear lady" at the right time of her life. You have to read the book to understand .

[Colleen Bousquet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I feel very fortunate that I did not have to live through either of the world wars. I felt many emotions while reading this book. The struggle these people had to go through just to exist. It's a history lesson. Some of my bigger problems seem smaller now, after reading this book. It sure gives you a good account of what life was like then. The physical and emotional pain these people suffered is unbelievable, but it is true, it really happened.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helen Forrester really writes from the heart and her own life experiences. I could not bear to put this down as it was so true to what life was like back at that time. People just had to get on with life no matter what, but this is when neighbours who were in the same type of circumstances rallied round and helped. Human nature and kindness are wonderful attributes and it really shows up her in this story.It starts off with Martha who has had a bad fall and damaged her hip being put into a crowded old folk's home. The only person who has compassion for these patients is a nursing aide called Angie, Martha's only friend. The matron is a cold unfeeling person, she tries to make sure all patients are no trouble by not allowing them out their beds even the ones who are not bedridden. Martha is sitting thinking back to when she was young and had a family of nine children living in the courts. The story goes on to tell you about her life and how her children turned out, some good some bad. Very down to earth story. I recommend highly.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book on the whole. It gave such insight into the terrible poverty in Liverpool in the 30s - families appear to have been living in conditions not uncommon in Victorian London. It's a wonder that people survived in such appalling conditions. The plot was simple - it followed the life of Martha Connolly her family and friends from the late 30s to 1965. As I said earlier most of the book was and enjoyable interesting read but I didn't like the divine intervention details towards the end - it seemed a clumsy handling of what many people believe.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was about the slums of Liverpool in the 1930/40s, and then flashbacks from 1965. People were very poor. The story is basically about one family of Catholices. A mother and father and 9 children who lived in one room in what was known as "the courts" in the dockside area of Liverpool. Each family occupied one room of a house, often without windows. There was one lavatory for all the families. Charities provided clothing and a little food.

A very sad story,but based on truth.

[Laurie Sharpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the same feeling that Angela's Ashes evoked so I will just recite the same review if thats alright..

You are wet, cold and tired, all you want is to go home, to be inside by a warm fire with a big mug of rich creamy hot chocolate yet all someone can offer you is a lean to shelter and a dry pair of socks, you realize you are eternally grateful.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. An insight into the suffering of poverty that is enlightening but charming. I had no idea. Things were so tough for this family and their neighbors, and the book even looks into the horrors of elder care, things still going on today. The characters are quite likable, though, and so the story is very enjoyable to read. Quite enlightening, too.

[Shirley Revill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this book. Very well written and very hard to put down.

[Kara Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book! A fascinating story and a part of history that I knew very little about. This book takes place along the docks of Liverpool. The Connelly family lives in Court 5, one of the tenements. The families that live here are extremely poor- Martha, the head of her clan works hard to protect her family from hunger and disease. This story takes place on the cusp of WWII, and into 1965 as we see Martha in a nursing facility, reflecting on her life and family.
Helen Forrester has written a captivating tale of the strength of family and the will to persevere and continue.
I read up on Helen Forrester, and found her biography quite fascinating. While she grew up in England- from a wealthy family that lost everything in the Great Depression, she eventually moved to Edmonton, Alberta (my province). She wrote several novels, including an autobiography series. She passed away several years ago, but I may go on to read her autobiography series.

[Caroline Montague · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Martha's story through the years from a young mother to a pensioner. Some parts of the story are heartbreaking.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Forrester is to England what Laura Engles Wilder is to the U.S. I love her books. She has preserved a piece of England that would have been lost.

[Michelle Muench]

I thought this was a really good book. i definatly recomend it. I liked how the author went in between two times in marthas life. Helen Forrester was excellent at describing how this family lived. i felt like i could feel the cold and hunger that these people were feeling.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to believe people lived like this in mid-20th Century Britain -usual slum squalor of Helen Forrester's working class so a hard read!

[Marietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A goodread, good insight into city life during the war.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I might, given the blurb. That's good particularly after a summer full of lacklustre choices (or maybe it's just the situation that is lacklustre). What a contrast with Shoes Were for Sunday, a true story of life in a Scottish "close", the equivalent of the Liverpool courts. Somehow the Weir family managed to stay clean and lice-free, though, perhaps because there weren't nine kids to feed and clothe, and less of the parents' wages went on drink.

One thing that struck me was how men just assumed women got sick, fainted, and died young. Girls were expected to mind younger siblings in their childhood and then leave school as soon as possible and work--and turn over their pay entire. "What do you think girls are for?" The author must have known my dad and his circle. It reminded me of some of the wartime diaries I've read, how many women started smoking because they gave the husband and kids most of the food and made do with what was left, if anything was. Smoking apparently calmed the hunger pangs. No wonder one of the primary forms of hospital treatment was simply bed rest and regular meals!

My one complaint was the constant switching between 1935-40 and 1965; personally I would have preferred a more linear telling of the story, and I think it could have been done as well as not. I did however like the ending.
Four and half stars.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to review…. The author writes about families from Liverpool, from 1938 to 1965. The families are extremely poor and in a world where things come too easily to us, it was difficult to relate to such poverty. One mother in the book admitted that she had never had a bath in her 63 years. On another occasion, that same mother is told that moving to the workhouse with her children would be a better life than the one she is currently living.

This book was very difficult to read at times and was a real eye opener as to the harsh realities of pre-war Britain for many families in the North.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could, my rating would be 3.5
In spite of the deprivation, the vermin, the constant struggle to survive and provide for her family as the country is on the brink of WWII, Martha Connolly finds her self reminiscing fondly of the care and community that was left behind when the family was able to afford better accommodations. "I don't know how I'll fill all the emptiness," Martha whimpers to herself, when the war offers better paying jobs that take her oldest children away from her, at the same time the family is able to rent a whole house with multiple rooms.
This story speaks to the poverty of soul that can come with the gain of things. It speaks to the losses and longings that come with age and death and moving "up" and the need for us to find new ways to create community, care and windows of hope when what we once were and knew is gone.
Filled with harsh realities of life in Liverpool near the docks in the late 30's, the horrors during the war, crude language and the moral code of the desperate, even in the shadow of the church, this story offers glimpses of hope when kindness and compassion reach across the lines of class and religious differences.

[Babus Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives an account of Martha Connolly's life in the present girls 1965 in a residential home where she recounts her poverty stricken days 30 years ago in a court in Liverpool. Martha has found herself in residential care after having fallen at home and broken her hip. The residential home she finds herself in is run by a malevolent matron who prefers patients drugged and undemanding. Martha, who is clear of mind befriends care aide Angie who listens to her compelling story.

The struggle to feed a large family at a time when unemployment was rife is eloquently described in this book. Martha's story kept me turning the pages and I got very drawn into finding out what became of her family and friends.

A compelling read.

[Natasha James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written, poignant and often moving story of life; poverty and struggle, for a mother to feed her family and survive. Helen Forrester has written another brilliant, truly evocative and fully encapsulated book about the infamous, unsanitary and crime ridden courts of Liverpool during the years of the Second World War. How lucky we are today and how short a time span it was to an era when the poorest of the poor lived like this. Humbling in the extreme! 4 stars as it had a rather poor and rushed ending in my honest opinion.

[Emmii · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read a Helen Forrester book before and was recommended to read her work by a friend. This is the one I chose and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very thought provoking at what people endured in the late 1930's as the 2nd World War approached. Neighbours, friends and family looked after one another... Sadly many these days don't even know who their neighbours are. Really recommend. It's a good read of what life used to be like.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had downloaded this book as I thought I would enjoy it, but in reality, I really struggled with it. It just didn't draw me in the way I liked these types of books to do. I kept going with it but I did struggle and lost my attention on a number of occasions. The story line was good but the writing didn't flow for me.

[Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this tale of poverty in Liverpool just before WWII. Martha is in a poorly run nursing home in the 1960's and she tells her story of her life without bitterness to the one care assistant who bothers to take some time to listen.

[Angela Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting view of life in the period 1935 -1965 in a Liverpool dock slum. It focuses on the life in Court No 5 with the struggles and triumphs of Martha, mother of nine children and the community she lives in.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helen Forrester...I either really enjoy her books, or can not get into them at all and return them to the library unfinished.

Will I try her again in the future? Possibly.

[Robyn333 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story of horrific pverty in the courts

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry not for me this book, couldnt get inerested in it and I have read Helen Forrester before,I was disappointed

[Shadoh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out with lots of ' daily life' stories....pretty bad plotting at the end.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nice blend of yesteryear and "today".