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Forest Trilogy #1
A Child in the Forest
The author recounts her childhood in Gloucestershire, where her father was a coal miner, her work as a domestic servant in London, and her first meeting with her future husband
191 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
20 people are currently reading
380 people want to read
About the author
Winifred Foley
14 books9 followersHer first book, A Child in the Forest, was published by the BBC in 1974 after it was aired as a Woman's Hour serial on the radio the previous year.
It became the first of the celebrated Forest Trilogy. Chronicling her experiences of growing up in poverty in the Forest of Dean, the story subsequently inspired a BBC Television drama Abide with Me (1977).
The book's sequel, No Pipe Dreams for Father (1977), charted her teenage years, while the concluding volume, Back to the Forest (1981), described Winifred Foley's return to the Forest of Dean with a family of her own after the Second World War.
Born in 1914 in the mining village of Brierley, near Cinderford, Winnie was the daughter of a miner who was blacklisted for being a local leader in the General Strike of 1926.
Never having enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear cemented her lifelong socialist views, as did the influence of her husband Syd. She met her him at a political meeting while she was in service in London and they married on Christmas Day 1938.
A Child in the Forest started life as a handwritten scrawl in dog-eared exercise books before finding its way to the BBC in Bristol.
Later, the book financed a pleasant cottage in Cliffords Mesne, near Newent, where painting became an interest. Finally, after her husband's death, she moved to Cheltenham, where she had gone into service as a teenager.
It became the first of the celebrated Forest Trilogy. Chronicling her experiences of growing up in poverty in the Forest of Dean, the story subsequently inspired a BBC Television drama Abide with Me (1977).
The book's sequel, No Pipe Dreams for Father (1977), charted her teenage years, while the concluding volume, Back to the Forest (1981), described Winifred Foley's return to the Forest of Dean with a family of her own after the Second World War.
Born in 1914 in the mining village of Brierley, near Cinderford, Winnie was the daughter of a miner who was blacklisted for being a local leader in the General Strike of 1926.
Never having enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear cemented her lifelong socialist views, as did the influence of her husband Syd. She met her him at a political meeting while she was in service in London and they married on Christmas Day 1938.
A Child in the Forest started life as a handwritten scrawl in dog-eared exercise books before finding its way to the BBC in Bristol.
Later, the book financed a pleasant cottage in Cliffords Mesne, near Newent, where painting became an interest. Finally, after her husband's death, she moved to Cheltenham, where she had gone into service as a teenager.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
May 20, 2015
This is the autobiography of Winifred Foley, describing her childhood in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and teenage years spent as a maidservant in London. I found it a passable enough bedtime read. I don't think Foley is natural writer, but it had for me the attractions almost of an oral history.
Above all else, I got a sense of how warm family life could do much to ameliorate the harshness of severe financial hardship. She was the daughter of a coal miner in the 1920s, and life was obviously very tough. It was tough for all the family, but their closeness overcame many obstacles.
One problem I had, and this may well just be due to my own shortcomings, is I find it quite hard to follow written conversations in a strong dialect, I find they interrupt my concentration on the general flow of a book.... and there were a lot of conversations, especially in the first two thirds of the book. Herewith an example.
Hopefully other people are more able to take local dialect in their stride.
Above all else, I got a sense of how warm family life could do much to ameliorate the harshness of severe financial hardship. She was the daughter of a coal miner in the 1920s, and life was obviously very tough. It was tough for all the family, but their closeness overcame many obstacles.
One problem I had, and this may well just be due to my own shortcomings, is I find it quite hard to follow written conversations in a strong dialect, I find they interrupt my concentration on the general flow of a book.... and there were a lot of conversations, especially in the first two thirds of the book. Herewith an example.
Hopefully other people are more able to take local dialect in their stride.
November 13, 2009
Back before the misery memoir was all the rage, there was the nostalgic childhood book - this one, Larkrise to Candleford, Cider with Rosie, and no doubt others. They capture rural childhoods before cars were common place, when children still went barefoot and the world was a different place. Poverty is frequently a theme, but the authors look back with fondness at a more innocencet time.
A Child in the Forest captures scenes from the author's youth in the Forest of Dean - growing up the impoverished child of a miner. There's adult details in the background, struggling, striking and so forth, but much of it filtered through childish eyes and with little attempt at recasting it from an adult view.
Instead of just wallowing in the harder elements, Foley recalls much that was good about her childhood and adolescence. It's a book that covers a broa spectrum of life, and if you like that sort of thing, is delightful to read.
I picked up a copy because I remember my father being cross about it, saying that Foley had written what anyone from then could have written, that it could just as easily have been my Nan's life story. (She too grew up in the forest poor and went into service). However, my Nan did not share her childhood stories with me, nor did she write them down, so I looked to Foley to get some sense of how it might have been for her.
A Child in the Forest captures scenes from the author's youth in the Forest of Dean - growing up the impoverished child of a miner. There's adult details in the background, struggling, striking and so forth, but much of it filtered through childish eyes and with little attempt at recasting it from an adult view.
Instead of just wallowing in the harder elements, Foley recalls much that was good about her childhood and adolescence. It's a book that covers a broa spectrum of life, and if you like that sort of thing, is delightful to read.
I picked up a copy because I remember my father being cross about it, saying that Foley had written what anyone from then could have written, that it could just as easily have been my Nan's life story. (She too grew up in the forest poor and went into service). However, my Nan did not share her childhood stories with me, nor did she write them down, so I looked to Foley to get some sense of how it might have been for her.
August 20, 2020
12th January 2011
A touching and funny biography which relates the life of a child born and brought up in the New Forest during the 1920s. Winifred Foley gives a truthful account of the hardships of life for the families of miners living in the New Forest. Her childhood was one of extreme poverty but what shines through is the love of the parents for their children and although they had very little in the material sense there was a richness of love in the home. It seems impossible that so recently as the 1920's children were expected to become adults at the age of just fourteen and leave the security of home and family (in the case of girls), to go into service and live many miles away, only seeing their family once a year. The boys had and even harder entry into adulthood by being sent to join their fathers down the pits. Although there is a lot of hardship the book leaves you with the feeling that Winifred had a very happy life and lived to be a really old lady despite all her hard work!
A touching and funny biography which relates the life of a child born and brought up in the New Forest during the 1920s. Winifred Foley gives a truthful account of the hardships of life for the families of miners living in the New Forest. Her childhood was one of extreme poverty but what shines through is the love of the parents for their children and although they had very little in the material sense there was a richness of love in the home. It seems impossible that so recently as the 1920's children were expected to become adults at the age of just fourteen and leave the security of home and family (in the case of girls), to go into service and live many miles away, only seeing their family once a year. The boys had and even harder entry into adulthood by being sent to join their fathers down the pits. Although there is a lot of hardship the book leaves you with the feeling that Winifred had a very happy life and lived to be a really old lady despite all her hard work!
November 20, 2022
Biography of Winifred Foley who was born at the turn of the 20th century to a pit family in the Forest of Dean, this was both funny and poignant. I had no idea that someone could be born into such appalling poverty but she was cheery, foisty and enterprising. The first half tells of her childhood, the second her early years in service. I want to read the two follow-up books if I can.
May 26, 2007
This is the kind of hilarious book you can come back to repeatedly.
At the turn of the 19th century, Winifred Foley grew up impoverished in the Forest of Dean where her father was a miner. At 14, Winifred, like all children in her village, was shipped off to work, in Winifred's case as a domestic. She eventually made her way to London and embraced socialism.
If you need a book that will totally engross you, plus give you a vivid and witty picture of a very different time and place, this is it.
At the turn of the 19th century, Winifred Foley grew up impoverished in the Forest of Dean where her father was a miner. At 14, Winifred, like all children in her village, was shipped off to work, in Winifred's case as a domestic. She eventually made her way to London and embraced socialism.
If you need a book that will totally engross you, plus give you a vivid and witty picture of a very different time and place, this is it.
April 8, 2013
2.5* I've read so many childhood memoirs by now - and still find it difficult to say what makes one more appealing than another. The second half of this book that described Winnifed's work as a maid for different people was more interesting than the first half as it gave a better sense of the times. All in all, a good memoir, maybe not the most dazzling of writing styles, but of interest especially for anyone from the area.
October 18, 2019
I thought this memoir was just wonderful......and it had a lovely humour all the way through it. A way of life that is long gone but the grinding poverty must have been an awful way to live.....never knowing if your children were going to eat. All in all though it was a treasure to read.
December 9, 2018
Extremely enjoyable and surprisingly hilarious. I really enjoyed this memoir!
February 25, 2016
“In fact I was becoming a young person of means. For going-away presents I had a variety of things from several neighbors.
“Two properly hemmed handkerchiefs, the first I had ever owned, that had sprigs of flowers in the corner… Then I had a comb with all the teeth in; a camisole, edged with lace, in good condition (I had nothing to fill it up with then, but the giver remarked that I would soon grow into it); and a much-battered tin trunk that looked very presentable when Dad had banged out the biggest dents with a hammer…”
–A Child in the Forest, by Winifred Foley
I don’t usually read non-fiction, but my sister-in-law gave me this book for my birthday in June and I’ve been looking forward to reading it. It’s the girlhood memoir of a coal-miner’s daughter who grew up in an isolated village in the Forest of Dean* in the 1920s. Her family is largish, loving, and very poor, often getting food for a daily meal on credit, if at all. As a child, snuggled into bed with her big sister and little brother, Poll dreams of large meals and elaborate wardrobes. Like an English version of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, this story seems designed for the education of rich modern people, written by an author who sees in retrospect that her way of life was remarkable, lovely, and passing away with the march of progress. A Child in the Forest is arranged thematically at the beginning, with chapter titles like, “School,” and “Granny and Grancher.” Each section contains several highly detailed, humorous, and forthright stories, as well as general descriptions of common scenes. Towards the second half the book is more chronological, and recounts Poll’s early forays into the working world, starting at age 14.
Because of the book’s episodic nature, there’s not a lot here to pull you forward unless you have a lot of inherent curiosity about ways of life in other times. I’ve always loved historical details about daily life (carpets were cleaned with used tea leaves, and bakers delivered bread to your house every day), so I found it fascinating. The imagination the family uses to make ends meet has you rooting for them from page one, and stories of Poll’s absentminded mishaps and social naïveté make it clear that the author is laughing at her younger self as she writes.
If you were/are a big fan of Little House on the Prairie, you will definitely like this book, although I would read it before giving it to your kid, as it is written from an adult perspective.
*a locale American readers might be most familiar with as the place where Harry Potter gets the sword of Godric Gryffindor out of the lake.
“Two properly hemmed handkerchiefs, the first I had ever owned, that had sprigs of flowers in the corner… Then I had a comb with all the teeth in; a camisole, edged with lace, in good condition (I had nothing to fill it up with then, but the giver remarked that I would soon grow into it); and a much-battered tin trunk that looked very presentable when Dad had banged out the biggest dents with a hammer…”
–A Child in the Forest, by Winifred Foley
I don’t usually read non-fiction, but my sister-in-law gave me this book for my birthday in June and I’ve been looking forward to reading it. It’s the girlhood memoir of a coal-miner’s daughter who grew up in an isolated village in the Forest of Dean* in the 1920s. Her family is largish, loving, and very poor, often getting food for a daily meal on credit, if at all. As a child, snuggled into bed with her big sister and little brother, Poll dreams of large meals and elaborate wardrobes. Like an English version of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, this story seems designed for the education of rich modern people, written by an author who sees in retrospect that her way of life was remarkable, lovely, and passing away with the march of progress. A Child in the Forest is arranged thematically at the beginning, with chapter titles like, “School,” and “Granny and Grancher.” Each section contains several highly detailed, humorous, and forthright stories, as well as general descriptions of common scenes. Towards the second half the book is more chronological, and recounts Poll’s early forays into the working world, starting at age 14.
Because of the book’s episodic nature, there’s not a lot here to pull you forward unless you have a lot of inherent curiosity about ways of life in other times. I’ve always loved historical details about daily life (carpets were cleaned with used tea leaves, and bakers delivered bread to your house every day), so I found it fascinating. The imagination the family uses to make ends meet has you rooting for them from page one, and stories of Poll’s absentminded mishaps and social naïveté make it clear that the author is laughing at her younger self as she writes.
If you were/are a big fan of Little House on the Prairie, you will definitely like this book, although I would read it before giving it to your kid, as it is written from an adult perspective.
*a locale American readers might be most familiar with as the place where Harry Potter gets the sword of Godric Gryffindor out of the lake.
November 4, 2018
Originally published under the title A Child In The Forest.
The forest in the original title being the Forest of Dean and the child of the title, though baptised Winifred was called by her family 'our Poll'.
Poll came from a mining family in the Cinderford area, the fourth child of Charlie and Margaret Mason. Two of Poll's older siblings died in infancy leaving Poll and her four year senior sister Bess. The family was, like most in the village, poor. The only commodity they were never short of was coal; miners were given a free allowance.
Food that today even those considered poor now take for granted was a great luxury. Something as simple as a slice of cake and at times even an extra slice of bread-and-jam would be a splendid treat.
Children in those days started working at the age of 14 years, and Poll was no exception. Like most girls from her village she went into domestic service for the sum of five shillings per week, which to her seemed a significant sum at that time. If she was lucky, she got a half day a week off work.
Poll tells us of her life from before the time she leaves home, through her teenage years and into adulthood. A journey both metaphorical and physical as she grows and leaves the Forest of Dean to go and work in London.
While Winifred's tale didn't make me laugh out loud, but her wry humour and adventures raised an amused smile from time to time.
The forest in the original title being the Forest of Dean and the child of the title, though baptised Winifred was called by her family 'our Poll'.
Poll came from a mining family in the Cinderford area, the fourth child of Charlie and Margaret Mason. Two of Poll's older siblings died in infancy leaving Poll and her four year senior sister Bess. The family was, like most in the village, poor. The only commodity they were never short of was coal; miners were given a free allowance.
Food that today even those considered poor now take for granted was a great luxury. Something as simple as a slice of cake and at times even an extra slice of bread-and-jam would be a splendid treat.
Children in those days started working at the age of 14 years, and Poll was no exception. Like most girls from her village she went into domestic service for the sum of five shillings per week, which to her seemed a significant sum at that time. If she was lucky, she got a half day a week off work.
Poll tells us of her life from before the time she leaves home, through her teenage years and into adulthood. A journey both metaphorical and physical as she grows and leaves the Forest of Dean to go and work in London.
While Winifred's tale didn't make me laugh out loud, but her wry humour and adventures raised an amused smile from time to time.
June 19, 2013
Yes, I enjoyed this book. Sort of. Let me clarify, I enjoyed this book til the last chapter or two where the main character made a choice that left me feeling rather disappointed in her. When you read a true story (or any story for that matter) you want to root for the main character and for the most part I did. But without giving a spoiler review lets just say that I was going to let my daughter read the book after I had finished with it but now I'm not. And while I purchased the following book "Shiny pennies and grubby pinafores" I am reluctant to read it. I know its true life and people do make choices that others wouldn't or even that they themselves might do differently if given the chance ,so I know you cant honestly fictionalize a true story to make it more palatable to everyone who might want to read it. However, I do wish the authors in this whole "back in time" series would take into consideration that there are young people who's parents are trying to bring them up with good morals would LOVE to read these 'old timey' books, only without offence. Just something to think about.
March 26, 2017
Very well written and encapsulating account of the author's young life. The account is very insightful into its account of poverty and yet sheds a poetic light onto a era in history that I had, until recently, thought fairly uninteresting. The author's life centres mainly on her own thoughts and feelings but is touched deeply by the presence of her close friends and family and tantalises the reader with hints of the revolutionary and Labour movements of the early part of the century.
The author is seemingly honest with her thoughts and descriptions of herself and other people which, for me, makes the book.
The author is seemingly honest with her thoughts and descriptions of herself and other people which, for me, makes the book.
July 25, 2016
I enjoyed this book as I did another by Winifred foley, (grubby knees and dirty pinafores). These books are recollections from Winifred about her life. In this one she recollects growing up in the small village in the new forest with each chapter covering a different person or aspect of her life from early childhood going to school and then up to her time in service and meeting her future husband. I found the book interesting and it's written in a chatty style as if Winifred (Polly) is taking directly to you.
January 25, 2014
‘A Child in the Forest’ is Winifred Foley’s story of her childhood in the Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, and her subsequent adventures after she went into service in London at the age of 14. It was published in 1974, when she was 60 years old, and is a lovely story, well-written and full of tenderness and humour despite the hardship of growing up in poverty. I thoroughly enjoyed it – there are two further books in the trilogy of her life’s story, and I’ll be looking out for both of them
November 14, 2017
I love social history books and have really enjoyed both Winifred Foley's books. I'm afraid I read them 'round the wrong way and started with book number 2 but nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed both.
In this one her antics as a child and employee was wonderful to read and some of the phrases had me laughing out loud.
As with any book based on true events, it is very thought provoking and incredibly sad at times but I loved it.
In this one her antics as a child and employee was wonderful to read and some of the phrases had me laughing out loud.
As with any book based on true events, it is very thought provoking and incredibly sad at times but I loved it.
November 27, 2016
A wonderful and warm collection of memories of living in a village in Wales, close to plants and animals, family and poverty. It is humbly written with a rich narrative voice that makes a hard life seem joyful. Each chapter is a story of its own, but read when in order the last story is best story of all.
August 27, 2019
I really enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and was an interesting insight into Winifred's life growing up in a very different and much harder age. She had a tough childhood but you don't feel too sorry for her, and there are even parts that make you feel nostalgic for her life in her tiny cottage in the forest.
February 23, 2010
I loved this autobiography. I liked the way it was written and I liked learning about her daily life in the Forest of Dean as she grew up.
Read
July 29, 2011A gentle read of a bygone era.
May 20, 2012
good read
February 15, 2013
An easy read. Enjoyed more because of family connections to Forest of Dean. We have it easy nowadays.
November 2, 2013
This was much more interesting than her later book. A real interesting glimps into life at the beginning of last century.
October 31, 2017
Enthralling !
I could not put this book down and, when I had to put it down, all I could think about was getting back to it.
I could not put this book down and, when I had to put it down, all I could think about was getting back to it.
July 30, 2019
Absolutely fascinating, and good for reproaching my own children with how easy their lives are.
September 23, 2023
I grew up near Winifred Foley's birthplace, and as a child, I remember her coming to give a talk at my Primary School. We were given a signed copy of this book afterwards, but my mother looked at it and said it 'wasn't suitable' for me and gave it away, so I never got to read it as a child. Now I know why! The title gives the impression that this could be a book suitable for young children, but Mrs Foley is fairly outspoken about sex and mentions sexual assault, various sexual relationships and also once refers to venereal disease. She doesn't describe anything very graphically, but still not a book I'd recommend to the under 10s (and I do wonder what a 1980s CofE school was doing providing this book for their 8 and 9 year olds to read!)
I really enjoyed the early parts of the book which cover her childhood, home life and schooling. It was interesting to see how much has changed in the Forest of Dean since she wrote, but also how little. And it was a good reminder of how fortunate we are today regarding things like healthcare - she mentions siblings who died or who were seriously ill, and family members undergoing severe suffering from conditions like asthma which, in those days, had no treatment except moving to a dryer climate (not possible for many of the poverty-stricken families in her area). While she does share happy moments, she doesn't sentimentalise or sugar coat the harsh reality of a life where hunger was a constant companion - one of her brothers fainted from malnutrition. And I really felt for her when she was forced to leave her home at age 14 to go into service far away - in those days, girls couldn't expect to come home more than once a year, so it was a huge separation at a very young age.
Once she started writing about her different jobs in London, Cheltenham and Wales, I found the book less interesting. I also found some of it repetitive - it could have done with a stricter edit. But it does give a very clear picture of what life was like for a rural youngster growing up between the two World Wars. A good read - though maybe not for an 8-year-old!
I really enjoyed the early parts of the book which cover her childhood, home life and schooling. It was interesting to see how much has changed in the Forest of Dean since she wrote, but also how little. And it was a good reminder of how fortunate we are today regarding things like healthcare - she mentions siblings who died or who were seriously ill, and family members undergoing severe suffering from conditions like asthma which, in those days, had no treatment except moving to a dryer climate (not possible for many of the poverty-stricken families in her area). While she does share happy moments, she doesn't sentimentalise or sugar coat the harsh reality of a life where hunger was a constant companion - one of her brothers fainted from malnutrition. And I really felt for her when she was forced to leave her home at age 14 to go into service far away - in those days, girls couldn't expect to come home more than once a year, so it was a huge separation at a very young age.
Once she started writing about her different jobs in London, Cheltenham and Wales, I found the book less interesting. I also found some of it repetitive - it could have done with a stricter edit. But it does give a very clear picture of what life was like for a rural youngster growing up between the two World Wars. A good read - though maybe not for an 8-year-old!
August 18, 2022
I didn't expect to end up liking this autobiography so much when I was first gifted this book and another of Foley's by my nan a few years back, but she seemed fond of them and so I resolved to read through both.
This is Winifred Foley's account of her life from childhood up until the moment she meets her husband in her early twenties. The book is split into two parts; the first focuses on growing up in a time of hardship and poverty, and the second on her various adventures working as a domestic servant. To me both parts were equally interesting and it was fascinating to read about her experiences in such a different time. Despite living in such unfortunate circumstances, she did a good job showing how important the community and her family were in keeping high spirits, and I admired how she kept true to her values and never took what she had for granted.
I did find reading the dialogue to be tricky - it stays true to the strong local dialect she and her family spoke in but it certainly took some time to get used to, and even then I found myself skimming over some of it just to get the general understanding so I could move on to the next passage. Some of the language I also found outdated to read now, but considering this book was published a fair few decades ago I appreciate the context of the vocabulary.
Overall, this was a decent read.
This is Winifred Foley's account of her life from childhood up until the moment she meets her husband in her early twenties. The book is split into two parts; the first focuses on growing up in a time of hardship and poverty, and the second on her various adventures working as a domestic servant. To me both parts were equally interesting and it was fascinating to read about her experiences in such a different time. Despite living in such unfortunate circumstances, she did a good job showing how important the community and her family were in keeping high spirits, and I admired how she kept true to her values and never took what she had for granted.
I did find reading the dialogue to be tricky - it stays true to the strong local dialect she and her family spoke in but it certainly took some time to get used to, and even then I found myself skimming over some of it just to get the general understanding so I could move on to the next passage. Some of the language I also found outdated to read now, but considering this book was published a fair few decades ago I appreciate the context of the vocabulary.
Overall, this was a decent read.
October 23, 2020
A well written social history book and whilst it covers the idillic nature of a country childhood in the early 20th Century it is really as much a commentary on the unrelenting nature of poverty where there is no safety net. Winifred's childhood is one of virtually constant hunger and is a precarious existence despite the imaginative games she describes. I felt she was honest about herself throughout the book and it was clear that she would have had little option at 14 to go into some form of service, this did, at least eventually give her access to more food and she certainly discovered the benefits (as well as drawbacks) of London life. For me the "take away" was society should address poverty through socialised medicine and support systems. We are certainly better off than prewar, however in the UK benefit support systems have been consistently eroded and child hunger is well known to teachers in many schools.
May 1, 2020
A wonderful read.
Utterly evocative of a childhood which was poor in monetary terms but rich in so many ways. Showing the value of simple pleasures and small treats which serve to remind us that all the "stuff" that we surround ourselves with nowadays is completely worthless in real terms and that a close loving family and community is what we should be aspiring to.
When Polly leaves her village and family to go into service and seek work, her generally sunny and optimistic disposition is refreshing and although she is sometimes terribly homesick, she still finds positives in her various situations and joy here and there on her rare days off .
Lovely that at the end she finds her perfect love and we know that they had a good life together and created their own family and became quite prosperous with the publication of Polly's story.
Utterly evocative of a childhood which was poor in monetary terms but rich in so many ways. Showing the value of simple pleasures and small treats which serve to remind us that all the "stuff" that we surround ourselves with nowadays is completely worthless in real terms and that a close loving family and community is what we should be aspiring to.
When Polly leaves her village and family to go into service and seek work, her generally sunny and optimistic disposition is refreshing and although she is sometimes terribly homesick, she still finds positives in her various situations and joy here and there on her rare days off .
Lovely that at the end she finds her perfect love and we know that they had a good life together and created their own family and became quite prosperous with the publication of Polly's story.
June 4, 2021
Really enjoyed reading this book. Got it as a completely unknown title in a bookstand, where it was the only option of english writing amide languages that I do not master, thought it was some novel/fiction. By the first line I understood in what genre I was dwelling in, and how new and unusual it was for me. The perspective of poverty and misery was something really distant when talking about England - yes, I was aware of the consequences of the industrial revolution but still was something really far. Poetry and idyllic scenary when emerges from cruelsome reality is just sublime.
August 28, 2025
I enjoyed this book very much. I’ve always been more interested in the stories of everyday people rather than celebrities. I don’t tend to read autobiographies but I looked forward to entering this world each evening. It felt a little romanticised at times, when it was clear that, in reality, this must have been a difficult life in many ways. The author presents her story as if it is quite unremarkable which actually helped me to feel more immersed in the story and able to imagine being in her shoes. I feel that I will carry the story with me like memories of an old friend from long ago.
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