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Shirley #1

by Kaoru Mori

From the acclaimed author of EMMA, this collection of short stories presents a further exploration into the stratified world of English society, portrayed through the experiences of young maids. Miss Bennett lives alone and keeps busy running the pub she inherited. Needing some help, she posts a notice for a maid. Along comes Shirley Madison, a girl who can clean and cook as well as any maid—even if she's only 13 years old!

Rated Teen.

Genres: Manga, Historical Fiction, Historical, Graphic Novels, Seinen, Slice Of Life, Comics

Comic

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Kaoru Mori (森 薫) is a Japanese manga author. Her stories tend to be intricately drawn female lead historical dramas set in exotic locations like Britain and along the silk road. Her series include Emma (2002-2008), Shirley (2003-present) and the best known A Bride's Tale (2008-present).

Reviews

[Bibliothecat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for complete series

Shirley is the absolute cutest, I am almost tempted to say that it surpasses Mori's better known work Emma. Both take place in London at the turn of the 20th century and have a maid as main character. Both have beautiful art so it's worth picking up either for that reason alone. However, what Shirley does better is simply embracing Mori's tendency to have episodic and somewhat jumpy stories.

Where Emma does follow a main plot line, it did often veer off to little slice of life moments that distracted of the main story. But in Shirley, there doesn't seem to be an end goal in mind and each chapters is just a charming little tale of her life and those around her. It's absolutely charming, a very light read with a bit of humour thrown in.

Miss Bennett, a lady in her mid twenties, lives on her own and runs a café. Her ad for hiring a maid brings the thirteen year old Shirley to her doorstep. Although she initially doubts Shirley's suitability due to her age, she decides to hire her and the pair get along so well it's simply wholesome to read. Miss Bennett is a good employer and more or less takes Shirley under her wing. The latter is a quiet but also very competent child and seem the perfect fit for the clumsy and scatter brained Miss Bennett.

The first volume also includes a few short stories featuring other maids which are equally fun to read. The chapters of Shirley specifically are short and truly just give us glimpses of their lives. If there is any more specific plot to follow, perhaps it would be Shirley's past of Miss Bennett's prospects in marriage. However, Shirley as a series was never officially completed as serialisation stopped mid third volume, thus leaving us with only two complete physical volumes and a few extra chapters which would have otherwise been compiled in a third volume. I think it's unlikely that Mori will return to this series so I essentially tread it as a two volume series. Given its episodic nature, you can read as little or as many of it as you like without feeling dissatisfied, it is perfectly readable in its current state.

[Valérie Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai toujours beaucoup de bonheur à lire les mangas de Kaoru Mori. Celui-ci a été écrit et dessiné au fil des années, on voit le trait de la mangaka qui s'affine. Mais les réflexions sur le monde sont toujours aussi pertinentes, à la fois pleines de fraicheur, de délicatesse, mais aussi de profondeur, à travers des personnages attachants.

[Elga Ayudi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A single story that makes me want more!!! Shirley is a nice girl and diligent! The story is very warm-hearted, you'll never regret reading it

[Leboudoirdulivre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Madame Cranly est une jeune femme de bonne famille qui tient un café. Très indépendante, elle cherche une bonne pour l'aider dans sa demeure mais sans succès, jusqu'au jour où elle trouve Shirley, une orpheline de 11 ans.

Malgré son jeune âge et par culpabilité de la laisser livrée à elle-même, elle l'embauche.

Shirley reste un mystère pour sa maîtresse, elle est timide et on ne sait jamais ce qu'elle pense.

Au fil des jours, Shirley s'affirme. Une relation de confiance s'instaure entre les deux jeunes femmes face aux conventions de la société.

Toutes les deux ont le même problème : être une femme libre de ses choix est très difficile dans une société où la femme n'est vu que comme un objet.

Considérée comme une vieille fille, Madame Cranly doit faire face aux réflexions tandis que Shirley rêve d'un avenir où tout est possible.

Quels secrets dissimule Shirley à son employeuse ?

Composé de petites histoires, "Shirley" donne un avant-goût du manga "Emma", personnage que l'on peut entrapercevoir dans ce manga avant qu'elle passe de personnage secondaire à personnage principal dans son propre manga.

La postface de Kaoru Mori sur la manière dont elle travaille et a appréhendé ce manga donne des informations au lecteur sur le travail d'une mangaka. On voit la différence entre le premier manga de l'auteur et "Bride Stories" voire "Emma". Malgré une foule de détails de l'ère victorienne, le dessin est moins précis que dans ses autres mangas, ce qui n'empêche pas d'apprécier celui-ci. Les deux histoires mettant en scène d'autres domestiques nous montre la réalité du travail des employés de maison et de l'importance de leur travail au sein de la famille qui les emploient.

Entrecoupé par le quotidien d'autres domestiques, Kaoru Mori met en lumière le quotidien des femmes de chambre et la relation entre maître et serviteurs dans un registre plus doux que la réalité.

Un manga jeunesse qui malgré quelques défauts saura convaincre le jeune public !

La première oeuvre de Kaoru Mori montre avec sa sensibilité les combats que doivent mener les femmes dans un monde où être une femme seule et indépendante était mal vu !

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were short stories or episodes featuring English maids, that Kaoru Mori wrote before her much longer and more popular work, Emma, also featuring a maid as a central character. It's always interesting to see how an author's work changes, and doesn't change, over time. The art and storytelling is nowhere near as refined as with her later work, but even though the art's far less detailed, the stories have the same comfortable, lived-in feeling.

It looks like CMX folded in the US before releasing the second one of these, so this single volume of Shirley is all we're getting, since it also never got a license rescue.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

More maid manga... This is a collection of some of Mori's earlier stories, and are not as fleshed out as her Emma series. The first few chapters follows a young 13 year old maid and shows the kindness of her employer. This maid is very adept, but also has a lot to do. The other chapters are stand alone stories of other maids in other households. These stories, while simplistic, still show truths about human nature and the human experience.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the story of Shirley and this volume's short story collections...but I wish there are more layers to the story, and not just one shot.... Shirley is adorable...I wish her character could be fleshed out...it is so sad that this series is discontinued, but I guess the author has other plans in mind ... Still , the stories are kind of bittersweet...I like that slice-of-life genre, and wish there is more 😊❤️📖

[Denaiir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comme toujours j'adore le style de Kaoru Mori, ces vignettes et tranches de vie. Il ne se passe pas grand chose, on suit des anecdotes toutes banales mais on s'attache dès la 1ère page aux personnages. Même sur une histoire curte de quelques pages elle a réussi à m'arracher quelques larmes.
Le style de dessin était moins abouti que ses séries longues mais l'essentiel était déjà là.

[Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars! An earlier and more light work by one of my favourite mangakas, but still charming nonetheless. She manages to bring a naturalness to historical fiction and her research is always impeccable. My favourite story is was the Mary Banks chapter with her working under a batty old viscount who loved to prank his servants. Happy to finally read this online, as it’s really rare and expensive.

[Carissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories. I wish the author would have done more with the stories. She said they were a collection from her earlier days, but i would have enjoyed the stories much more if she had added to them. Each character and scenario had a lot of potential. I still want to know more about them, but sadly I won’t get to.

[Philip McCarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute little anthology of short stories dealing with small moments but with pathos. I would say this is great for anyone who just wants an easy and not terribly heavy read. It provides some good laughs and the artwork is very simple.

[Nadina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. I really enjoyed that they were all "one-short" stories. It was well paced and fun and I liked the illustrations. The bonus stories were also fun and I definitely plan to try other volumes in this series, as well as perhaps other series.

[Jacynthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

De belles petites histoires, qu’on aimerait plus longues. Surtout la première où nous avons le temps de nous attacher aux personnages et on aimerait en découvrir plus sur elles. C’était mon première manga Kaoru Mori. Je vais peut être me laisser tenter par une autre de ses séries…

[Hana Eka · Rating 3 out of 5]

lovely

[Nastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.90

[Asil_df · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

Plaisant 😁

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mignon

[Space Cadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little book, but nothing to write home about
Though I feel that was the intention

[Anya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kaoru Mori is a wonderful artist, but unfortunately, this was pure fantasy and wildly out of place.

[Amy❥ Jinjoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first manga I ever read btw, probably in 2007-2008. Mori-sensei you will always have a special place in my heart<3

[Nelliamoci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non c’è uno spazio e forse nemmeno un tempo ben preciso in Shirley, il manga a due volumi di Kaoru Mori disponibile in Italia in un’edizione unica edita da J-Pop manga. Il mondo delle maid viene trasportato in un’Inghilterra lontana, ma già con alcuni elementi moderni, creando un’ambientazione decisamente affascinante che unisce tutto lo stile di Kaoru Mori, conosciuta ai più per Emma e I giorni della sposa, alla tarda epoca vittoriana, alle case enormi e piene di stanze le cui cure vengono affidate a un team di maggiordomi e domestiche (un po’ alla Downtown Abbey giusto per fare un riferimento pop).

https://justanotherpoint.wordpress.co...

[chvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorable. Precious. Sweet without being saccharine.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kaoru Mori's Shirley is a collection of short stories about maids in Victorian London. The main story is about Shirley, a thirteen-year-old maid for young old maid Bennet Cranley. Bennet places an ad in the newspaper for a maid because she runs a diner and has no time to clean. She comes home from work one day to find Shirley on her doorstep. Shirley is young and chose Bennet because there was no age requirement in her ad. Bennet takes to Shirley quickly; Shirley works hard and makes the home spotless. Bennet begins to treat Shirley almost like a daughter. She purchases her a doll, but then questions if it is too childish for her. She finds Shirley making clothes for the doll and discovers that Shirley is a very able fashion designer.

Shirley admires Bennet for her beauty and intelligence. She wants to be exactly like her and you can begin to see this taking shape from the beginning of the story. She defends her against those who treat her wrongly and becomes a little possessive of her.

The second story is called Me and Nellie and One Afternoon. This is about another young maid named Nellie whose child master wants to play with her. His parents are gone and Nellie is the only person close to his age. She has to make him happy even though he is a complete brat. She is able to feel empathy for him when she finds out about his mother's alcoholism from another maid.

The final story is about Mary Banks, who is a maid for an unruly old man. He loves to play pranks on all of his help and makes things extraordinarily difficult for them. While most maids don't last a day there, Mary Banks is able to stick it out until the old man's death.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Emma: A Victorian Romance Volume One. The story was nice and sweet, but it didn't deal with as much of the cultural and societal issues as Emma did. This isn't a bad thing, I did enjoy it, but I just enjoyed Emma more. If you've never read anything by Karou Mori then I would suggest readivng that before this, although if you're looking for something nice and simple that takes place in Victorian London then this is a good one to check out.

http://englishmajorjunkfood.blogspot.com

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I loved the Emma series (manga/anime), so I was delighted when I found this little gem.

This little book tells us stories about maids, like Emma, who work at a mansion. The most chapters/biggest story goes to Shirley. Out of the 7 chapters, she got 5 of them. She was my favourite girl, and I was actually sad when her story was over, I would have loved more of her, I want to know more about her backstory and see what happened to her (since she has got quite the background).
I loved how mature she was (though I guess that is what happens when one is alone/orphaned in a time like that). At times I thought she was a bit silent, but then she would burst something out and I was just applauding for her bravery.
I also loved the lady of the house, especially since she was working, she was independent. She wasn't married like all the other women, she had her own job, her own responsibility and I was delighted to see it.

The other two characters (and other two chapters) are about Nelly and Mary. Nelly's story is about her relationship with her young master, and how things change after a certain event. I really liked Nelly, though I thought she looked a bit too much like Emma, which was a bit confusing. I also didn't entirely like the young master, I found him a bit too annoying at times. Too spoiled.

Then we have Mary, and her time with a viscount. This viscount is quite the character as he loves to prank people. Anyone will get pranked. Sometimes with some harmless things, but some things weren't that harmless. I still liked both Mary and the viscount, they make for quite an interesting pair, bickering and at times Mary doesn't like him, but you can tell she really just cares about him a lot. Worries about him, as he is quite old.

The art is really pretty, though the eyes at times look a bit weird/off. Other than that, feast your eyes on all the pretty details. The detailed backgrounds, the gorgeous scenery, you will just imagine yourself there at that time and place.

Would I recommend this one? Yes!

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Yue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, I did not expect less from Mori-sensei. The art is cute but less pretty than in A Bride's Story, Vol. 1 (this one is one of her earliest works). There are 3 stories, all of them with a gentle maid as a MC, who has a strong bond with her mistress/master. I loved all 3 of them, all cute and heart-warming!

1. Shirley: the little orphan girl of 13, who is quiet and skillful, and comes to love her mistress very much. I love that her mistress was a pretty and independent, single woman, which was hard to be in those times. There is certainly more to be narrated (what with that handsome young man, what is Shirley's story, etc).

2. Nelly: the maid who is very close to her little master. The little boy is a bit lonely since his father died when he was a baby and his mother is never at home. So he bonds with Nelly who is the youngest of the mansion staff. I like that the mother was not a 2-dimensional character.

3. Mary Banks: she and the accountant guy are the only members of the mansion staff who can stand their master's pranks. This one made me cried a little bit at the end.

The author's note at the end was a lot of fun! The mangaka is not only skilled, but also funny XD

[edel · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Kaoru Mori's Emma series, I just HAD to read Shirley. I haven't read anything of Mori's since last year, and I must say that her beautiful artwork never ceases to amaze me. I was surprised all over again. The beautifuly drawn characters just seem to reach out and pull at my heart strings.

I was quite satisfied with the first couple of chapters. Shirley is just so adorable. Especially in that maid outfit. Uwah~! Anyway, I envy her innocent childish outlook. Oh to be thirteen. She just puts a smile on my face.

But after the Shirley short stories stopped I was kind of disappointed. I wanted to read more about Shirley. But the next chapters was just as satisfying. The last chapter made me a bit teary.

As always, Mori knows how to make her characters relatable. Her stories always somehow make me cry (I'm such a crybaby) and her artwork is just so detailed and gorgeous. 5 stars! XP

[Paolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, short work by mangaka Kaoru Mori, of Emma and A Bride's Story fame, that also takes place in Victorian England, where a very young maid, the eponymously named Shirley, is employed by a woman named Ms. Bennett. This manga is cute and almost languidly paced, like the manga Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, but if that's the type of manga you're looking for, it's here. It also contains a couple of other bonus stories in the same period, both of which are suuuper adorable.

[Jocilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obscenely adorable. Almost every page is breathtakingly cute. Although Mori mentions in her afterword that Shirley represents her earliest work, it's amusingly far better than her contemporaries best work. There is a sequence of scenes between Shirley and her lady Bennet that have no dialogue but are so comprehensively rich in concept and force the reader to delve into the characterization of each. It helps that there is the tiniest amount of romantic tension between the two. Knowing Mori, she would never write about something so scandalous but it's nevertheless palpable.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shirley, in some cases more than Emma. In a word, it's exquisite.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A volume of short stories centered on the lives of English maids and their employers. The first maid, Shirley, to whom five chapters is devoted and the volume itself named, manages to seem like a background character in own story. It's odd but not unlikable. In fact, it was a pretty sweet story. The other two chapters were disposable little vignettes about other maids and their employers.
Overall, it was okay. Many would find it boring. I didn't hate it but I also got nothing from it. Nothing wowed me, nothing made me glad I'd read it, and nothing in it would inspire me to recommend it.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by Emma author Kaoru Mori, Shirley is a very mellow slice-of-life manga about a 13-year-old maid in turn-of-the-century London.

There's not very much plot, but the artwork is adorable, and Shirley is an endearing character. I will be looking to see if more is done with Shirley in the future.