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High Wages
High Wages (1930) was Dorothy Whipple's second novel. It is about a girl called Jane who gets a badly-paid job in a draper’s shop in the early years of the last century. Yet the title of the book is based on a Carlyle quotation – ‘Experience doth take dreadfully high wages, but she teacheth like none other’ – and Jane, having saved some money and been lent some by a friend, opens her own dress-shop.
As Jane Brocket writes in her Persephone Preface: the novel ‘is a celebration of the Lancastrian values of hard work and stubbornness, and there could be no finer setting for a shop-girl-made-good story than the county in which cotton was king.’
As Jane Brocket writes in her Persephone Preface: the novel ‘is a celebration of the Lancastrian values of hard work and stubbornness, and there could be no finer setting for a shop-girl-made-good story than the county in which cotton was king.’
316 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
45 people are currently reading
2160 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Whipple
29 books343 followersBorn in 1893, DOROTHY WHIPPLE (nee Stirrup) had an intensely happy childhood in Blackburn as part of the large family of a local architect. Her close friend George Owen having been killed in the first week of the war, for three years she worked as secretary to Henry Whipple, an educational administrator who was a widower twenty-four years her senior and whom she married in 1917. Their life was mostly spent in Nottingham; here she wrote Young Anne (1927), the first of nine extremely successful novels which included Greenbanks (1932) and The Priory (1939). Almost all her books were Book Society Choices or Recommendations and two of them, They Knew Mr Knight (1934) and They were Sisters (1943), were made into films. She also wrote short stories and two volumes of memoirs. Someone at a Distance (1953) was her last novel. Returning in her last years to Blackburn, Dorothy Whipple died there in 1966.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 211 reviews
February 11, 2022
I'll start my review of this one with a nod to Antoinette, whose review of They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple inspired me to pick up my copy of High Wages that has been on my shelf for a while. I was between books, had read a couple of less than stellar books lately, and knew that Dorothy Whipple was sure to be a good one. Oh, how right I was!
This is the story of Jane Carter who starts out as a poorly paid "shop girl" in 1912 in a small provincial village in England. One step above poverty level, she works her way up to eventually being able to open her own shop, and ends up wildly successful. But nothing is really that easy, is it? There are bumps and disappointments along the way, ups and downs, ins and out, good people and cheats. Whipple knows it wouldn't be a good novel without all that. What finally happens to Jane comes as a total surprise, but then again, maybe not.
Dorothy Whipple never takes the easy way out for her characters, instead, she gives them real lives and situations, with some very hard choices to make. There are no fairy tale endings in her books, just strong, independent women who sometimes don't choose wisely and who have to deal with the consequences.
The title here has a perfect double meaning, which you won't realize until you turn the last page.
Thanks again Antoinette.
This is the story of Jane Carter who starts out as a poorly paid "shop girl" in 1912 in a small provincial village in England. One step above poverty level, she works her way up to eventually being able to open her own shop, and ends up wildly successful. But nothing is really that easy, is it? There are bumps and disappointments along the way, ups and downs, ins and out, good people and cheats. Whipple knows it wouldn't be a good novel without all that. What finally happens to Jane comes as a total surprise, but then again, maybe not.
Dorothy Whipple never takes the easy way out for her characters, instead, she gives them real lives and situations, with some very hard choices to make. There are no fairy tale endings in her books, just strong, independent women who sometimes don't choose wisely and who have to deal with the consequences.
The title here has a perfect double meaning, which you won't realize until you turn the last page.
Thanks again Antoinette.
August 7, 2021
I am so, so pleased to give this book such a high rating. When I read books by Whipple that I really like, sounds silly but I don’t want them to end. One would think that with books one really likes, that would be a common feeling, but I don’t think so. I could just read on and on and on about the characters’ lives that I have grown fond of. And I grew fond of Jane and was rooting her on in her attempts to run a dress shoppe in England in the early part of the 20th century.
It seems like one of my pet gripes about books is that they are too long. Well, this was long and I loved it. There is something about Whipple’s writing that just draws me in and makes me feel “good’”. I wish I could explain it. I will say that I am running out of books to read by her, and that will make me sad when I have reached the end of the line. Of course, with my porous memory, I can just start all over again in say, maybe a year or two, and it will all be new to me. 😊
There was an interesting foreword by Jane Brocket (2009). She has written books on textiles, including Gentle Art of Domesticity, The Gentle Art of Quilting, and the Gentle Art of Knitting. In the foreword she talks about the changeover from draper’s shops to shops that had ready-to-wear dresses and how that changed the way women wore and bought clothes (well-to-do women had the money to pay a draper to design a dress for them…women from lower classes did not, but that changed when ready-to-wear dresses became available and became cheaper). She also talked about young girls like Jane who in their late teens would work in draper’s shops at starvation wages. The girls typically lived in a room in the building that the draper owned (the draper’s family lived there too) and they were paid a pittance and given very little food to eat and given very little time off. Whew! You would think ‘High Wages’ was a depressing read but not to me.
The book is about Jane Carter (18 years old at the beginning of the book in 1912) and her initial start at working at a draper’s store in Lancashire England and then owning her dress shoppe and the triumphs and tribulations that entails, as well as the people who are part of her life. She is attracted to a man who is married, there is a man who loves her and she does not love him although they are friends…a best friend who feels betrayed by Jane in the middle of the book although Jane did not betray her, a middle-aged woman whose husband came into a lot of money but she had humble beginnings and does not like living like other rich women from the upper-class who becomes a close and dear friend with Jane (and she gives her money to open up her own dress shoppe). Near the last third of the book World War One intrudes. The book reaches its climax when Jane has to decide whether to forsake her dress shoppe and run away with the man she loves or to call off such a thing that will probably have more negative than positive consequences for her, for the man she loves, and for those around her. I shan’t tell how the book ends. Read this book and enjoy it for yourself! 😊
Reviews
• https://bookssnob.wordpress.com/2010/... (This reviewer and I are in agreement about not wanting to leave the world she creates in her books: “…I have no more new words from Dorothy left to savour. This makes me very sad. However, I have ended on a high; High Wages is so good, I could hardly bear to put it down. I sat up until midnight two nights in a row because I didn’t want to leave the world of Jane Carter and her wonderful shop, so marvellously realised as it is on the pages.”
• https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/doroth...
• https://reading19001950.wordpress.com...
• excellent review and another person who feels the same way I do about Whipple and her oeuvre….we can’t get enough of her!: https://hogglestock.com/2010/05/03/bo...
It seems like one of my pet gripes about books is that they are too long. Well, this was long and I loved it. There is something about Whipple’s writing that just draws me in and makes me feel “good’”. I wish I could explain it. I will say that I am running out of books to read by her, and that will make me sad when I have reached the end of the line. Of course, with my porous memory, I can just start all over again in say, maybe a year or two, and it will all be new to me. 😊
There was an interesting foreword by Jane Brocket (2009). She has written books on textiles, including Gentle Art of Domesticity, The Gentle Art of Quilting, and the Gentle Art of Knitting. In the foreword she talks about the changeover from draper’s shops to shops that had ready-to-wear dresses and how that changed the way women wore and bought clothes (well-to-do women had the money to pay a draper to design a dress for them…women from lower classes did not, but that changed when ready-to-wear dresses became available and became cheaper). She also talked about young girls like Jane who in their late teens would work in draper’s shops at starvation wages. The girls typically lived in a room in the building that the draper owned (the draper’s family lived there too) and they were paid a pittance and given very little food to eat and given very little time off. Whew! You would think ‘High Wages’ was a depressing read but not to me.
The book is about Jane Carter (18 years old at the beginning of the book in 1912) and her initial start at working at a draper’s store in Lancashire England and then owning her dress shoppe and the triumphs and tribulations that entails, as well as the people who are part of her life. She is attracted to a man who is married, there is a man who loves her and she does not love him although they are friends…a best friend who feels betrayed by Jane in the middle of the book although Jane did not betray her, a middle-aged woman whose husband came into a lot of money but she had humble beginnings and does not like living like other rich women from the upper-class who becomes a close and dear friend with Jane (and she gives her money to open up her own dress shoppe). Near the last third of the book World War One intrudes. The book reaches its climax when Jane has to decide whether to forsake her dress shoppe and run away with the man she loves or to call off such a thing that will probably have more negative than positive consequences for her, for the man she loves, and for those around her. I shan’t tell how the book ends. Read this book and enjoy it for yourself! 😊
Reviews
• https://bookssnob.wordpress.com/2010/... (This reviewer and I are in agreement about not wanting to leave the world she creates in her books: “…I have no more new words from Dorothy left to savour. This makes me very sad. However, I have ended on a high; High Wages is so good, I could hardly bear to put it down. I sat up until midnight two nights in a row because I didn’t want to leave the world of Jane Carter and her wonderful shop, so marvellously realised as it is on the pages.”
• https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/doroth...
• https://reading19001950.wordpress.com...
• excellent review and another person who feels the same way I do about Whipple and her oeuvre….we can’t get enough of her!: https://hogglestock.com/2010/05/03/bo...
November 7, 2023
My thanks to Diane Barnes, whose review prompted me to buy this book. I’m so mad at myself for not getting to it sooner!
This book was just what I needed- a story to immerse myself in; a young woman, Jane, to root for. Dorothy Whipple has never failed me. Her books are one of the reasons I love to read!
This book starts in 1912 and goes on till after WWI. We meet Jane, a shop girl, who has great ideas and lots of enthusiasm. She works for Mr. Chadwick, who is stingy in his pay and food allowances. Thanks to the help of a very kind friend, she is able to strike out on her own.
Of course, life is never simple in any of Dorothy Whipple’s novels. Life struggles must be overcome. Challenges must be faced. I was so invested in Jane’s story that I could not put this book down.
I loved this book! I highly recommend any of Dorothy Whipple’s books.
Published: 1930
This book was just what I needed- a story to immerse myself in; a young woman, Jane, to root for. Dorothy Whipple has never failed me. Her books are one of the reasons I love to read!
This book starts in 1912 and goes on till after WWI. We meet Jane, a shop girl, who has great ideas and lots of enthusiasm. She works for Mr. Chadwick, who is stingy in his pay and food allowances. Thanks to the help of a very kind friend, she is able to strike out on her own.
Of course, life is never simple in any of Dorothy Whipple’s novels. Life struggles must be overcome. Challenges must be faced. I was so invested in Jane’s story that I could not put this book down.
I loved this book! I highly recommend any of Dorothy Whipple’s books.
Published: 1930
February 9, 2021
What a little, shiny Pearl of a BOOK.
"Unfortunately, readability is not a quality that is studied in universities; thus no literary critic has ever defined what makes Dorothy Whipple’s domestic, everyday books so gripping."
Quoted from the website of Persephone books and I couldn't agree more, but it is one of those cases when Simple, Humdrum & Everyday win easily over Convoluted, High Drama & Extraordinary and what a spectacular Victory it is.
Also from the Publisher's website:
"As Jane Brocket writes in her Persephone Preface: the novel ‘is a celebration of the Lancastrian values of hard work and stubbornness, and there could be no finer setting for a shop-girl-made-good story than the county in which cotton was king.’ And the cultural historian Catherine Horwood has written about this novel: ‘Dorothy Whipple was only too well aware that clothes were one of the keys to class in this period. Before WW1, only the well-off could afford to have their clothes made: yards of wool crepe and stamped silks were turned into costumes by an invisible army of dressmakers across the country, and the idea of buying clothes ready-made from a dress shop was still unusual. Vera Brittain talks of “hand-me-downs” in Testament of Youth with a quite different meaning from today. These were not clothes passed from sibling to sibling but “handed down from a rack” in an outfitter’s shop, a novelty.’ High Wages describes how the way people shopped was beginning to change; it is this change that Dorothy Whipple uses as a key turning point in her novel."
"Unfortunately, readability is not a quality that is studied in universities; thus no literary critic has ever defined what makes Dorothy Whipple’s domestic, everyday books so gripping."
Quoted from the website of Persephone books and I couldn't agree more, but it is one of those cases when Simple, Humdrum & Everyday win easily over Convoluted, High Drama & Extraordinary and what a spectacular Victory it is.
Also from the Publisher's website:
"As Jane Brocket writes in her Persephone Preface: the novel ‘is a celebration of the Lancastrian values of hard work and stubbornness, and there could be no finer setting for a shop-girl-made-good story than the county in which cotton was king.’ And the cultural historian Catherine Horwood has written about this novel: ‘Dorothy Whipple was only too well aware that clothes were one of the keys to class in this period. Before WW1, only the well-off could afford to have their clothes made: yards of wool crepe and stamped silks were turned into costumes by an invisible army of dressmakers across the country, and the idea of buying clothes ready-made from a dress shop was still unusual. Vera Brittain talks of “hand-me-downs” in Testament of Youth with a quite different meaning from today. These were not clothes passed from sibling to sibling but “handed down from a rack” in an outfitter’s shop, a novelty.’ High Wages describes how the way people shopped was beginning to change; it is this change that Dorothy Whipple uses as a key turning point in her novel."
May 11, 2025
Dorothy Whipple's writing quietly sucks me in every time. I loved Jane Carter, and went through all the highs and lows of her life with her.
The novel opens in 1912, and Jane Carter is 19 and desperate to get away from her step-mother, so she accepts a live-in position at a draper's shop where she is underfed and underpaid. I was furious when Mr Chadwick - her boss cheats her out of a commission. Jane has a good eye and a keen understanding of what customers want, as a result she developes a friendship with Mrs Briggs - the wife of one of the millhands who has done very well for himself and ended up a partner in one of the big mills; his wife feels like a fish out of water amongst the middle class women and their social scene.
Things are changing rapidly with ready-made dresses becoming widely available, but her boss is reluctant to move with the times so Jane accepts a loan from Mrs Briggs in order to be able to strike out on her own.
The novel is primarily about Jane's struggle to make it as a business women and succeed in her own merits, though there is an underlying love story that decided the direction her life will take later on.
I only have one more novel of hers to read, and I shall be rather sad when I get to the end.
The novel opens in 1912, and Jane Carter is 19 and desperate to get away from her step-mother, so she accepts a live-in position at a draper's shop where she is underfed and underpaid. I was furious when Mr Chadwick - her boss cheats her out of a commission. Jane has a good eye and a keen understanding of what customers want, as a result she developes a friendship with Mrs Briggs - the wife of one of the millhands who has done very well for himself and ended up a partner in one of the big mills; his wife feels like a fish out of water amongst the middle class women and their social scene.
Things are changing rapidly with ready-made dresses becoming widely available, but her boss is reluctant to move with the times so Jane accepts a loan from Mrs Briggs in order to be able to strike out on her own.
The novel is primarily about Jane's struggle to make it as a business women and succeed in her own merits, though there is an underlying love story that decided the direction her life will take later on.
I only have one more novel of hers to read, and I shall be rather sad when I get to the end.
September 16, 2017
Such a wonderful roller coaster. I continue to be delighted by Dorothy Whipple and her easy, accessible and fabulous way of writing and throwing together a story filled with characters that I really care about. Jane Carter's ascent from shop girl to shop owner is fascinating as well as heartbreaking. Along the way she meets lovesick Wilfred, melancholy Noel, drippy Maggie, kind Mrs Briggs and the snobbish Mr Chadwick. If Charles Dickens wrote a story like this I imagine his characterizations to be vastly similar.
September 10, 2020
Sept 20: I’m on my third re-read and I just love this
I cannot fully express in words how I feel about this novel, and the real reason why I procrastinated so much writing a review is because I don’t want to part from it.
I have read it twice in the span of a month and all I can say is that I love it. Everything, from the plot to the writing, is perfect.
I had been going through a bit of a reading slump at the time - I didn’t want to pick up a book, I didn’t want to focus, and when I did read I always ended up disappointed (and I’m using a past tense, but I am actually still feeling this way) – and yet this book managed to excited me, I was looking forward to spare moments of time in which I could read it, it was a real page turner and at the same time I wanted to savour every word slowly and fully.
I love it and I could re-read it again today.
I cannot fully express in words how I feel about this novel, and the real reason why I procrastinated so much writing a review is because I don’t want to part from it.
I have read it twice in the span of a month and all I can say is that I love it. Everything, from the plot to the writing, is perfect.
I had been going through a bit of a reading slump at the time - I didn’t want to pick up a book, I didn’t want to focus, and when I did read I always ended up disappointed (and I’m using a past tense, but I am actually still feeling this way) – and yet this book managed to excited me, I was looking forward to spare moments of time in which I could read it, it was a real page turner and at the same time I wanted to savour every word slowly and fully.
I love it and I could re-read it again today.
December 12, 2022
Really fantastic book, it was like talking to me granny about how things were back in the day. It's Northern humour at it's best, a gentle rolling piss-take. Full of wonderful characters with a bit of a love story thrown in.
December 8, 2024
3.5 Stars rounded up
Dorothy Whipple's novel is set from the 1910's through the 1920's, a time of great change in the social classes and the roles of women. High Wages draws on references to the literature of the time to create a subtly feminist novel that is also an understated critique of class differences.
"Why did some people have so much? And yet, compared with Lily, she herself must seem almost rich. Was it all like this? Did every one look with envy at the one above? Funny. And funny, to, that the thought of someone else being worse off than you were yourself should make you feel more cheerful."
"She ask[ed] Mr Chadwick for a rise in wages. Mr. Chadwick was grudging and astonished, but Jane flung so many arguments, culled from H.G. Wells, at him that he was driven, in the end to put up the screen of an extra half a crown a week between himself and this determined young woman."
Whipple's story and characters are engaging. I enjoy watching Jane grow from live-in shop girl to an independent business woman, quite unusual for the times. Mrs. Briggs is a favorite character here. She makes no bones about who she is and refuses to put on airs just because her family rises in circumstance. I especially find pleasure in her relationship with Jane, how they accept and support each other.
I enjoy how Whipple uses clothing and its marketing to indicate social status and change.
Whipple's portrayals of the Chadwicks and the Greenwoods tinge on caricature and the plot is a bit contrived.
While not a perfect novel, High Wages is a lively read and a masterclass in subtly making a point or two.
Publication 1930
Dorothy Whipple's novel is set from the 1910's through the 1920's, a time of great change in the social classes and the roles of women. High Wages draws on references to the literature of the time to create a subtly feminist novel that is also an understated critique of class differences.
"Why did some people have so much? And yet, compared with Lily, she herself must seem almost rich. Was it all like this? Did every one look with envy at the one above? Funny. And funny, to, that the thought of someone else being worse off than you were yourself should make you feel more cheerful."
"She ask[ed] Mr Chadwick for a rise in wages. Mr. Chadwick was grudging and astonished, but Jane flung so many arguments, culled from H.G. Wells, at him that he was driven, in the end to put up the screen of an extra half a crown a week between himself and this determined young woman."
Whipple's story and characters are engaging. I enjoy watching Jane grow from live-in shop girl to an independent business woman, quite unusual for the times. Mrs. Briggs is a favorite character here. She makes no bones about who she is and refuses to put on airs just because her family rises in circumstance. I especially find pleasure in her relationship with Jane, how they accept and support each other.
I enjoy how Whipple uses clothing and its marketing to indicate social status and change.
Whipple's portrayals of the Chadwicks and the Greenwoods tinge on caricature and the plot is a bit contrived.
While not a perfect novel, High Wages is a lively read and a masterclass in subtly making a point or two.
Publication 1930
September 23, 2010
I have become a great fan of Dorothy Whipple - and have loved each of the novels re- published by Persephone that I have read. Although prehaps not quite as powerful as Someone at a Distance, or They were Sisters, this 1930 novel is still brilliant. Dorothy Whipple's portrayal of a northern mill- town around the time of the first world war is wonderful, full of believable characters and social commentary. The central character is Jane, an ambitious young girl, now alone in the world who arrives in Tidsbury in 1912 to begin work as an assistant in a draper's shop. Jane is quite a feminist in own way, she dreams of independence, and doesn't baulk at casting an eye at a married man - which is something Dorothy Whipple heroines in later books would not have done. This is a less moralistic novel than the other Dorothy Whipple novels I have read, in many ways not a lot happens. Over the course of about 10 years we see Jane develop into a pretty savvy business woman, she makes some good friends, and achieves more than she could possibly have dreamt of when starting out. A really enjoyable read, and I hope there will be more DW novels published by Persephone soon.
November 2, 2017
A wonderful story.
We see Jane develop and gain confidence and realise her dream.
But who is Jane going to share her life with, Wilfred loves her and so does Noel.
Then a change in circumstances changes everything.
Love Dorothy Whipple.
We see Jane develop and gain confidence and realise her dream.
But who is Jane going to share her life with, Wilfred loves her and so does Noel.
Then a change in circumstances changes everything.
Love Dorothy Whipple.
October 16, 2016
Author Jane Brocket wrote the Preface to this Persephone reissue, and it describes - rather brilliantly, I thought - what makes this book such a fascinating bit of social history. It's the story of an ambitious 'shop girl' called Jane Carter. Orphaned as a young teen, Jane has the intelligence, taste and work ethic to transcend the rather narrow role that she has been cast in. Through her own devices, she rises from an assistant at Chadwick's - an old-fashioned haberdashery in the Lancashire town of Tidsley - to the owner/manager of her own dress shop. There's an interesting examination of the class system in this book, and the many social changes that happened after World War I, but Jane's struggles (as both a woman and a business-woman) are always at the forefront of the storyline.
I thought this was a very good read, but the latter half of the book felt quite choppy to me - not as 'finished' and seamless as Whipple's best books. The ending was poignant; Whipple doesn't write simple ' happy ever after' stories. Although I wanted better for Jane, I thought the ending was properly realistic - just when it threatened to veer off into melodrama.
I thought this was a very good read, but the latter half of the book felt quite choppy to me - not as 'finished' and seamless as Whipple's best books. The ending was poignant; Whipple doesn't write simple ' happy ever after' stories. Although I wanted better for Jane, I thought the ending was properly realistic - just when it threatened to veer off into melodrama.
August 25, 2019
Another heart-warming read from one of my favourite authors. Loved it
April 5, 2020
"Oh, the comfort of that first cup of tea! The warmth and life it puts into you!" , (p.25)
My first Dorothy Whipple novel read. Most definitely not my last. A lovely tale with insights into the life of a live in shopgirl with big dreams. You just can't help not cheering for the sturdy Lancashire girl, Jane Carter, as she bravely strikes out on her own. It's a novel of the values of hard work, determination, and friendship that will take one places. At times, I will confess, I found portions to be a wee bit melodramatic. However, interspersed throughout the novel are lovely bits of imagery, prose, and pure fancy. I loved a particular scene where Jane is utterly entranced over the words from a novel being read aloud. She has to hold that book and read it for herself. The feeling was so great and overwhelming to read the words herself rather than have them read to her. That is an exact feeling I've had myself and Whipple captures it beautifully.
Well done on this reprint, Persephone Books!
My first Dorothy Whipple novel read. Most definitely not my last. A lovely tale with insights into the life of a live in shopgirl with big dreams. You just can't help not cheering for the sturdy Lancashire girl, Jane Carter, as she bravely strikes out on her own. It's a novel of the values of hard work, determination, and friendship that will take one places. At times, I will confess, I found portions to be a wee bit melodramatic. However, interspersed throughout the novel are lovely bits of imagery, prose, and pure fancy. I loved a particular scene where Jane is utterly entranced over the words from a novel being read aloud. She has to hold that book and read it for herself. The feeling was so great and overwhelming to read the words herself rather than have them read to her. That is an exact feeling I've had myself and Whipple captures it beautifully.
Well done on this reprint, Persephone Books!
June 25, 2016
A solid 4.5 for me. I loved this quiet story of Jane's trials and tribulations, her hard work and determination leading to what the world would see as a small triumph but which in its time for a single woman was nearly revolutionary. Just the ticket for me right now. I am so happy Persephone is re-issuing these books, they are so full of everyday life.
June 1, 2011
A while back I had the opportunity to visit the Persephone Books shop in London. I went there with a purpose--to buy all of the Dorothy Whipple books they had in stock. I the proceeded to carry four novels around London all day. My back hurt, my arm hurt, and I vowed to never again buy books on vacation.
All of that was made worth it when I read High Wages. It is delightful to read, yet thought provoking. I am always interested in period women's literature that discusses the true lives of women at the time. What I enjoyed about High Wages is that Whipple discusses the often desperate situation of working class women in pre-WW1 England with a lightness (not to be confused with superficiality) that allows the reader to consider other issue and form her own opinion. In that way she reminds me of Jane Austen, who was the master of this writing style.
My only problem with the novel is that the end was not quite as satisfying as the beginning. I loved reading about Jane's struggle to rise above her station. It seemed tome that once she attained her goals she love her lust for life, and so did I lose a bit of my enthusiasm for the book. Let it be known, however, that if i was writing a more scholarly interpretation this would probably not be the case, as I believe the end has more to flesh out than the beginning. I was reading this book on vacation-- not in a critical analysis kind of environment at all.
All of that was made worth it when I read High Wages. It is delightful to read, yet thought provoking. I am always interested in period women's literature that discusses the true lives of women at the time. What I enjoyed about High Wages is that Whipple discusses the often desperate situation of working class women in pre-WW1 England with a lightness (not to be confused with superficiality) that allows the reader to consider other issue and form her own opinion. In that way she reminds me of Jane Austen, who was the master of this writing style.
My only problem with the novel is that the end was not quite as satisfying as the beginning. I loved reading about Jane's struggle to rise above her station. It seemed tome that once she attained her goals she love her lust for life, and so did I lose a bit of my enthusiasm for the book. Let it be known, however, that if i was writing a more scholarly interpretation this would probably not be the case, as I believe the end has more to flesh out than the beginning. I was reading this book on vacation-- not in a critical analysis kind of environment at all.
Read
September 30, 2023I absolutely loved the first 3/4s of this novel. I loved Jane's ambition and her creativity and how her willingness to think outside the haberdashery box led to her own shop. I also love that her sensitivity to Mrs Briggs about choosing materials to make a dress leads to a lovely reciprocal relationship between them. I think that was my favorite relationship in the book actually because it's intergenerational too, and I love that Mrs Briggs sees something grand in Jane. (And that she loves to load up Jane's plate at tea time with lots of food because she can tell she's not getting enough to eat at Chadwick's!)
The commentary about class in this novel is also fascinating and is right up there with a Victorian novel in its astuteness. I wonder if Dorothy Whipple intentionally echoed one plot thread in this novel in They Knew Mr. Knight because the downfall of the two patriarchs was very similar.
Now here's what makes me hesitate about this story...the last 1/4 features the almost-adultery of Jane and Noel and while I sympathize with them because they are both likable characters, I was also disappointed by this plot turn. It distracted from Jane's success with her shop and muddied the plot waters. I would have preferred either of these:
1) There is no man in the picture and Jane finds a life as a careerwoman.
2) There is no Noel and only Wilfrid.
I really liked Wilfrid's character. He's like Jane in that he's trying so hard to find belonging in a world that is bigger than the narrow one of his growing up years. His path to a bigger world is through books and the world of ideas, and I love that about him. I do think it makes him generally more wise and emotionally sensitive than Jane. DW seems to present them as potentional partners in life who just can't catch each other at the right time. The scene where Jane visits Wilfrid in the hospital as he's recovering from the loss of his arm in the Great War is so poignant. I think it would have been much more interesting for DW to explore the connection between Wilfrid and Jane. Jane obviously isn't as attracted to Wilfrid as she is to Noel and yet there is a friendship of years with Wilfrid and that is a connection that is very worth exploring. If Noel wasn't married, that would be a different story and potentially interesting because of the class differences. But alas how often do men and women marry such unsuitable partners and have to live out the consequences. (I'm not talking about abuse here, of course.)
I love DW's writing style, and I will absolutely re-read this in the future. I love that DW portrays a part of England--the industrial Midlands--that gets short shrift in many other British novels. Her characters and plots are often unique and compelling and this book is no different.
The commentary about class in this novel is also fascinating and is right up there with a Victorian novel in its astuteness. I wonder if Dorothy Whipple intentionally echoed one plot thread in this novel in They Knew Mr. Knight because the downfall of the two patriarchs was very similar.
Now here's what makes me hesitate about this story...the last 1/4 features the almost-adultery of Jane and Noel and while I sympathize with them because they are both likable characters, I was also disappointed by this plot turn. It distracted from Jane's success with her shop and muddied the plot waters. I would have preferred either of these:
1) There is no man in the picture and Jane finds a life as a careerwoman.
2) There is no Noel and only Wilfrid.
I really liked Wilfrid's character. He's like Jane in that he's trying so hard to find belonging in a world that is bigger than the narrow one of his growing up years. His path to a bigger world is through books and the world of ideas, and I love that about him. I do think it makes him generally more wise and emotionally sensitive than Jane. DW seems to present them as potentional partners in life who just can't catch each other at the right time. The scene where Jane visits Wilfrid in the hospital as he's recovering from the loss of his arm in the Great War is so poignant. I think it would have been much more interesting for DW to explore the connection between Wilfrid and Jane. Jane obviously isn't as attracted to Wilfrid as she is to Noel and yet there is a friendship of years with Wilfrid and that is a connection that is very worth exploring. If Noel wasn't married, that would be a different story and potentially interesting because of the class differences. But alas how often do men and women marry such unsuitable partners and have to live out the consequences. (I'm not talking about abuse here, of course.)
I love DW's writing style, and I will absolutely re-read this in the future. I love that DW portrays a part of England--the industrial Midlands--that gets short shrift in many other British novels. Her characters and plots are often unique and compelling and this book is no different.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2014
This is the second Persephone Book I read, and I was once more touched by the aura of feminine culture and community surrounding it. High Wages deals with the life of a shop girl in the 1910s and leaves nothing out; the happy Sundays off, the boredom of rainy days in the shop, the meanness of employers and the support of workers among one another. Though Jane's life certainly goes uphill in the novel, it's not a glorified rags-to-riches story, and attention is paid to the less pleasant sides of being a working class girl. Especially the relationships with women coming into the shop are put down sharply, the class-system still in place and enforced by rich women treating the lower classes like filth. The same goes for Jane's thoughts on all these women buying, buying, buying and being so utterly focused on appearance - why? The issues raised are still relevant today, I felt, which made the story even more appealing.
It's a very easy read - I read its 300+ pages in one day, compelled to keep reading and find out more about Jane, her friends and her customers. There's a lovely story here, but also subtle commentary on society at the time, and the roles given to women in this society. A must-read for every smart woman who also loves dresses!
It's a very easy read - I read its 300+ pages in one day, compelled to keep reading and find out more about Jane, her friends and her customers. There's a lovely story here, but also subtle commentary on society at the time, and the roles given to women in this society. A must-read for every smart woman who also loves dresses!
February 25, 2025
I hadn't even heard of Dorothy Whipple until a friend recommended her to me a couple of weeks ago, but I found this first foray into her writing an entire delight. Writing in England in the 1930s, but depicting a milltown 20 years earlier, before, during and after WW1, Whipple has a keen eye for social caste and all its foibles and the pacing in this tale of an orphan shopgirl made good never lags.
I have seen Whipple compared to Austen, and there are certainly call-outs to Austen, such as a ball scene that skews the Austenian perspective to tragicomic effect, but there were also call outs to Dickens and Bronte (naming a hardworking bookish orphan who catches the eye of an adulterous aristrocrat "Jane" is no accident). Whipple may not take a place at the table of those greats, but her book is an honorable part of the tradition.
If I had a quibble, it's that I could have read an entire novel about Jane's career in fashion retail from lowly shop assistant to prosperous boutique owner, dealing with sexual harassment, late paying customers, and all the like. The central romance plot was less interesting to me, and threatens to veer towards the overwrought, but I think Whipple pulled it off in the end.
I have seen Whipple compared to Austen, and there are certainly call-outs to Austen, such as a ball scene that skews the Austenian perspective to tragicomic effect, but there were also call outs to Dickens and Bronte (naming a hardworking bookish orphan who catches the eye of an adulterous aristrocrat "Jane" is no accident). Whipple may not take a place at the table of those greats, but her book is an honorable part of the tradition.
If I had a quibble, it's that I could have read an entire novel about Jane's career in fashion retail from lowly shop assistant to prosperous boutique owner, dealing with sexual harassment, late paying customers, and all the like. The central romance plot was less interesting to me, and threatens to veer towards the overwrought, but I think Whipple pulled it off in the end.
August 3, 2018
This lacked the depth and complexity of writing I found in Because of the Lockwoods but then it's an earlier novel by Whipple. The story of clever, talented Jane Carter's rise from a lowly put-upon shop girl at a drapers to a shop owner herself is a thoroughly enjoyable one. Where it begins to weaken is when the narrative turns from that thread toward romance. As a reader I found it difficult to reconcile the bright, intuitive, forward-thinking and sometimes feisty Jane with the waffling weak-minded Jane-in-love of the last eighty pages. Whipple attempts to turn things around at the end but I found the resolution—and ending—unsatisfying. Still the historical aspect of women's dress, and the move from having to purchase piece-goods to be sent to a private dressmaker toward ready-made clothing, makes this worth reading despite the inconsistency of the protagonist and the odd direction the plot takes.
I'm thinking this may be a good indicator if one had to pick and choose which Dorothy Whipple books to purchase it might be prudent to look toward her later novels.
I'm thinking this may be a good indicator if one had to pick and choose which Dorothy Whipple books to purchase it might be prudent to look toward her later novels.
May 30, 2023
Loved this so much.
It starts slowly but within no time, one is being carried along, enjoying every sentence and rooting for our heroine.
I had to pause once or twice while reading to ascertain the year in which it was published, as it feels so modern.
Full of humour , the best kind; dry and witty, this will be re read often. So glad that I got it....
It starts slowly but within no time, one is being carried along, enjoying every sentence and rooting for our heroine.
I had to pause once or twice while reading to ascertain the year in which it was published, as it feels so modern.
Full of humour , the best kind; dry and witty, this will be re read often. So glad that I got it....
March 7, 2025
I like Whipple’s writing a lot, and I have a lot of respect for Jane and her business acumen. But this book needed better editing, because it tried to get some point across, but never got there. The romance story line was a completely unnecessary and jarring detour.
August 16, 2019
I loved this book. Jane Carter the main character was a great character. I would highly recommend this book.
October 5, 2019
Young Jane applies for an opening in Chadwick’s drapery store in a Northern English town prior to WWI and begins to make her own way despite the Chadwicks’ unfair and parsimonious treatment of their staff. Jane is a spunky heroine, and I was cheering for her success along with her down-to-earth friend, Mrs Briggs. As pointed out in the excellent introduction, Jane’s story subtly incorporates historical and social factors such as lending libraries, mass-produced clothing, and WWI and its aftermath. Of course, romance plays a role. There’s “good friend” Wilfred and “out of reach” Noel, both interested in Jane. The second half of the story seemed weaker to me with its shifts in focus and emphasis on less developed characters like Sylvia and Noel. The book ends on an unresolved chord so each reader can imagine what will come next for Jane.
October 31, 2024
The shop girl reads The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius to guide herself through the difficult times. I wish this novel would not end.
November 28, 2016
Loved it. And the best line in the book? "Tidsley was a-seethe"!
May 26, 2021
First published in 1930, High Wages is essentially a coming-of-age novel about a young girl trying to make a living from dressmaking. In sending off the completed manuscript to her publisher, Whipple wrote in her journal: 'What possessed me to write about a girl in a shop? I know nothing about it.' Regardless, she has written such a readable novel which, as ever, contains a great deal of insight, and much wisdom.
Set in her home county of Lancashire, High Wages begins in 1912. Eighteen-year-old Jane secures a role as a junior assistant in a haberdashery department in the next town, and moves into her new life with such determination and enthusiasm. Throughout, there is a great deal of important historical context, and so many fascinating details about a life lived before, during, and after the First World War. So many things around Jane change, with people she knows going off to fight, and society reeling. When speaking to her friend Wilfrid, who did not believe in war, Jane 'coldly' remarked: '"It doesn't matter what you think... We're in it. We've got to get out of it. We never shall if every man gives way to his personal feelings. While you're here arguing about right and wrong, other men are dying in hundreds."'
I read Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford's much lauded Business as Usual around a month before picking up High Wages. Both novels have many parallels in their subject matter, with independent young women moving away from their homes to make their living - one in a department store, and the other in a small shop which makes garments for women. Of course, both are absolutely charming. High Wages is filled with believable characters and scenes, and the plot moves along quite splendidly.
High Wages is tremendously interesting, particularly from an historical perspective. Whilst a lovely novel, I do not feel as though it quite has the depth of Whipple's other work; perhaps this is due to the fact that this was only her second book, published three years after her debut, Young Anne. Whilst I greatly enjoyed the reading experience, I must say that this is my least favourite of Whipple's books to date, and Jane is certainly a memorable heroine. If you are at all interested in the history of fashion, or Britain on the Home Front, High Wages would be an excellent choice of reading material.
Set in her home county of Lancashire, High Wages begins in 1912. Eighteen-year-old Jane secures a role as a junior assistant in a haberdashery department in the next town, and moves into her new life with such determination and enthusiasm. Throughout, there is a great deal of important historical context, and so many fascinating details about a life lived before, during, and after the First World War. So many things around Jane change, with people she knows going off to fight, and society reeling. When speaking to her friend Wilfrid, who did not believe in war, Jane 'coldly' remarked: '"It doesn't matter what you think... We're in it. We've got to get out of it. We never shall if every man gives way to his personal feelings. While you're here arguing about right and wrong, other men are dying in hundreds."'
I read Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford's much lauded Business as Usual around a month before picking up High Wages. Both novels have many parallels in their subject matter, with independent young women moving away from their homes to make their living - one in a department store, and the other in a small shop which makes garments for women. Of course, both are absolutely charming. High Wages is filled with believable characters and scenes, and the plot moves along quite splendidly.
High Wages is tremendously interesting, particularly from an historical perspective. Whilst a lovely novel, I do not feel as though it quite has the depth of Whipple's other work; perhaps this is due to the fact that this was only her second book, published three years after her debut, Young Anne. Whilst I greatly enjoyed the reading experience, I must say that this is my least favourite of Whipple's books to date, and Jane is certainly a memorable heroine. If you are at all interested in the history of fashion, or Britain on the Home Front, High Wages would be an excellent choice of reading material.
May 3, 2010
A modern reader could easily dismiss 'High Wages' as saccharine and shallow. I am sorry for this reader - they have missed the subtle feminism, triumphant self-definition, and realistic disappointment with which Whipple liberally embroiders her 'shop girl' story. In fact, one could argue that the 'shop girl' is simply a loom for the story's fabric of social change, woman's independence, class distinctions, and man's relationship to war and post-war roles. Written in 1930, Whipple's book is an enjoyable commentary on life before and after the Great War and a delightful love story. Well worth reading!
February 21, 2017
Interestingly, I didn't enjoy this as much as some other Whipples - not sure why, except that I didn't really engage with the main character. However, there were still some wonderful lines which I wish I'd written down...
November 4, 2025
Dorothy Whipple was born and raised in Blackburn . Her first novel, set in a fictional Lancashire mill town is a coming of age story about a lonely orphaned girl making her way . In Edwardian England draperies were owned by men: girls were employed as live in cheap labour. Jane thinks she has won the golden ticket when she secures a job , bed and board in the town's best drapers but finds that hunger and exploitation are the order of the day . But she loves the work and her talent for spotting new trends, for marketing and in understanding the customers improve the owners profits. So she determines to follow her dreams. It sounds like the template for a predictable and forgettable comfort read . And in some ways it is .
Jane , our protagonist , pays emotional High Wages for her success as she confronts the deeply embedded prejudices of class and misogyny that have ripened to a hard skinned fruit in the insular town. Freedom comes in the moors and in literatur . At work, in order to make her way, she needs to be thick skinned , focused and hardworking but we also see that she is passionate , loyal and kind .
Whipple is firmly in the realist tradition, writing for a wide commercial market and steers clear of any hint of modernism in her old fashioned style . The reader is held safely within a comfortable cocoon by her deceptively simple craft and steered through the roller coaster plot . But Whipple is sly , smuggling in the same message about feminism and independence as her more experimental sisters and managing to depict the overwhelming madness of passion as well as any of her contemporaries .
Whipple's secret talent is in her observational astuteness. Whether it's in the petty differences so vital in the class hierarchy , the detail of the intricacies of shops , shopping and the revolution of ready made clothing or the subtle dynamics in emotions and relationships she reveals in the day to day conversations Whipple is able to elevate a somewhat clichéd plot into something where her set pieces surprise , her characters sing with intimacy and vulnerability and her thrum of feminism feels like a coat many of her contemporary readers would be happy to try on themselves .
Here work and its details are in the foreground. Jane's perseverance is a personalized representation of non conformist working class values with just a sprinkling of the middle class panache and poise inherited from her dead father , a journalist . Shop work offered a step up for working class girls in contrast to the servitude of below stairs or the heavy labour of mill work . To become a businesswoman over a hundred years ago required confidence and determination and , above all , an investor . Jane will rise against the odds in contrast to the mainly enfeebled and privileged men that populate the upper levels of this inward looking mill town .
Jane , our protagonist , pays emotional High Wages for her success as she confronts the deeply embedded prejudices of class and misogyny that have ripened to a hard skinned fruit in the insular town. Freedom comes in the moors and in literatur . At work, in order to make her way, she needs to be thick skinned , focused and hardworking but we also see that she is passionate , loyal and kind .
Whipple is firmly in the realist tradition, writing for a wide commercial market and steers clear of any hint of modernism in her old fashioned style . The reader is held safely within a comfortable cocoon by her deceptively simple craft and steered through the roller coaster plot . But Whipple is sly , smuggling in the same message about feminism and independence as her more experimental sisters and managing to depict the overwhelming madness of passion as well as any of her contemporaries .
Whipple's secret talent is in her observational astuteness. Whether it's in the petty differences so vital in the class hierarchy , the detail of the intricacies of shops , shopping and the revolution of ready made clothing or the subtle dynamics in emotions and relationships she reveals in the day to day conversations Whipple is able to elevate a somewhat clichéd plot into something where her set pieces surprise , her characters sing with intimacy and vulnerability and her thrum of feminism feels like a coat many of her contemporary readers would be happy to try on themselves .
Here work and its details are in the foreground. Jane's perseverance is a personalized representation of non conformist working class values with just a sprinkling of the middle class panache and poise inherited from her dead father , a journalist . Shop work offered a step up for working class girls in contrast to the servitude of below stairs or the heavy labour of mill work . To become a businesswoman over a hundred years ago required confidence and determination and , above all , an investor . Jane will rise against the odds in contrast to the mainly enfeebled and privileged men that populate the upper levels of this inward looking mill town .
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