The Girl from Hockley: Growing up in working class Birmingham

by Kathleen Dayus

Born into the industrial slums of Birmingham in 1903, Kathleen Dayus became a legend in her own time. She vividly recalls her Edwardian childhood and her life as a young munitions worker during the war, marriage, and life below the poverty line in the 1920s. Early widowhood and the Depression forced her to relinquish her children to Dr. Barnado's homes until, eight long years later, she could afford a home for them again. Her autobiography is a testament to the indomitable spirit, humor and verve that characterized her life. Her extraordinary memory for the sights, sounds, and smells of her youth, her marvelous sense of the comic, and her spirited refusal to do anything but live life to the fullest, make her life one of the most compelling stories of our time.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography

448 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2006

About the author

Kathleen Dayus was an English author from the West Midlands. Born in Hockley, Birmingham, 1–2 miles NW of the city centre, Dayus is best known for a series of autobiographical novels based on her childhood experiences. Her collective works were published as a single volume in 2006 called The Girl from Hockley: Growing Up in Working-Class Birmingham.

She won the prestigious J.R. Ackerely Prize for Autobiography in 1982 and was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham in 1992

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Girl from Hockley - what a wonderful book! Kathleen Dayus gives a rare insight into her life growing up in working class Birmingham. Simply wonderful, can highly recommend:)

[Mini Marce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lent to me by my 94 year-old Nan-in-law; whose a Brummie through and through. Not really my cup of tea. However, insightful.
I do enjoy reading about the way people lived in the past and I have quite a few relatives myself who lived round the jewellery quarter in Birmingham.

Along with the hardship and deprivation that many struggled through during that time; Katie tells some funny tales about her and her siblings antics.
Wouldn’t have liked to have met her mother by the sounds of it.
Felt sorry for Katie when she grew up; her life from 17-28 was just awful but glad she managed to rise above it, through her determination and hard work.

[Elisha Ebanks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Interesting to read about the area I grew up in. It was completely different back then: people spoke yam yam, there was a tram going down lodge road which seemed to go to the jewellery quarter, Hockley was a slum, Handsworth was well to do, and the list goes on! Inspirational story of a lady who came from and was determined to become something before the days of the welfare state. Loved it!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the same vein as Helen Forresters books. The poverty,squalor deprivation and hardship of life in Birminghan between the wars is unthinkable today.

[Michelle Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I live close to Birmingham and know the jewellery Quarter I found this a really enjoyable read. I love the way she writes how people talk which for me I could understand perfectly (for thats how I talk myself). If you like social history then this is a must read.

[Piper Winchester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Touching, funny and real.
Kathleen was fun to read about

[Kate Millin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a moving tale of about the extreme poverty that some people lived in in Birmingham's Jewellry Quarter. I didn't expect a reference to HMS Ganges in Shotton, Suffolk where my uncle by marriage went and which is over the river from Harwich where I have been staying this weekend.

Bookcrossing copy - see http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6...

[Avis Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few books that have won a J.R. Ackerley prize that's actually good. I've come across so many duds on that list that winning an Ackerley obviously means you were given the award for your neuroticism and not your talent.

Available at Open Library:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL48352...

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yow.

[Fiona Beattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intersting story. could be more exciting

[Meredith Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this because of a family connection to working class Birmingham. Built on personal stories of a difficult life.

[Angela Storan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I would highly recommend.