Persephone Books discussion

Is anyone ready to discuss this one yet? I thought this was a fun, quick read...and not depressing! It's a nice change from the topic of WWI or WW2, which many of the books we've read lately have covered.

I've only just started but I'm enjoying it so far.

I just wanted to warn anyone who hasn't started - don't read the preface first if you don't like spoilers! There are some terrible ones in the first couple of pages. I took a peek and regretted it :-(

Added: it is funny to be reading this on Valentine's Day and come to the part where she complains that by the 1930s, Valentine's Day "has now all but died out. February 14th comes and goes unnoticed." Not these days!

I'm not reading this one, but will rejoin for A Far Cry :)

@ Rosemary- I made the mistake of reading the preface first... it would have been much better at the end! I loved the descriptions of the time they spent in the country and on the farm. I thought it was interesting that the boys and girls had separate activities... the boys would go off with dad and do something and she would stay with her mom. An
d it sounded like the boys got to go out more!

I agree about the preface being better as an afterward-- although I loved the image of the author and his wife reading her books in the evenings in their tiny New York City apartment. I enjoyed this book-- the descriptions of the family's long walks to St Paul's to go to church, the children's plays for the family, and the adventure of their train trip to Cornwall. And the marvelous description of her brothers taking her to ride on the top of the bus--and how exciting it was for her. When I read this before, I loved it so much, I read all five of her autobiographical books and they all have the same energy and sense of fun.

Finished now. I really enjoyed it and I'm going to try to read the rest of the series.

I loved the description of their holidays in Cornwall, the big house and all the cousins. Also school, where none of them seemed to learn very much, and the way that Molly's brothers were so sweet to her (when they weren't teasing her or banning her from their room). You are right, the boys definitely got to go out more!

(view spoiler)[Wasn't the ending unbelievable? Her father's colleagues letting his wife wait all night for him, and when she went to the office the next day, telling her he had been sent out of town, so she had to wait another two days before anybody told her the truth. I thought that was heartbreaking. (hide spoiler)]