Product Description

Chronicle of a Working Life is an omnibus of three classic books by Charles Dickens's great-granddaughter, Monica Dickens. Amusing, revealing and witty One Pair of Hands, One Pair of Feet, and My Turn to Make the Tea give a wonderful evocation of the post-war years of the twenties and thirties. 'Surely,' I thought, 'there's something more to life than just going to parties that one doesn't enjoy, with people one doesn't even like?' So begins Monica Dickens's first career move as, bored of being a debutante, she is let loose on series of unsuspecting upper-class employers as a cook-general in One Pair of Hands. Cooking, cleaning and telling all in this deliciously funny memoir, written at the age of twenty-two, this was her first book. One Pair of Feet continues her adventures when she recounts her first, and only, year of training to be a nurse, and My Turn to Make the Tea completes the trilogy by telling of her time as a very junior, very enthusiastic reporter on a local newspaper.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #388091 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

Review
Monica Dickens became an immensely popular writer. She had been a debutante in the 1930s, but rather than wait around for a suitable husband, she went to work, and the separate books in this autobiographical trilogy describe her often hilarious careers as a cook-general, a nurse, and a reporter for a local paper. In them she documents contemporary morals, manners, the class system and attitudes to work, while recreating unforgettable characters. Written with acerbic wit, unfailing good humour and irrepressible spirit, these books give an invaluable and always entertaining picture of social life in the Britain of the mid twentieth century. They also make the reader laugh aloud. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Monica Dickens was the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Born in 1915, she wrote numerous well-known and popular novels, children's books and autobiographical books. Monica Dickens died in 1992.

Customer Reviews

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This trilogy of Monica Dickens' experiences as a cook-general, a nurse and a reporter is vastly interesting and amusing.
Monica Dickens was a greatly under-rated writer; she had the ability to turn an incident into a story that one wants to read again and again, and these three books in one have the added interest of coming from an age which is long gone but is still fascinating.
As a cook-general she wanted to experience life from the other side of the kitchen door and and she often had to hide away from people whom she knew socially as she was working in the kitchens of their friends.
As a nurse, she had experiences which most nurses would recoil in horror from, being treated like a very insignificant being by the matrons but always maintaining her keen eye for detail and above all, her sense of humour.
These are early books of hers and have the beginnings in them of the marvellous writing which became the keynote of Charles Dickens great-granddaughter.