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Original poster

"Can Any Mother Help Me?" - fascinating sounding book about a vinatge precursor to Mumsnet

106 replies

treacletart · 08/03/2007 22:39

Anyone else heard about this ? A group of women wrote to each other for support and advice for over 50 years using pseudonyms - sound familar?

OP posts:
themildmanneredjanitor · 15/03/2007 08:28

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themildmanneredjanitor · 15/03/2007 08:16

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themildmanneredjanitor · 14/03/2007 22:16

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mammaduck · 13/03/2007 21:57

Agree looks amazing. Really want to read it. Another review from the Guardian this weekend here

MrsSpoon · 12/03/2007 12:01

Thank you deweydell, I have emailed.

themildmanneredjanitor · 11/03/2007 19:40

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deweydell · 11/03/2007 19:38

No, no. Jenna Bailey is the brilliant woman who spent the last few years piecing the story together. I am her editor at the publishing house.

monkeytrousers · 11/03/2007 13:40

Oh doh! I?d have loved a copy. I started my own thread on this earlier so didn't look for any others. Look here!

So are you Jenna Bailey, Dewey?

Pruni · 11/03/2007 13:28

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deweydell · 11/03/2007 13:24

Now?

Swizzler · 11/03/2007 12:42

I've not had an email either

deweydell · 11/03/2007 12:40

Hey there. I just checked in and got all your messages. I'll send the books out next week.

themildmanneredjanitor · 10/03/2007 22:56

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MrsSpoon · 10/03/2007 22:54

LOL, email back up and running, no mail yet, can you tell I'm keen!

DrMarthaMcMoo · 10/03/2007 22:42

Oh it sounds fab. I'm going to get it for my Mum for mothers' day - she read Nella Last's diary after the Victoria Wood dramatisation was on TV, and she's now reading another book of the Mass Observations - this will be right up her street.

MrsWednesday · 10/03/2007 22:36

Ooh, I read a review in the Observer last weekend

here

and this bit they quoted

'I have had a rotten time, and been cruelly hurt, both physically and mentally, but I know it is bad to brood and breed hard thoughts and resentments. Can any reader suggest an occupation that will intrigue me and exclude "thinking" and cost nothing! A hard problem, I admit.'

really made me think of mumsnet!

MrsSpoon · 10/03/2007 22:28

Deweydell, my email is down at the moment so please, please don't take my lack of reply as a lack of interest.

Marina · 09/03/2007 23:37

I was going to start a thread about this and didn't get round to it treacletart! It sounds a really interesting read and have just spotted the editor is on here too
but I'll just have to go and buy mine
Mass Obs is such a treasure trove - loved Nella Last and Simon Garfield.

Aefondkiss · 09/03/2007 23:27

Lovely, especially to read that their friendships lasted.

RosaLuxembourg · 09/03/2007 23:22

We did the Simon Garfield book in our book group. I think we are going to love yours. One of my friends showed me a review in the paper this week and I my first thought was 'It's Mumsnet!'

themildmanneredjanitor · 09/03/2007 23:17

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UnquietDad · 09/03/2007 23:12

'Discussions could lead to arguments and occasionally to blazing rows - one woman left with a huffy "My husband will not allow me to be insulted"...'

Now that's a flounce!

themildmanneredjanitor · 09/03/2007 22:19

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deweydell · 09/03/2007 22:13

is that the Simon Garfield one? Yes, there is an interesting part in CAMHM about anti-semitism.

The stuff in the book I found most amazing was the childbirth section, the stuff about sex (they're all really up for it alot of the time) and just how stoic they are in the face of really difficult times. You feel like they are your friends by the end of the book. I can really see a movie in it with Mirren, Dench etc.....

deweydell · 09/03/2007 22:13

is that the Simon Garfield one? Yes, there is an interesting part in CAMHM about anti-semitism.

The stuff in the book I found most amazing was the childbirth section, the stuff about sex (they're all really up for it alot of the time) and just how stoic they are in the face of really difficult times. You feel like they are your friends by the end of the book. I can really see a movie in it with Mirren, Dench etc.....