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

[treacletart]

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?

Wow amazing !
doh - have I missed the boat

Thank you so much Deweydell, you are a star, can't wait to read this.

can't seem to CAT you dewey. It won't update my registration details for some reason. Anyway i'll happily buy it when you offer is on mn

Bampa: I just paid for that CAT thing. I wasn't on it before so maybe that's why it wasn't working...

thanks dewey but it won't work. Will keep trying

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.....

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.....

'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!

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!'

Lovely, especially to read that their friendships lasted.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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

I've not had an email either

Now?

Message withdrawn

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?

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.