I’m going to the Persephone Bookshop In Bath!

[Glitterbiscuits]

What shall I buy? I have never read Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, so that’s one. I plan to buy myself one of their lovely tote bags.
I’m also quite happy to make an early start on Christmas shopping! As Bath is a long way from me, it’s going to be a one off trip so all suggestions welcome

I can sometimes get to another branch of Toppings and they put on some great events
Ive read Jane Austen so I’m ok there. Although I have noted the Jane Austen Centre is nearby. Maybe I’ll look there too.

And I probably now am a lady of a certain age!
Im looking forward to a browse!

I want their edition of Round about a pound a week'...I bought a cheap version off Amazon and the formatting is almost unreadable

The Austen Centre isn’t very good tbh - but Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein is superb. Just avoid the basement, if you don’t want to be frightened out of your wits.

Marghanita Laski. All four of hers are worth reading.

Miss Buncle’s book

alas poor lady

consequences

lady rose and mrs memmary (nb this is bitter sweet and the sweet is very sweet and the bitter very bitter)

greenery street

It's brilliant. Set's a bloody high standard as an academic paper in order to be above reproach. Ethics, data gathering, scoop, findings.
I got so much out of it and it became a bit of a backbone for me when reading novels mentioning the London working classes.

PollyToynbee, Clapham, 2008 wrote a very good preface.
Persephone always seem to make a huge effort with an intro or discussion.

This book, always makes me want to shout when anyone seems to think women only started working in some mythical late 20th Century office.

The typeface is modern and an easy read, great attention to columns of figures, tracking every last hapenny.

Can't see that anyone else has mentioned The Fortnight in September by R C Sherriff. It's a beautiful revocation of the family holiday from the period between the wars.

Seconding Miss Buncle's Book by D E Stevenson.

Also, Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther.

I'm in Bath later this week and am so glad I stumbled upon this thread. I shall try and find this bookshop.

It’s not hard to find!

This has just arrived in my inbox, @Glitterbiscuits, so I thought I’d pass it on:

https://persephonebooks.co.uk/blogs/the-persephone-letter

I had a great time with my teenage daughters at the Jane Austen centre. It’s not very big, will take about an hour. You can dress up, what’s not to like 🤣

Autocorrect fail evocation not revocation 🙄

Fortnight is a truly wonderful book.

@CatWithThreeLegs yes! The Fortnight in September!
My absolute favourite book.

Edit: also recommend Good Things In England by Florence White if anyone is interested in cookery and history.

The Fortnight in September is a wonderful book.

Another one for Little Boy Lost and Fortnight in September!

Also It's Hard to be Hip Over Thirty by Judith Viorst

You can download it from Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58691

I went to the shop once on a mission to buy a friend who'd been dealt a really unfair blow something lovely.
It turned into the loveliest moment with staff and other customers all chipping in with suggestions to echo, heal and give hope for what she'd been through. Three books, wrapped in a lovely napkin. New start.
It's hard to be hip over thirty was one of the choices.
It's good.

Couple of years ago (I think) they held an anniversary festival centred on the shop. I was bitterly disappointed to miss it, as I was visiting Bath maybe a week prior to the relevant dates. Anyway, as part of the shindig, attendees enjoyed a screening of the film adaptation of Little Boy Lost. I found the film online and watched along, all by myself, from a hotel room in the north of England …

Our Toppings here in Bath is in a fabulous building too - mr Bs in a nice atmospheric bit of town - we also have a really nice Waterstones- also we have a really good 2nd hand bookstall in the guildhall indoor market -

Love 'Round About a Pound a Week'. A brilliant book, which argued for family allowance and other social reforms and was ahead of its time in exploring the day to day finances of low income families without judgement. The minutiae of detail recorded is a fascinating piece of social history.

I love The Children Who Lived In A Barn. My old paperback will probably fall to bits one day so I am glad you highlighted that it is available through Persephone. I can see me treating myself to this some time soon

I loved Crooked Cross. Anything by DE Stevenson is worth reading.