Can Any Mother Help Me?

[VintageGardenia]

Just wondering has anyone else read this? I'm in the middle of it and it's really about an early (1930s on) print-based incarnation of Mumsnet.

Lovely book, I thought. I seem to remember a long thread about this some months ago.

Yes, I read it a few months ago and thought it was really lovely. I was pg when I read it and marvelled about how stiff upper lip some of them were about what must have been pretty horrible births iirc

Oh I did think this might have been done already but didn't see anything obvious. It is lovely though.

Having given birth only 2 and a half weeks ago I found the birth stories absolutely fascinating!

I really enjoyed it, mostly I think because they were writing only for themselves its a very honest picture of the lives of real women

The honesty is scorching. I've just read the account of the one who fell in love with the doctor (terribly Brief Encounter) and it was gripping. Not at all self-dramatising or self-pitying. I'm not mad about the intervening bits, the bits that the author has written herself, but the magazine excerpts are superb stuff.

I really enjoyed it though I have to agree the bits written by the women themselves were much better than the authors parts.

I thought it was really good.

MN is just reinventing the wheel

I agree that the honesty was almost painful sometimes.