Scan barcode
jenn756's review
5.0
Pity the generation that lived through the great depression. I thought this was one of the most moving books I have read for a long time. It is not dramatic, the action such as it is is very low key, the characters are mundane and the subject it deals with (office work) is hardly going to be thrilling, but Priestley had a knack of really getting under the skin of his characters so you cared about the outcome. I ended up wondering what happened to Turgis, Mr Smeeth, Miss Matfield et all after the book finished.
Basically the plot centres round the small firm of Twigg and Dursingham located in a London backstreet. The firm is struggling: the book implies Dursingham inherited it and makes for an incompetent manager. He employs Mr Smeeth, a cautious accounts manager, perpetually worrying about the future; Turgis the lonely teenage clerk, living in lodgings and dreaming of romance and Miss Matfield the frustrated, intelligent secretary, who lives in a women's shared residential house. Into their lives strides the larger than life Mr Golspie, with promises of cheap imports from abroad and easy profits to be made and his glamorous daughter.
It's a close observation of life in London in 1930. Apparently very popular in its time, but Priestley has gone out of fashion as the years have gone by (unfairly I think). If you are interested in social history this is a fantastic book, I loved the detail, for instance the tobacconists shop round the corner from the office, Turgis setting out for the bright lights of London's West End on a Saturday night or the dreadful dinner party with the couple recently back from Singapore. Some of it I remembered as dim reflections from my Grandparents, such as the Front Room which was kept respectable and never used except for high days and holidays. I remember seven of us squeezed into a back room just so it could be left empty. And the cramped sitting room of the Smeeths, full of cheap ornaments proudly displayed, also just like my Gran.
Having a teenage son myself who is surly and spotty and girl mad I felt particularly for the lonely Turgis. I was nearly in tears when he tried to gas himself and realised he didn't have the money to pay for it, and when he finally hooks up with Poppy and realises the girl of his dreams was under his nose all along, so touching.... Saturday night: the children of the pavements and chimney-pots came pouring out, seeking adventure, entertainment, profit or forgetfulness in the vast impersonal thunder and glare of he city; and soon these two were lost in the crowd. Forget Dickens.
Interestingly Priestley doesn't indulge in back stories. The story is firmly focused on the present only. A modern writer would flash back to Dursingham's and Smeeth's war experiences, or Turgis's difficult upbringing, but there is none of this. Presumably not fashionable in his own time, they were probably keen to forget the War had ever been.
My copy was so battered and yellowed it was probably bought not long after it was printed! I didn't like taking it places for I was worried it would fall apart. I don't normally keep books after reading but I'll keep this one.
Basically the plot centres round the small firm of Twigg and Dursingham located in a London backstreet. The firm is struggling: the book implies Dursingham inherited it and makes for an incompetent manager. He employs Mr Smeeth, a cautious accounts manager, perpetually worrying about the future; Turgis the lonely teenage clerk, living in lodgings and dreaming of romance and Miss Matfield the frustrated, intelligent secretary, who lives in a women's shared residential house. Into their lives strides the larger than life Mr Golspie, with promises of cheap imports from abroad and easy profits to be made and his glamorous daughter.
It's a close observation of life in London in 1930. Apparently very popular in its time, but Priestley has gone out of fashion as the years have gone by (unfairly I think). If you are interested in social history this is a fantastic book, I loved the detail, for instance the tobacconists shop round the corner from the office, Turgis setting out for the bright lights of London's West End on a Saturday night or the dreadful dinner party with the couple recently back from Singapore. Some of it I remembered as dim reflections from my Grandparents, such as the Front Room which was kept respectable and never used except for high days and holidays. I remember seven of us squeezed into a back room just so it could be left empty. And the cramped sitting room of the Smeeths, full of cheap ornaments proudly displayed, also just like my Gran.
Having a teenage son myself who is surly and spotty and girl mad I felt particularly for the lonely Turgis. I was nearly in tears when he tried to gas himself and realised he didn't have the money to pay for it, and when he finally hooks up with Poppy and realises the girl of his dreams was under his nose all along, so touching.... Saturday night: the children of the pavements and chimney-pots came pouring out, seeking adventure, entertainment, profit or forgetfulness in the vast impersonal thunder and glare of he city; and soon these two were lost in the crowd. Forget Dickens.
Interestingly Priestley doesn't indulge in back stories. The story is firmly focused on the present only. A modern writer would flash back to Dursingham's and Smeeth's war experiences, or Turgis's difficult upbringing, but there is none of this. Presumably not fashionable in his own time, they were probably keen to forget the War had ever been.
My copy was so battered and yellowed it was probably bought not long after it was printed! I didn't like taking it places for I was worried it would fall apart. I don't normally keep books after reading but I'll keep this one.
More...