Overview

A unique take on women's history from the bestselling author of British Summer Time Begins 'Witty, clever and warm-hearted' The Times 'Maxtone Graham [has a] unique blend of high comedy and shrewd social observation' Spectator 'Terrific' Daily Telegraph Drawn from real life, from interviews with women from all sections of society who have ever had a job, this book is a portrait of British women's working lives from 1950, through cardigans and pearls, via mini-skirts and bottom-pinching, to shoulder pads and the ping of the first emails (early 1990s), never forgetting overalls, aprons and uniforms. Graham conveys the full range of experience: to convey the flavour and atmosphere of workplaces in all their character: the jollities as well as the drudgeries, the good men as well as the vile ones, the nasty women as well as the heroines, the office crushes and romances, the daily drudgery, the lunch hours, the parties, the great piles of paper all over the place, the family-feel of workplaces, the daily burden of trying to run a household and family as well: in short, to look at all facets of this rich slice of British life.

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9780349144412

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Reviews

Maxtone Graham, who mined the memories of more than 200 women for their personal job stories, excels in the quirky, comic and often poignant details that resonate with her readers... Witty, clever and warm-hearted, Jobs for the Girls is a book to remind women of how universal our experiences were -- Melanie Reid * The Times * Terrific... What struck me, as I devoured the recollections of 200-plus women, is how recently all this thwarting of female lives went on... How poignant and powerful is this secret history as it tells us her story * Daily Telegraph *

Maxtone Graham, who mined the memories of more than 200 women for their personal job stories, excels in the quirky, comic and often poignant details that resonate with her readers... Witty, clever and warm-hearted, Jobs for the Girls is a book to remind women of how universal our experiences were -- Melanie Reid * The Times * Terrific... What struck me, as I devoured the recollections of 200-plus women, is how recently all this thwarting of female lives went on... How poignant and powerful is this secret history as it tells us her story * Daily Telegraph * Ysenda Maxtone Graham has a talent for conjuring the atmosphere of times past, both comical and tragic * Country Life * Maxtone Graham [has a] unique blend of high comedy and shrewd social observation... The book thrums with life and noise... With freshness and immediacy, Jobs for the Girls illuminates a period of our very recent history * Spectator * A riotous new history of women's decades-long struggle to be taken seriously at work * Mail on Sunday *

Author Information

Ysenda Maxtone Graham was born in 1962 and educated at The King's School, Canterbury and Girton College, Cambridge. She has written for many newspapers and magazines as a features writer, book reviewer and columnist. She is the author of six books: The Church Hesitant: A Portrait of the Church of England Today; The Real Mrs Miniver, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Biography of the Year Award; Mr Tibbits's Catholic School; An Insomniac's Guide to the Small Hours; Terms & Conditions: Life in Girls' Boarding Schools, 1939-1979; British Summer Time Begins: The School Summer Holidays, 1930-1980, which was a Sunday Times bestseller. She lives in London with her husband and three sons.

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