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Can Any Mother Help Me?
by
Jenna Bailey
When, in 1935, a young woman wrote this letter to the women's magazine "Nursery World" women from all over the country wrote back expressing similar frustrations. These women were educated and ambitious but many of their careers had been cut short by marriage. They were full of ideas and opinions but had nowhere to express them. So they decided to start a private magazine....more
Hardcover, 330 pages
Published
by Faber & Faber
(first published January 1st 2007)
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Not my usual sort of book, or one that fits the chick-lit cover and cheesy title, but it is a quirky, charming, moving, unsentimental and revealing peek into women's lives over half a century. It's very easy to dip in and out of and is likely to make most modern readers very grateful for what they have, without every being misery lit, or anything of that ilk.
It is a compilation of articles (personal letters, really) written for a small (~20 women) fortnightly private magazine, starting just befo...more
It is a compilation of articles (personal letters, really) written for a small (~20 women) fortnightly private magazine, starting just befo...more
This is a fascinating, moving book about a group of mothers who set up a correspondence club in the 1930s, writing a private magazine each month, circulated among members, about every aspect of their lives. Amazingly, the group carried on until 1990. A lot of the original articles are included and are wonderful. I couldn't put it down! This strikes me as in many ways showing the way forward to the groups which have grown up in recent years thanks to the internet.
I should say that the pink cover...more
I should say that the pink cover...more
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Social networking isn’t really that new and it doesn’t require digital technology.
In 1935, a group of disparate women from across the UK set up the Co-operative Correspondence Club. For nearly 60 years, the members submitted articles to an editor, who stitched them together into the sole copy of the club’s fortnightly magazine. The magazine was circulated around the membership, who added marginal comments as it went around.
The title of this book refers to the original letter in Nursery World mag...more
In 1935, a group of disparate women from across the UK set up the Co-operative Correspondence Club. For nearly 60 years, the members submitted articles to an editor, who stitched them together into the sole copy of the club’s fortnightly magazine. The magazine was circulated around the membership, who added marginal comments as it went around.
The title of this book refers to the original letter in Nursery World mag...more
I have a feeling you would like this book, Gina.
We read it as part of my book reading group. It's a really interesting piece of social history. It's about a group of women who formed a secret correspondence club in the 1930s, and continued it throughout most of the twentieth century. The letters and documents from the correspondence club are housed at Sussex University. Jenna Bailey (as part of her academic research - can't remember if it was for a Master's or a PhD) studied the letters and put...more
We read it as part of my book reading group. It's a really interesting piece of social history. It's about a group of women who formed a secret correspondence club in the 1930s, and continued it throughout most of the twentieth century. The letters and documents from the correspondence club are housed at Sussex University. Jenna Bailey (as part of her academic research - can't remember if it was for a Master's or a PhD) studied the letters and put...more
I found this book quite by accident, while browsing the amazon links from Nella Last's War, and I'm so glad I did. I loved it. (Although I'm inclined to wonder whether there were lots more mundane articles in the magazine that didn't make the cut of the book, since surely if they were written by ordinary people, a lot of the time their lives must have been as boring as my own.)
The women in the book were fascinating, and the articles they wrote were very revealing about everyday life. They didn't...more
The women in the book were fascinating, and the articles they wrote were very revealing about everyday life. They didn't...more
You know a book has really touched you when you start telling people you have only just met about it. I found myself doing just this with Can Any Mother Help Me?
It is a fascinating collection of articles pulled together expertly by Jenna Bailey. In the 1930's a struggling Mum wrote to Nursery World Magazine to ask for help to alleviate her worries and boredom with being a stay at home mother, who couldn't afford a wireless and had no library near by. What evolved from this letter was the birth o...more
It is a fascinating collection of articles pulled together expertly by Jenna Bailey. In the 1930's a struggling Mum wrote to Nursery World Magazine to ask for help to alleviate her worries and boredom with being a stay at home mother, who couldn't afford a wireless and had no library near by. What evolved from this letter was the birth o...more
Can any mother help me? is the first line in a letter that appeared in the British mom's magazine The Nursery World in 1935 and was a plea from an educated woman stranded at home with young children in rural Ireland. Her letter drew many sympathetic replies and lead to the Cooperative Corespondence Club which, for almost 50 years, produced a bimonthly private magazine written for and by its readers. The single copy, assembled by the editor (pen name Ad Astra), passed by post from reader to reade...more
Loved it. I really felt I knew some of the writers by the end of the book, or what they chose to reveal of themselves anyway. Some parts provoked strong emotions; particularly the sections about illness and ageing. What a committment the women had to the magazine and to each other; some writing for over half a century!
I asked for this book for Christmas as I'd seen the stage version (same title as the book in case you want to see it too) and wanted to gain a fuller picture.
I have just looked in...more
I asked for this book for Christmas as I'd seen the stage version (same title as the book in case you want to see it too) and wanted to gain a fuller picture.
I have just looked in...more
Jun 03, 2008
Sarah Kate
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like social history and women's history
Shelves:
non-fiction,
social-history
The story of a correspondence club originally formed by a disparate group of mothers in the 1930s. The club continued until the 1980s, when the members became too few and/or too ill to continue.
Jenna Bailey came on the story of this group of women, initially strangers, who became friends through their writing when looking for a Masters research topic. What she found was the story of connections formed through shared joys and sorrows, and evidence of the strength that can be found in women's frie...more
Jenna Bailey came on the story of this group of women, initially strangers, who became friends through their writing when looking for a Masters research topic. What she found was the story of connections formed through shared joys and sorrows, and evidence of the strength that can be found in women's frie...more
You have to be interested in the extraordinary nature of the detail of people's lives. True histories telling a bigger story. If you enjoyed "Our Hidden Lives" this style will work for you.
An excellent book. I'm surprised this is the first review. I imagine a lot of people will relate to this brilliant true story about how women communicated before the times of the Internet forum.
It's captivating how these woman organised and kept alive their little group. I couldn't put the book/kindle down.
I wish I had been part of it.
It's captivating how these woman organised and kept alive their little group. I couldn't put the book/kindle down.
I wish I had been part of it.
excellent stuff. if we thing blogging and message boards are new, we're wrong, only the technology has changed.
this book is remarkable, but the women it is about are, or were, extraordinary.
this book is remarkable, but the women it is about are, or were, extraordinary.
Interesting from a historical point of view but as a 'read' it just doesn't flow. Some of the readers experiences and observations are truly heartbreaking but the system they used didn't allow for sufficient comment by the other members to make it really engaging. It comes across as a little cold and detached. Maybe that was just the times they lived in.
If they'd have Facebook and internet message boards in 1935, this is what they'd have been writing about. Wonderful social history - such an interesting and moving book.
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11400849
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11400849
Interesting book which is about mothers in the 1930's starting up a correspondence group. Sort of like the mothers of today using internet forums but by snail mail.
Jul 22, 2009
Staci
marked it as to-read
Recommended to Staci by:
http://booksandcooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/can-any-mother-help-me
A wonderful book.
Not a quick read, but really interesting.
And didn't people write LONG letters?
Not a quick read, but really interesting.
And didn't people write LONG letters?
Interesting but not really gripping
An interesting read, not always easy especially the later chapters about old age and death.
Fascinating insight to a group of womens' lives during the 20th century
Apr 06, 2012
Alison
added it
Interesting view on history, was from the point of view of mainly monied women.
Mar 04, 2008
Elaine
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anybody interested in social history
Recommended to Elaine by:
TimeOut review
Thoroughly enjoyed this collection of letters between a group of mothers dating from mid 1930's onwards. An eye-opening picture of life through every stage of life. Fantastic to read about the solidarity and support enjoyed by this group of very eclectic women. How things and attitudes have changed! I was moved and inspired by the strength of mind and spirit of these ladies!
I dipped into this book rather than read it straight through. Fascinating slice of social history that tells the story of several women who correspondended with each other via a magazine from the 1930s to the 1980s. So interesting to see how they coped with motherhood and it's demands, their attitudes to marriage, family and work.
An engrossing book, based on personal narratives from young mothers in the early half of the 20th century. I love that these women found a way to create a private dialogue over great distances, about the supremely mundane and the profoundly political. Quite inspiring.
It took me a long time to get through this as ultimately I just found it really depressing. Yes, there were some amazing stories and experiences and it does remind the reader of the extraordinary nature of ordinary lives but still: depressing.
Here's my review of this book.
Moving. A good read.
May 05, 2013
Jthelander
marked it as to-read
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