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Life, Love and Vintage Housekeeping
Alison May created BrocanteHome on a cold November afternoon, eight years ago, when her little boy was just one year old and the home she had created with his Daddy was an oasis of domestic bliss she wanted to share with the world, never imagining, even for a moment, that eventually her little website would become the mainstay of her life, her means to financial support, an emotional prop she can now barely live without, and the link between herself and thousands of like-minded women from across the globe, happy to call themselves Vintage Housekeepers.
A lot has changed in eight years and blogging has been an astonishing way of documenting the unforeseen. When Finley was two and a half, his Daddy left Alison for another woman and life as she knew it was turned on its lavender scented head.
Where once there were routines and rituals she practiced in order to bond her family together with domestic glue, now there was a hole she needed to fill with a life of her own, a life less ordinary, a life that honored who she was and who she wanted to be, while simultaneously providing the stability and security she craved and her little boy desperately needed.
The stories here, much like life, swing between the hilarious and the absurd. Sometimes they are no more than snippets from Alison's vintage housekeeping life, the trials and tribulations of single parenthood, or the calamities every woman finds herself doing battle with, but only Alison, it seems, see fit to share with the blogosphere.
Occasionally her stories are laugh out loud funny, sometimes tinged with the kind of loneliness that is palpable and once or twice so shamefully embarrassing she can hardly bear to read them again! But at its heart BrocanteHome is and always has been about making a home that thrills you right to your fingertips. A home you never want to leave.
There are now more than 2000 posts on BrocanteHome.Net touching upon an eclectic range of vintage-related subjects, but every one of the little essays in this collection, whether they be about single motherhood, the horror of dating in your thirties, or the scents that bring your childhood flooding back, are ultimately about the domestic rituals that shape our worlds, and hopefully show you, her readers, how, domesticity does indeed shore against our ruin.
And so here it is: the best of BrocanteHome. Eight years of Alison May's life as a Vintage Housekeeper: the perfect companion to Alison's earlier Kindle book, "Scrumptious Treats For Vintage Housekeepers"...
A lot has changed in eight years and blogging has been an astonishing way of documenting the unforeseen. When Finley was two and a half, his Daddy left Alison for another woman and life as she knew it was turned on its lavender scented head.
Where once there were routines and rituals she practiced in order to bond her family together with domestic glue, now there was a hole she needed to fill with a life of her own, a life less ordinary, a life that honored who she was and who she wanted to be, while simultaneously providing the stability and security she craved and her little boy desperately needed.
The stories here, much like life, swing between the hilarious and the absurd. Sometimes they are no more than snippets from Alison's vintage housekeeping life, the trials and tribulations of single parenthood, or the calamities every woman finds herself doing battle with, but only Alison, it seems, see fit to share with the blogosphere.
Occasionally her stories are laugh out loud funny, sometimes tinged with the kind of loneliness that is palpable and once or twice so shamefully embarrassing she can hardly bear to read them again! But at its heart BrocanteHome is and always has been about making a home that thrills you right to your fingertips. A home you never want to leave.
There are now more than 2000 posts on BrocanteHome.Net touching upon an eclectic range of vintage-related subjects, but every one of the little essays in this collection, whether they be about single motherhood, the horror of dating in your thirties, or the scents that bring your childhood flooding back, are ultimately about the domestic rituals that shape our worlds, and hopefully show you, her readers, how, domesticity does indeed shore against our ruin.
And so here it is: the best of BrocanteHome. Eight years of Alison May's life as a Vintage Housekeeper: the perfect companion to Alison's earlier Kindle book, "Scrumptious Treats For Vintage Housekeepers"...
- GenresNonfiction
343 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 9, 2013
60 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Alison May
27 books81 followersAlison May has been the Vintage Housekeeper in residence at BrocanteHome.Net for the past eight years, regaling her audience with all the up's and downs of life, love and vintage housekeeping in a teeny tiny 150 year old Lancashire terraced cottage...
Her second book "Life, Love and Vintage Housekeeping" is now available...
Her second book "Life, Love and Vintage Housekeeping" is now available...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 10, 2019
I really enjoy Alison May. She is very funny and you can't help but giggle at her way of telling stories. But, I'm only giving 3 stars because I bought this book hoping for some "vintage housekeeping" ideas, and there weren't a whole lot of those in the book. Having said that, I really enjoyed life from her view and the way she tells stories makes you feel like you're right there with her, walking down the street and peeking in windows. It's a fun book (just don't expect a bunch of housekeeping tips)!
October 24, 2020
Turns out this book is more memoir (actually compiled blog posts, I think.) than home-keeping tips. I really like Alison May's writing, but I prefer her homecare work.
April 8, 2020
Brocante history
Having come late to Brocante Home I found this book shared the beginning of the author’s life and loves on her blog. Alison May has a way of capturing extraordinary, everyday life in her inimitable style. Her Liverpudlian good sense and humour shine through and I swung from tears to laughter to a jolt of recognition in her recounts and reflections. This is a book about building a home and how to infuse it with love. Buy one of her other books if you want a housekeeping book.
Having come late to Brocante Home I found this book shared the beginning of the author’s life and loves on her blog. Alison May has a way of capturing extraordinary, everyday life in her inimitable style. Her Liverpudlian good sense and humour shine through and I swung from tears to laughter to a jolt of recognition in her recounts and reflections. This is a book about building a home and how to infuse it with love. Buy one of her other books if you want a housekeeping book.
December 28, 2021
I love Alison May's writing. Short, delightful idea books.
March 10, 2015
Great book but way too long!
I love Alison May's refreshing candor and authenticity! Her style of expressing herself is absolutely fabulous, and she is definitely the type of woman I can identify with and would love to have as a friend. The only reason this book gets four instead of five stars is the sheer length of it! I simply couldnt keep on reading...it did get a bit repetitous as it went on. I dont think this is the fault of the author...it is just impossible to go on for so many pages about a relatively ordinary life. Her book is interesting and funny and very uplifting, dont get me wrong...but I think it could have been shorter by half and still been a wonderful read. After reading my way a little more than halfway though, I was ready to move on to a new subject and a new book, but maybe the fault is my own busy life and short attention span. Overall, great read.
I love Alison May's refreshing candor and authenticity! Her style of expressing herself is absolutely fabulous, and she is definitely the type of woman I can identify with and would love to have as a friend. The only reason this book gets four instead of five stars is the sheer length of it! I simply couldnt keep on reading...it did get a bit repetitous as it went on. I dont think this is the fault of the author...it is just impossible to go on for so many pages about a relatively ordinary life. Her book is interesting and funny and very uplifting, dont get me wrong...but I think it could have been shorter by half and still been a wonderful read. After reading my way a little more than halfway though, I was ready to move on to a new subject and a new book, but maybe the fault is my own busy life and short attention span. Overall, great read.
June 8, 2015
Misleading
I downloaded this book expecting discussions and stories concerning vintage housekeeping techniques and practices. And the book started off nicely with the author explaining how she stored her Christmas gifts in a cinnamon scented chest along with the gift wrap. Several chapters were quite intriguing explaining nice uses for essential oils. There was some inspiring info given because frankly, housekeeping needs some inspiration at times!
And then everything veered slowly off course with Ms May telling about her husband leaving her and her love life. When the boil in her cleavage was mentioned is when I abandoned ship and deleted the book from my device.
Quite aggravated actually.
I downloaded this book expecting discussions and stories concerning vintage housekeeping techniques and practices. And the book started off nicely with the author explaining how she stored her Christmas gifts in a cinnamon scented chest along with the gift wrap. Several chapters were quite intriguing explaining nice uses for essential oils. There was some inspiring info given because frankly, housekeeping needs some inspiration at times!
And then everything veered slowly off course with Ms May telling about her husband leaving her and her love life. When the boil in her cleavage was mentioned is when I abandoned ship and deleted the book from my device.
Quite aggravated actually.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews