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| Can Any Mother Help Me? | 
 enlarge | Author: Jenna Bailey
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £0.87
You Save: £7.12 (89%)
New (27) from £0.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 4215
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0571233147
EAN: 9780571233144
ASIN: 0571233147
Publication Date: January 31, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Best book I've read in a long time July 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love reading and frequently devour a book a day on holiday. I've recently had ample time to read after a holiday and recuperation from an operation. This was probably my favourite book out of all the ones I've read in that time. The openness of the women was surprising for the period, for instance how they thought you could conceive a girl rather than a boy. It was an eye opener and I could see how my Grand Parents may have lived. I've lent this book to my Mum and hope she enjoys it as much as I did. A really lovely read and I would recommend to anyone who is interested in people and/or period books.
 Gels reunited July 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the story of the Cooperative Correspondence Club, a group of women, who between 1935 and 1990, circulated a magazine to which they all contributed. There were several examples of these forerunners to the Book Club, but the CCC has become the subject of this book because it was donated to the Mass Observation Archive and discovered by Jenna Bailey in the course of other work.
Through the remaining material and interviews with the surviving women and their families, Bailey has pieced together a detailed record of the lives of the educated middle-class female during one of the most turbulent centuries in human history. It's a fascinating read - well edited accounts of the lives of others usually are - which shatters certain cosy illusions about the good old days. There were frank discussions about sex, for example, husbands who could easily rival modern day equivalents for self obsession and navel inspection and deadening, pointless rules about women's career aspirations. My only criticism is that the focus is very firmly on the day to day and biographical. The magazine was set up to allow the women to share views and opinions as well and while there are tantalising mentions of topical discussions, these are not included, while a great deal of space is given to the depression and subsequent breakdown of one member following the birth of a Down's Syndrome baby. There's always a temptation with this kind of material, to satisfy the eavesdropper in the reader and here was a place where I felt Bailey succumbed. This apart, the fresh and lively voices of the contributors shine through and it is not a surprise to hear that many of them became friends in person and eventually met on an annual basis.
A fascinating read May 7, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is the first book I have ever reviewed - anywhere! However I was so spellbound by this wonderful collection of extracts from the CCC that I felt I had to let others know what a fascinating read it is. As a working mother of three I am grateful that I have had the chance to combine both roles - and empathised with the plight of these highly intelligent, opinionated women forced to give up work after marriage and often left feeling very isolated at home with very young children. You get to know these women so well in the course of the book - the confessional style makes you feel as though you know them personally - and by the end I felt strangely disappointed that I hadn't had the chance to meet them. A compelling read - have bought 4 more copies of the book to give to friends!
Part history, part biography, totally interesting....... February 17, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Thesis...Mass Observation Unit....all sounds such an unlikely premise for an absorbing read, but this book is exactly that. Jenna Bailey uncovered the story of the CCC (the Cooperative Correspondence Club), a group of women coping with family life during wartime Britain in the 1940s and after, whilst searching for a suitable subject for her Masters thesis. The CCC was formed when a cry of help in the shape of a letter to `Nursery World' magazine was answered by an assortment of other lively, intelligent women eager to connect with a world outside of domestic drudgery and child rearing.
`Can Any Mother Help Me?' is part history, how women coped during that period and what was expected of them, and part biography, each of the participants have really rather interesting lives. A well presented and rivetting read - highly recommended.
before the internet October 31, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I loved this book. As a mother I know how isolating being at home can be, and this books gives a great example of how women used their ingenuity to keep in touch in the days before cheap technology. The stories are wonderful, and I felt I really got to know the women, even though they were anonymous. A great read, and can be read in little bursts if you don't have much time!
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