UPDATE

It's been a month and a half since I posted. Eek!

During that period, I've read some books, but haven't had much to say about them. The Worst Fifth on Record by Winifred Norling has a new teacher as a main character. I preferred the school aspects of the story (and it's no The New Mistress at the Chalet School). Gwendoline Courtney's The Grenville Garrison is about a family, but is an adventure story, which I don't think is Courtney's forte, and refers to a Ruritania-like country - Czaravia. I also read Behind the Dragon's Teeth by Monica Marsden, feeling quite envious of the main characters, who were getting the better of an evil gang in the summer while always managing to go for a swim in the sea every afternoon.

I saw a half-hour documentary about the ballerina Sylive Gulliem, which was interesting and made me wish I could see her dance live.

REVIEW: Elizabeth, Young Policewoman

Elizabeth, Young Policewoman: Valerie Baxter. The Bodley Head Third Impression 1963

These career novels are fascinating bits of social history. Written at a particular time, when it was admitted that several young women needed to work for a living and even wanted to – even admitting that some would like a career other than being a wife and mother, but not yet at the point where a woman was allowed to have both, these books appeared as a taster for the girls about to decide what to do with their futures. Their purpose was to give a general idea of what various jobs were like, with a heroine who would be attractive to the reader, the type who would be competent at her job (as opposed to World Distributor where the career girl’s sleuthing drove the story.)

Elizabeth’s story was quite an absorbing read. ( Read more... )