Thr contrast between life then and life now is sometimes startling, as for instance in this description of having tea in a Lyons popular cafe: "it was big, it was grand, and rich-looking, and warm, and full of people, with waiters running about in all directions and boys pushing trolleys loaded with astonishing cakes. This book gives a wonderfully vivid picture of prewar London, and particularly of the City.
There is also a mystery to be solved concerning the publishing firm opposite their flat, who are having problems with their ideas being stolen by a rival firm. The Farthings enjoy exploring the city, and Vivien in particular becomes fascinated by the old wren churches. The farthings rent a flat in the City, and while Mrs Farthing gets a job in a department store, the older daughter Vivien takes over the housekeeping. The Farthing family reluctantly have to move from their home in Worthing to london, as Mr Farthing is ill and needs the treatment he can get at a London hospital. Nevertheless, it was very, very pleasurable for a light read on a sleepy slightly hungover Sunday afternoon, in the bath. The plot is the weak point : I love inconsequential books about character development and 'learning how to live' but somehow this didn't quite hold itself together well enough.
There's a fascinating description of the publishing industry - again, not romanticised. However, back to the book: this does a better job than almost any book I've ever read of making the reader feel the pleasure of living in a contemporary but historical city, and top marks to MR for celebrating its people as much as its buildings and not as cockney stereotypes. How ironic when our museums are all free - but then museums get a government subsidy and churches don't. Beautiful evocation of London, which made me long to rush out and see all the Wren churches, and also made me seethe with the fact that most of them by now charge quite high admission charges - no chance of popping into St Pauls to see the view from the west door right down to the altar at the far end when you'#d have to pay nearly £20 as an adult to do so.
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