{"product_id":"minnies-room-the-peacetime-stories-of-mollie-panter-downes","title":"Minnie’s Room: The Peacetime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"width: 499px;\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/7642\/5795\/files\/ESX_COM_COLEM_2003_24.jpg?v=1593034674\u0026amp;width=700\"\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWITH A PUBLISHER'S NOTE\u003cbr\u003e144pp\u003cbr\u003eISBN 9781903155240\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA companion volume to Persephone book No. 8 \u003cem\u003eGood Evening, Mrs Craven:The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes, \u003cstrong\u003eMinnie's Room\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/em\u003econtains ten stories written \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003ebetween 1947 and 1965, each of them describing an aspect of life in Britain in the years after World War Two.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe title story 'Minnie's Room' \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003ewas the first thing the author wrote after finishing \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOne Fine Day\u003c\/em\u003e, which is in our view one of the great novels of the twentieth century; it is \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eabout a family who are unable to believe that their maid wants to leave them to live in a room of her own. An elderly couple emigrates to South Africa because of 'the dragon out to gobble their modest, honourable incomes.' The brothers and sisters in 'Beside the Still Waters' grumble because: 'Everything is so terribly difficult nowadays. [We] seem to be slaving... trying to keep the place going.' \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach story is very much of its period, which means that, as with all Persephone books, they can be read for the light they cast on the era in which they were written as much as for the fine writing, the plots or the psychological insight.  Mollie Panter-Downes allows the reader to get behind the historical cliches to find out what life was really like. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eThese 'acute, funny and poignant stories' (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e) reveal 'an unerring observer, with a stunning gift for economy of description' (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e). Mollie Panter-Downes, said the \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSpectator,\u003c\/em\u003e 'is discomfortingly good at anatomising the crudities and subtleties of snobbery – but she is never unkind.' \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMany of the stories in \u003cstrong\u003eMinnie's Room\u003c\/strong\u003e are about people who once had glorious lives, either because they were more affluent or because they were powerful in India or simply because they had once been young and were now old. In every case they are images of a once-great past brought low. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eYet they have a subtle, very English depth of observation: they are revealing of their time, suggestive and funny, beautifully written explorations of the response to change, and of loneliness, loss and self deception.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEndpaper\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"endpaper-caption\"\u003eThe endpaper is a fabric bought at John Lewis in the mid-1950s. It is both traditional and modernist, while the sombre colours suit the mood of the stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"endpaper-caption\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePicture Caption\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"endpaper-caption\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eHigh Street Colchester 1950 by Charles Debenham\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Mollie Panter-Downes","offers":[{"title":"None","offer_id":54098767348019,"sku":"pzm1789694500290","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Tissue\/Endpaper","offer_id":54098767380787,"sku":"odk1789694500291","price":28.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cambridge Imprint paper","offer_id":54098767413555,"sku":"ygj1789694500292","price":35.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Reusable fabric napkin","offer_id":54098767446323,"sku":"xbk1789694500293","price":49.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0989\/0578\/4627\/files\/minnies-room-the-peacetime-stories-of-mollie-panter-downes_1.jpg?v=1789694504","url":"https:\/\/sandstepclad.shop\/products\/minnies-room-the-peacetime-stories-of-mollie-panter-downes","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}