One Pair of Feet: 'I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens ... she's blissfully funny' Nina Stibbe

Monica Dickens

Dec 2013 · Hachette UK

About this ebook

INTRODUCED BY LISSA EVANS

'I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She's beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny' NINA STIBBE

' Humorous, moving and fascinating' CLARE MACKINTOSH

Considering herself unsuitable for any other contribution to the war effort, Monica Dickens opts for nursing, imagining herself gliding through the wards, serene in a pure white halo cap. On enrolment, however, she is promptly stripped of all illusions. Intelligent and headstrong, Monica struggles to submit to the iron rule of the Matron and toils over the mountains of menial work that are a trainee's lot. But there are friends among the staff and patients, night-time escapades to dances with dashing army men and her secret writing project to keep her going.

One Pair of Feet is a witty and brilliantly observed autobiographical novel, based upon Monica Dickens's own trials and tribulations as a wartime nurse.

'Monica's naked curiosity and general bolshiness are easy to identify with, and as a narrator she always tells us what we're longing to know - it's like listening to a friend's anecdote, and egging them on' LISSA EVANS

If you enjoyed One Pair of Feet, you will love the novel that followed it. My Turn to Make the Tea, Monica Dickens's lively and entertaining novel about life as a cub reporter on a regional newspaper, is also published as a Virago Modern Classic.

Ratings and reviews

I read this when I was about 12. I've always wanted to read it again. It is definitely as good as I remember. It does not have a Mills and Boon storyline. It tells you how life was like for people at that time. Interesting as I was born in 1957 12 years after the end of the war. It showed what my parents had to put up with. If you want a love story this is not it but a thoroughly enjoyable read.

About the author

Monica Dickens MBE (1915-1992) was the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Expelled from St Paul's Girls' School, she was then sent to a finishing school in France, before returning home to life as a debutante.

She then spent two years as a cook and general servant, which she wrote about in her first book, One Pair of Hands (1939). The book published when she was twenty-four, was a bestseller and established her reputation as a writer. During the Second World War, Dickens trained as a nurse and again successfully recounted her experiences in One Pair of Feet (1942).

In her career she wrote over fifty books for both adults and children, including the Follyfoot series. For twenty years, Dickens also wrote a much-loved column for Woman's Own. She was involved with the NSPCC, the RSPCA and the Samaritans.