Only My Dreams

August 1, 2005
This Englishwoman's memoir is unaffected and eloquent. Born in a Norfolk coastal town in 1906, she was the oldest of four children whose mother went off with soldiers during the ``Great War.'' The author was then only 12 but in charge of a household that included her stern Victorian father and Grannie, who gave what help she could to the hard-working child. Although the difficulties of life are vividly detailed, so are its joys, as Salusbury recalls games and small treats, to her the more precious for their rarity. The reader shares in her victories, as the spirited young woman liberates herself, progressing from menial work to a career in nursing and marriage to a man whom she lovingly recalls, telling us of his death in 1984, and that ``at 82 I keep house for myself.'' There are no complaints to be found in the book; there are recollections of sadness but also of exuberantly funny times. Illustrated.

May 1, 1989
This autobiography is the story of a quest. After her mother deserted her, Salusbury was required by a severe, authoritarian father to leave school and manage his household. She eventually battled her way out, first finding work as a governess, and finally entering training and becoming a nurse. The emotional escape from victimization took longer. Rich detail evokes the incessant demands of everyday housekeeping, but the drama lies in the struggle of a young woman in the years after World War I to gain control of her own life. Good reading for those who like to know what life was like then; an interesting case for students of social history.-- Mary Drake McFeely, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens

Copyright 1989 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.