The Girls' Guide to Homemaking

Just finished this book by Amy Bratley. I was attracted to the title - anything to do with homemaking has to be worth a look usually! Read it within 24 hours; it's a pretty lightweight read, but very entertaining, making me laugh out loud in a few places - I think it would make a very good film if someone took up the idea. Based loosely around the advice the main character Juliet finds in an old housekeeping advice book inherited from her aunt, it centres around Juliet's broken family and their attempts to make amends for the past. I liked the cahracterisation, finding them fairly plausible, and there are even a couple of recipes included - one for chocoalte truffles and one for Margeurita cocktails - my sort of book!
Well worth a read for something fairly lightweight.

'I opened the first page of the book to black and white photographs of perfectly groomed smiling women doing their domestic chores. I coudn't decide whether their smiles were through gritted teeth, amphetamine inspired, or genuinely terrifically happy. I flicked through the pages and thought of Violet. She had loved this book, with its advice on candle wax removal and how to look after your husband's shoes. She had grown up in an era when dusting your toaster and making pounds of jam were of utmost importance. A time before women's libbers took a match to their lingerie drawer and made it acceptable for us girls to lie in bed all day doing nothing. There was something comforting about the book - it fitted perfectly with y desire to have a homely home, though I felt mildly guilty for reading it. I'd been educated to think homemaking was a betrayal of feminism, but I didn't understand how sneering at women who chose to work at home, whether at childrearing or homemaking, was in keeping with the cocnept of sisterhood. Shouldn't women support each other's choices, whatever they may be?'

There's also a nice idea for a cocktail of champagne with rose syrup - sounds lovely, will have to try that one!
Let me know if you do read it and what you think.:)) (It's on Amazon)