Back from my travels to Cheshire, I must first report on a brilliant bookshop I found. (Well, friend SH had spotted it and merely commented on the flattened older ladies she had to pick up as I stampeded into the shop).

Before I forget, an excellent programme on BBC4 about self portraits through the centuries was on tonight. Laura Cumming looked at these amazing works and I thought it was very interesting. I was really taken in the self portrait by Laura Knight, and thought that her paintings looked wonderful on the http://www.damelauraknight.com website. In order to avoid copyright issues I found a cover of a book that featured one of Knight’s wartime pictures, which are worth looking at

I do have a copy of this book found in a bargain shop. The print is so small that while it looks fascinating, it will need some close study. Working for Victory: a Diary of life in a Second World War Factory edited by Sue Bruley. It certainly does not look as racy as Love Lessons that I mentioned last week.

Back to that bookshop. http://www.bookstore-uk.co.uk/ has plenty of information about the two bookshops which sell excellent books at good prices (new). I bought far too many for my bank account (and friend carrying books). Oh for a trolly…

One that I could not resist – for writing purposes, obviously.

What Every Woman Should Know – Lifestyle lessons from the 1930s. It features copies of pages from the Daily Mail of the time. Not a book to read, as such, but looks to be  a good book to dip into for inspiration.Maybe I should get Daughter who has just learnt dressmake to make me some 1930s outfits. Then I could pretend to be Our Vicar’s Wife from the Diary of a Provincial Lady…