I have to admit to a sneaking admiration for this author, who famously gave a verbal ear-bashing to a politician when she was guest editor on the ‘Today’ Programme. I’ve enjoyed all her crime books, and own quite a shelf-full. I’m also a fan of Jane Austen, dating to the days when secondary education involved reading and understanding a wide range of books, rather than studying a few modern texts to the level needed to pass an exam module.

This book is a large-sized paperback, written in a clear, large font. The writing style and descriptions are very similar to Jane Austen’s but are clearly the author’s own. The plot starts in 1802, when Elizabeth and Darcy have been married for six years, and have two small children. It involves a lot of the main characters from ‘Pride & Prejudice’ and some new ones connected to the Pemberley Estate. There are good descriptions of the running of the house, the relationships between employers, servants and estate workers, and ‘society’ of the time. Setting the story into its historic context there are references to the fighting in Ireland and to the rise of Bonaparte.
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What do Spangles, Polaroid Cameras, Green Shield Stamps and the ITV Seven have in common? Readers under 35 years of age may have to ask a grownup.

The answer is, they are all things that were created, blazed across our culture, and disappeared forever during the 20th Century.

This book is a gentle romp through a lost world of Petrol Pump Attendants, Rag and Bone Men and Lighthouse Keepers, all trades sadly passed into history by the march of progress. Each item has a paragraph about its invention, lifespan and decline, and has a Dodo rating, similar to our Wine Glasses. Even the Technology section recalls some lost items - Commodore Vic 20 anyone? Laser disc? Betamax video player? Sooooo last century, darlings!
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