Spectator book of the year: "An eclectic mix of social history and elegy, ironic comedy and indelible Englishness. It is about the pub as theatre."
Laura Thompson’s grandmother Violet was one of the great landladies. Born in a London pub, she became the first woman to be given a publican’s licence in her own name and, just as pubs defined her life, she seemed in many ways to embody their essence.
Laura spent part of her childhood in Violet’s Home Counties establishment, mesmerised by her gift for cultivating the mix of cosiness and glamour that defined the pub’s atmosphere, making it a unique reflection of the national character. Her memories of this time are just as intoxicating: beer and ash on the carpets in the morning, the deepening rhythms of mirth at night, the magical brightness of glass behind the bar…
Through them Laura traces the story of the English pub, asking why it has occupied such a treasured position in our culture. But even Violet, as she grew older, recognised that places like hers were a dying breed, and Laura also considers the precarious future they face. Part memoir, part social history, part elegy, The Last Landlady pays tribute to an extraordinary woman and the world she epitomised.
'The Last Landlady' is a brilliant piece of social history. I was transported back to a time and setting which I knew nothing about, other than the odd dramatization in television dramas. However this is a no holes bared recollection of day to day life in a traditional English pub and its position in people's lives throughout the eras.
I loved Violet, who had a larger than life character and was a matriarch in her own pub - unusual for the time. She worked hard and Laura hoped to follow in her grandmother by becoming licensee but was quickly denied and forced to leave the pub which meant so much to her. However this did not stop Laura but made her more determined to get a Publican's License and own her own pub.
I really enjoyed reading 'The Last Landlady'. It is a great read, whether you want a good story or if you want to learn more about social history and the fight women had to forge a career in the male dominated world of pubs. Laura's struggle was a long one but she achieved her dream at the end.
Thank you to Unbound and Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me to take part in the Blog Tour and for a copy of the book in return for an honest review.
Huge thanks for supporting the blog tour Sarah x
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