A winning comic novel from a beloved author - the triumphs and tribulations of a young female reporter in the early 1950s.

INTRODUCED BY LISSA EVANS

'Humorous, moving and fascinating' CLARE MACKINTOSH


Deciding to try her hand at journalism, Poppy takes a job at a local newspaper. What she lacks in experience, she makes up for in ambition, notebook always at the ready in the hope of a good scoop. But there's hardly enough going on to fill all sixteen pages of the Downingham Post, and innovation, she comes to learn, isn't an asset valued by her editor. Neither is her writing, which is greeted with the chastisement that 'journalism is not literature' and stripped of any individual style. As a junior reporter, and the only woman, Poppy is frustratingly relegated to covering weddings and school plays - and making endless cups of tea. Meanwhile, at her boarding-house, Poppy must contend with her tyrannical landlady and the comings and goings of the many tenants of 5 Bury Road.


Drawn from Monica Dickens's own experiences, My Turn to Make the Tea is a witty, keenly observed account of the daily scramble of newspaper life, and a fascinating social history of the post-war years.


'Monica's naked curiosity and general bolshiness are easy to identify with, and as a narrator, she always tells us what we're longing to know - it's like listening to a friend's anecdote, and egging them on' LISSA EVANS

INTRODUCED BY LISSA EVANS

'I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She's beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny' NINA STIBBE

'Wherever her eye falls, it finds the exact, significant detail, and her ear for dialogue is unerring' OBSERVER

'Monica's naked curiosity and general bolshiness are easy to identify with' LISSA EVANS

Poppy, newly recruited cub reporter at the Downingham Post, is determined to prove to the editor that he's wrong in his belief that 'Women are a nuisance in the office'. He certainly doesn't think she's a nuisance when it's time for the tea round - a job which never fails to fall to the only female reporter.

What Poppy lacks in experience, she makes up for in spirit and ambition. She'll make the Downingham Post the best regional newspaper there is - even if she occasionally gets the names wrong in court hearings. Life for a single professional woman in the post-war years certainly has its challenges - from finding a room, when the tyrannical landlady doesn't consider Poppy to be quite respectable to changing her editor's deeply entrenched ways. This semi-autobiographical novel, recounted with Monica Dickens's wit, warmth and wry observation will charm all who read it.

If you enjoyed My Turn to Make the Tea, you will love One Pair of Feet, Dickens's novel of being a wartime trainee nurse, also published in Virago Modern Classics.