Review: One Pair Of Hands

One Pair Of Hands by Monica Dickens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On the surface, this is a charming memoir of an upper class girl slumming it as a "cook general" (cook who does housework as far as I can tell). Dickens amusingly describes her own incompetence, the interesting characters she works with (from dimwitted maids to dragons of governesses), and the sheer awfulness of her employers

However, there is an underlying question that's never really addressed - why, on earth, is she doing it? At the start of the book, she claims she went into service because she was "bored". But, that doesn't explain why she sticks at it for so long. You do wonder what she's trying to prove or who she's trying to prove it to. She doesn't outright say that she comes from a wealthy family, but that's the implication - certainly, you don't give up jobs as easily as she does if you are at all worried about money (plus her Great Granddad was the Dickens, so you'd think there'd be a bit money left over from his time).

There is a suggestion that she's somewhat flighty - before being a cook general, she tried and failed to be an actress. And after her stint as a cook general, she tried various things (including being a nurse, as detailed in One Pair of Feet) before she eventually became a writer. All of these things makes me want to read more of her books. I want to find out why someone who comes from privilege seems so determined to escape it.



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