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
‘ Humorous, moving and fascinating’ CLARE MACKINTOSH
Considering herself unsuitable for any other contribution to the war effort, Monica Dickens opts for nursing, imagining herself gliding through the wards, serene in a pure white halo cap. On enrolment, however, she is promptly stripped of all illusions. Intelligent and headstrong, Monica struggles to submit to the iron rule of the Matron and toils over the mountains of menial work that are a trainee’s lot. But there are friends among the staff and patients, night-time escapades to dances with dashing army men and her secret writing project to keep her going.
One Pair of Feet is a witty and brilliantly observed autobiographical novel, based upon Monica Dickens’s own trials and tribulations as a wartime nurse.
‘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
If you enjoyed One Pair of Feet, you will love the novel that followed it. My Turn to Make the Tea, Monica Dickens’s lively and entertaining novel about life as a cub reporter on a regional newspaper, is also published as a Virago Modern Classic.
‘I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She’s beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny’ NINA STIBBE
‘ Humorous, moving and fascinating’ CLARE MACKINTOSH
Considering herself unsuitable for any other contribution to the war effort, Monica Dickens opts for nursing, imagining herself gliding through the wards, serene in a pure white halo cap. On enrolment, however, she is promptly stripped of all illusions. Intelligent and headstrong, Monica struggles to submit to the iron rule of the Matron and toils over the mountains of menial work that are a trainee’s lot. But there are friends among the staff and patients, night-time escapades to dances with dashing army men and her secret writing project to keep her going.
One Pair of Feet is a witty and brilliantly observed autobiographical novel, based upon Monica Dickens’s own trials and tribulations as a wartime nurse.
‘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
If you enjoyed One Pair of Feet, you will love the novel that followed it. My Turn to Make the Tea, Monica Dickens’s lively and entertaining novel about life as a cub reporter on a regional newspaper, is also published as a Virago Modern Classic.
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Reviews
One of the most affectionate and humorous observers of the English scene
A brilliantly funny account
Humorous, moving and fascinating
I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She's beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny
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
One Pair of Feet is not just a spirited and entertaining account of a hospital nurse in wartime, but a fascinating glimpse into a time and a culture so recent and yet so utterly changed
