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QueenSpark Books Archive - Free Full Text Books
A unique searchable archive of the books published by QueenSpark Books up until 2010. Free to view and full text this collection features voices that tell the story of Brighton and Hove, across the 20th Century, in their own words. The majority of these titles are now out-of-print.
You can buy those still in-print, and newer titles, with this link.
A Daughter of the State
Author(s): Kathleen Dalley
Published: 1998
In this poignant book, the author writes with candour about her experience of growing up in a workhouse children's home in London during the Twenties and Thirties. Kathleen Dalley's story is told with clarity and sensitivity, yet refrains from sentimentality. She describes an institutionalised childhood where strict members of staff upheld the rules and procedures that were in place, and the institution took the place of the family unit, having overall responsibility for the upbringing of the children in care. This is an important and compelling work that vividly describes both a personal and a social history of the times. It depicts the actual experiences and expectations of working-class girls, who at best, as adults went into service, or at worst were sent to the workhouse.Pebble on the Beach
Author(s): Tony Diamond
Published: 2006
"Back in the 1950s and 60s what the man in the white coat said, stood ....." Pebble on the Beach is the true story of one boy's ability to survive. Growing up in Brighton, England, Tony was subjected to a childhood of physical and mental abuse - including electric shock treatment at the age of ten - abandoned by his family at fifteen, and sent to Australia to fend for himself. Unable to settle, wandering from place to place, he plotted his return to England, but an ill-fated attempt to stow away led to imprisonment in New Zealand and his eventual deportation. Having visited four continents, survived four brushes with death and a journey of 30,000 miles, he arrived back in England profoundly changed – but were things at home any different?Her story - The Life of Phoebe Hessel
Author(s): Ruth Moorhouse, Chris Randall
Published: 1994
Phoebe Hessel (1713-1821) was a woman who spent part of her life dressed as a man, and fought as a soldier for many years with the British Army. In the 18th century, women had very little power or choice in their lives and there was therefore much to be gained in "becoming a man" in such a patriarchal society. In writing this book for children, QueenSpark hoped to encourage them to explore and question gender roles and have some insight into the changing values and expectations of contemporary society.Always a Layman
Author(s): John Langley
Published: 1976
This is the autobiography of John Langley, an active church-goer, who was born in 1905. It tells the moving and impassioned story of his life: incorporating his childhood, his journey to adulthood, his working life and association with the Workers' Union along with his commitment and affiliation to the Labour Party. It also describes the progression of his career as a railway carriage painter and is very readable, telling us about the good and bad times of Brighton family life. His reminiscences are as sharp and accurate as if they all took place yesterday, let alone one hundred years' ago. John started from humble beginnings, in an era when a job for life really did mean just that.The Children’s Millennium Diary Anthology - Our present to the Future
Author(s): Brighton school children from Balfour Infants, Balfour Junior, Bevendean Primary, Downs Junior, Downs Park, Elm Grove Primary, Fairlight Primary, Middle Street Primary, Oathall Community College, Patcham Junior, St Andrew’s CE Primary, St Luke’s Infants, St Luke’s Junior, St Martin’s CE Primary, St Mary’s RC Primary, Saltdean Primary, West Hove Infants, Whitehawk Primary, Woodingdean Primary
Published: 2001
This anthology presents a child's-eye view of the year 2000. It includes drawings and words that reflect the perspectives and views of children, aged between five and eleven. The book was compiled from one-week diaries, written over the course of the Millenium Year, by four hundred school children in the Brighton and Hove area. There is a parent and teacher guide included in the book, which will enable the diary concept to be expanded and continued in schools and at home, and which provides points for discussion and for further development. The book is written in a format much like a scrapbook, and it offers an insight into the thoughts, crazes, hobbies, habits and humour of the contemporary young mind.The Circle of Life - A woman’s life in Brighton
Author(s): Olive Masterson
Published: 1986
This is Olive Masterson's tale of growing up in the Richmond Road area of Brighton between the Wars. Surrounded by her close-knit family and friends, she was the youngest child of four, and lived a varied and interesting life. In her narrative, she voices the hopes and fears that she experienced in making the often difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. Olive had many occupations; from working in a uniform factory to being a machinist in a gown shop near Preston Circus. She recounts the trials and tribulations of an ordinary hardworking Brightonian woman, who dealt stoically with the many problems she faced in her life, including diphtheria in the family and the ill-health of her father, who was the principal wage-earner.The Other Side of the Counter - The Life of a Shop Girl 1925-1945
Author(s): Marjorie Gardiner
Published: 1985
This autobiography looks at the working life of milliner, Marjorie Gardiner, from 1925 to 1945, including an account of her working life during the Second World War. Marjorie's story is told in a lively and evocative manner, and describes her experiences as a shop assistant working in a Brighton hat shop, where she met all manner of elite customers. Those were the days when women were particularly fashion-conscious and there was a huge variety of different types of hat styles available. This first-hand account provides a fascinating insight into shop life during the first part of the twentieth century.Bangla Brighton - Voices from the Bangladeshi community in Brighton
Author(s): Members of the Bengali community
Published: 2006
Poetic and passionate, lively and lyrical, Bangla Brighton is a series of moving true life accounts of life on the South coast by Brighton and Hove"s Bangladeshi community. At times heartbreaking, but always full of hope, these stories offer the reader a glimpse into a fascinating culture. As intriguing as it is informative, Bangla Brighton gives one of the lesser heard voices in our community a chance to be heard. I have visited many, many areas, many places but finally Brighton gave me a little bit of my village life. In this sense it is my village.A Life behind Bars
Author(s): Marjory Batchelor
Published: 1999
Born in 1908 at the Marquess of Exeter public house, which was run by her parents, Marjory Batchelor spent her working life as a barmaid and pub landlady in and around the Brighton area. Marjory recalls her experiences of the licensed trade through two World Wars up to the present day. From the days of spit ‘n' sawdust and horse-drawn drays, to the arrival of fruit machines and ‘pub grub' – Marjory remembers it all with humour and affection. Her account documents the many changes that have taken place in pub life in Marjory's lifetime, and provides an interesting social history of the industry, through first-hand experience.At the Pawnbrokers
Author(s): Lillie Morgan
Published: 1991
This is the moving story of Lillie Morgan's life as a pawnbroker during World War One, in which she paints a vivid picture of the abject poverty that could be found in Brighton at that time. Food was scarce and people often had to go to desperate lengths to find the price of a loaf of bread - simply to feed their family! Within this life history, there are many amusing anecdotes that attest to the resilience of the human spirit. Lillie told her story to her granddaughter, Jane Russell, who transcribed it, using her grandmother's own words - as much as possible.