High Wages

This is the sixth title by Dorothy Whipple that Persephone Books has published. The first was Someone at a Distance in 1999, and since then there have been They Knew Mr Knight, The Priory, They Were Sisters and The Closed Door and Other Stories. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day may be Persephone’s bestselling title but Dorothy Whipple is their bestselling author - the first print run for HIGH WAGES is 7000, such has been the advance interest. HIGH WAGES (1930) is about a girl who works in a draper’s shop just before WW1 and then sets up her own dress shop. It is as readable, touching and interesting as all of Dorothy Whipple’s books. The Preface is by Jane Brocket, who has a very popular website about the domestic arts. She writes: ‘As well as being a marvellously engrossing and deeply caring novel, High Wages has tremendous historical value.And because of the author’s light touch, her enjoyment of the subject matter and her desire to tell a good story rather than lecture the reader, the book chimes in with serious present-day discussions of our consumer culture, concepts of 'retail therapy’, debates about women’s clothing, and the question of whether intelligent, educated women should be interested in something as frivolous as fashion. This is a gem of a novel with a very special, endearing character and charm.