Thursday Afternoons [antikvár]

PENGUIN BOOKSTHURSDAY AFTERNOONSThe great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, MonicaDickens was educated at St Paul's School for Girls.She has been writing novels and autobiographicalbooks since she was twenty-two, when she wroteOne Pair of Hands about her experiences as< a cook-general, the only job that her upbringing as a debu-tante had fitted her for.During the war, Miss Dickens worked as a nursein a hospital and subsequently took a job in a muni-tions factory, turning out Spitfires. During the latterpart of the war she was again working in a hospital.T would like to make it clear,' she says, 'that I didnot take these jobs in order to write books. Thebooks just came out of the experiences.'After the war Miss Dickens gave up nursing toconcentrate on her writing, and has published severalnovels, of which the latest is The Landlord's Daughter.Apart from her books, she writes a weekly column ina well-known woman's magazine. She is married toCommander Roy Stratton of the U.S. Navy, andhas two daughters.