The Rat In The Python: Book 2 Shopping and Food by Alex Craigie

 

Definitely  worth 5*

If you haven’t heard of a liberty bodice, believe that half-a-crown is something to do with impoverished royalty and never had the experience of slapping a television to stop the grainy black and white picture from rolling, then this series might not be for you. Please give it a go, though – I’ve suspect that most of it will still resonate no matter where you were brought up!

Book 2 looks at shopping and food after the end of WWII and how they’ve changed over the decades. From farthings to Green Shield stamps; from beef dripping sandwiches to Babycham, and beyond.

The Rat in the Python is about Baby Boomers who, in the stability following the Second World War, formed a statistical bulge in the population python. It is a personal snapshot of a time that is as mystifying to my children as the Jurassic Era - and just as unrecognisable.

My intention is to nudge some long-forgotten memories to the surface, test your own recollections and provide information and statistics to put it all in context.

Are you sitting comfortably?
Then I’ll begin…

 My Review: 

Reminiscing, I’ve enjoyed reminiscing, was my first thought when I eventually closed this second offering from Alex Craigie (although I hastily need to add some of the memories did go a little before mine… honest!)

 I read the first Rat in the Python on Home last year, and loved it. I reviewed it here:  https://tinyurl.com/2wcn3n3v . This second book is equally enjoyable.

 The author threads her own insights, memories, and quips throught all the text as she writes about life in a past era that will both evoke memories and put astonished faces on the generations that followed us. Our grandson didn’t believe we didn’t have colour TVs, and the fact that I wore a “liberty bodice” – oh those rubber buttons and scratchy seams, as well as a vest – brought howls of laughter from him… rude!! 

The amount of research Alex Craigie has obviously done is impressive; the book is brim-full of illustrations and besides all the information and details, has found photos for us to peruse and smile over.

As I said in my review of the first The Rat In The Python, these books are winners for this author, they are both evocative and fascinating.

 And I echo the words I wrote then; I have absolutely no qualms in recommended this to … well absolutely everyone! And that I look forward to the sequel.

 The Author

Alex Craigie is the pen name of Trish Power.

Trish was ten when her first play was performed at school. It was in rhyming couplets and written in pencil in a book with imperial weights and measures printed on the back. There were two princes in it - one was called Rupert and the other was changed to Sam because she couldn't find enough rhymes for Randolph.

When her children were young, she wrote short stories for magazines before returning to the teaching job that she loved.

Trish has had six books published under the pen name of Alex Craigie. Three books cross genre boundaries and feature elements of romance, thriller and suspense against a backdrop of social issues. Someone Close to Home highlights the problems affecting care homes, Acts of Convenience has issues concerning the health service at its heart, and The Bubble Reputation reflects her fears about social media and the damage it can do. Another book. Means to Deceive, is a psychological thriller set in Pembrokeshire in Wales.

Someone Close to Home has won a Chill with a Book award and a Chill with the Book of the Month award. In 2019 it was one of the top ten bestsellers in its category on Amazon.

The Bubble Reputation won a Chill With a Book Premier Readers' Award in 2023.

She is currently writing a series of books called The Rat in the Python about growing up as a Baby Boomer. The title comes from the term for the bulge in the population statistics caused by us post-war babies.