The Family From One End Street

By Eve Garnett

ISBN: 978-0-141-35550-4

303 Pages

Publisher: puffinbooks.com

Cover illustration by Eve Garnett

5/5 Stars

A wonderful book of the Rosie and Josiah Ruggles and their 7 children. A dustman and a laundry woman making a life and a family among the working class of England.

Each chapter concentrates on an adventure of one of the children, Lily Rose the eldest, Kate passing her 11-plus (an entrance exam to a grammar school), or the twins James and John making their own adventures.

Eve Garnett presents a simple world with the values of virtue, honesty and openness as universal as the air the characters breath. Not to mention the chaos of family life and the ups and downs of growing-up. A glimpse into a forgotten age.

There are two other stories in the series; Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street  and Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn .

Eve Garnett wrote the book after having visited many poor families whilst conducting research to illustrate Evelyn Sharp‘s 1927 book The London Child . Her writing is warm and tender and justly deserves to have won the Carnegie medal.