A review by sarahmatthews
Babbacombe's by Susan Scarlett

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

 Babbacombe’s by Susan Scarlet

Read as ebook using a mix of Braille and TTS

Dean Street Press

Pub. 1941

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I was looking for a gentle read for the Christmas period an had recently heard about this charming book. Written by Noel Streatfeild (famous for Ballet Shoes) under a pseudonym,we follow an ordinary family struggling to get by. Beth is the oldest of 5 children and is disappointed not to be able to go on to secretarial college after school as her parents can’t afford it. Her father has always wanted her to join him at Babbacombe’s, a department store, where he’s worked for 30 years and she duly obliges.

Throwing a spanner in the works is Dulcie, a cousin who’s sent to live with them and also starts at the store. She’s been educated at boarding school, arriving with a showy attitude that contrasts with the simple life of the Carsons.

Beth’s story starts with her bumping into a young man, David, and his dog at Paddington station, meeting him again at Babbacombe’s, where they get stuck in a lift. From there the romance slowly builds, though Beth is resistant as she knows her father is against girls dating outside their class.

All kinds of obstacles are put in their way, many of which show the workings of the store which I enjoyed. The scene where Beth’s duped by a shoplifter was really nicely told in particular.

i often find myself on edge when there’s a storyline about blindness in classic novels but this was generally good with regards  to how the experience of glaucoma was described, given the time it was written, e.g. when he goes to see his sister who makes a fool of herself at a school performance: 

“Edward missed the excitement: his vision did not carry as far as the stage. But already his ears were training themselves to help out his eyes, and he caught a faint whisper from the row behind. ‘What a little figure of fun!’” I found that relatable.

And it made me smile to find the novel ending on Christmas Day, very festive!

Read for #DeanStreetDecember