A Room at Guardian Angel Inn opens with two young, lost boys sleeping under a tree next to the side of the road deep in the French countryside. A soldier returning from the Crimean War finds them and brings them to the inn of the title which is run by two generous sisters, one of whom has a bit of cheek in her. Happy to have found a home with a loving family, the boys begin a series of adventures, spurred on by the irascible General Dourakine. A Russian aristocrat and sometime prisoner of war, his stay at the Inn causes mayhem that will delight readers of all ages.
In this rollicking tale, the cantankerous but lovable General Dourakine brings his new-found French friends, Jacques and Paul, back to his grand estate in snowy Russia. Life becomes complicated when the General’s niece, the grasping Madame Papofsky, and her eight unruly children descend on the house. Madame Papofsky is desperate to get her hands on her uncle’s enormous fortune. Find out if the General – with some help from his friends – can extract himself from her greedy clutches in this sequel to A Room at Guardian Angel Inn.
Three decades of research into retailing in England from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries has established a seemingly clear narrative: fixed shops were widespread from an early date; 'modern' methods of retailing were common from at least the early eighteenth century; shopping was a skilled activity throughout the period; and consumers were increasingly part of - and aware of being part of - a polite and fashionable culture. All of this is true, but is it the only narrative? Research has shown that markets were still important well into the nineteenth century and small scale producer-retailers co-existed with modern warehouses. Many shops were not smart. The development of modern retailing therefore was a fractured and fragmented process. This book presents a reassessment of the standard view by challenging the usefulness of concepts like 'traditional' and 'modern', examining consumption and retailing as inextricably linked aspects of a single process, and by using the idea of narrative to discuss the roles and perceptions of the various actors in this process - such as retailers, shoppers/consumers, local authorities and commentators. The book is therefore structured around some of these competing narratives in order to provide a richer and more varied picture of consumption and retailing in provincial England.
