Sarah Thomas (1)

[This is a review I wrote in 2009]

**A snapshot of a provincial Cotswolds community in the 1860s**

These real diaries take you to the heart of the Cotswolds (Fairford), to glimpses of nineteenth-century life as experienced by a young woman of upper-middle class society in a small provincial community. The daughter of a Baptist minister, Sarah Thomas was 37 years old when she began keeping her diaries. Unmarried, and left in charge of the household following the death of both of her parents, she also undertook the care of her younger, frequently ill, sister.

Sarah's diaries are intensely personal, obviously intended for her personal benefit only, and this confessional style makes them really accessible to read. The reader truly has access to Sarah's most private thoughts. The most harrowing and amusing of these are her musings upon which of her suitors to accept in marriage! A really interesting insight, especially into the woman's role in the home, and marriage, in this period.… (mehr)