# The Cook’s Tale

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/tom-quinn/the-cooks-tale/9781444735895

![The Cook’s Tale](https://quivercdn.com/covers/hodder-paperbacks/tom-quinn/the-cooks-tale_978-14-4473-589-5.jpg?v=2026-05-16%2008%3A47%3A15)

- Book: [The Cook’s Tale](https://www.bookquiver.com/tom-quinn/the-cooks-tale) ([The Cook’s Tale.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/tom-quinn/the-cooks-tale.md))
- Authors: [Tom Quinn](https://www.bookquiver.com/tom-quinn)
- Publisher: hodder_paperbacks
- ISBN: 978-14-4473-589-5
- Pages: 1
- Published: 2012-04-12
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

The must-read memoir from Nancy Jackman, a cook in interwar England. Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs An inspirational true story loved by readers: 'To read Nancy's story in her own words was an absolute joy. The history, the humour, a perfect read of times gone by.' - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ READER REVIEW 'Touching, funny, nostalgic. This book opens a door into a world long ago and is a gem packed with social history. Could read about her life for hours and could not put this story down.' - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ READER REVIEW 'A wonderful story of life as it was in domestic service; hard going, often tragic, yet not without its joys.' - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ READER REVIEW ----- Nancy Jackman was born in 1907 in a remote Norfolk village. Life was tough for her family: her father was a ploughman, her mother a former servant who struggled to make ends meet in a cottage so small that access to the single upstairs room was via a ladder. The pace of life in that long-vanished world was dictated by the slow, heavy tread of the farm horse - and Nancy's earliest memories were of a green, sunny countryside still unspoiled by the motorcar. But she also knew at first hand the harshness of a world where the elderly were forced to break stones on the roads and where school children were regularly beaten. Nancy left school at the age of twelve to work for a local farmer where the hardships continued, and then found positions working as a cook for Britain's wealthy families. Sustained by her determination to make a better life for herself, she continued working as a cook until the 1950s. The Cook's Tale tells her story - the story of a now vanished era.