I have enjoyed this book greatly. Rose's sharp wit and narrative voice transported us readers to a time when things were very different. She is critical but she also highlights the good things, using for both things her particular humour.
In the book Rose tells us that when she first started in service, she met the friend who accompanied her throughout all her working life as a servant. That was Mary, who also worked as a maid, but she claimed that she had more opportunities to advance than her as she was an orphan from the workhouse. Mary was witty, humourous and cheeky, and Rose had the time of her life when they were together in their days off. It was sad when Mary decides to go after Rose meets the person who would become her husband. She simple stops coming to meet her in the park, and then she writes a letter, saying that she has decided to find a new position in Sommerset. That was the last time Rose heard from him.
It was Mary, when they first met, that persuaded Rose to find a position in a bigger house through the employment agency, Massey's. Massey’s Agency is the world's oldest housekeeper agency servicing clients UK nationwide. Massey’s Agency has been sourcing and placing staff since 1845.
Rose complained of having to clean the carpets with brushes. Hoovers existed already, but wealthy employers did not think it was right to use them. The first vacuum-cleaning device to be portable and marketed at the domestic market was built in 1905 by Walter Griffiths, a manufacturer in Birmingham.
Next Rose served in a house in Eaton Square, Belgravia. Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest square in London.
Rose was aware that employers had difficulty to keep servants. The "servant problem" refers to the historical socio-economic dilemma, spanning the 19th and early 20th centuries, where wealthier households struggled to find, retain, and control affordable domestic labor. For employers, it meant dealing with employee turnover and rising wages.
Rose mentions that she and Mary started going to Hammersmith Palais, where they danced. The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007.
Rose heard that there was a domestics' union, but it didn't survive because servants were all over England, and it was difficult for them to meet. In 1920, the original Domestic Workers' Union of Great Britain and Ireland (which had collapsed during World War I) reported a brief resurgence with roughly 5,000 members. However, the 1920s proved incredibly challenging for domestic workers' organizing in the UK, as the government explicitly used the availability of domestic service to deny unemployment benefits to women.
Rose married her husband, John, who was also in service. They left their jobs two weeks after their marriage. John found a job in a factory, but we learn that throughout his life he did a bit of everything. Rose worked in a stall in a market for a while, but she decided to give it up because she had to wake up too early. They didn't have children, but they had a very happy life together.
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