{"product_id":"our-spoons-came-from-woolworths-paperback","title":"Our Spoons Came from Woolworths - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBarbara Comyns\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eEmily Gould\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"I told Helen my story and she went home and cried.\" So begins \u003ci\u003eOur Spoons Came from Woolworths\u003c\/i\u003e. But Barbara Comyns's beguiling novel is far from tragic, despite the harrowing ordeals its heroine endures. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Sophia is twenty-one and na ve when she marries fellow artist Charles. She seems hardly fonder of her husband than she is of her pet newt; she can't keep house (everything she cooks tastes of soap); and she mistakes morning sickness for the aftereffects of a bad batch of strawberries. England is in the middle of the Great Depression, and the money Sophia makes from the occasional modeling gig doesn't make up for her husband's indifference to paying the rent. Predictably, the marriage falters; not so predictably, Sophia's artlessness will be the very thing that turns her life around.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBarbara Comyns\u003c\/b\u003e (1909-1992) was born in Bidford-on-Avon, in the English county of Warwickshire, one of six children of an increasingly unsuccessful Birmingham brewer. Living on the run-down but romantic family estate and receiving her education from governesses, she began to write and illustrate stories at the age of ten. After her father's death, she attended art school in London and married a painter, with whom she had two children she supported by trading antiques and classic cars, modeling, breeding poodles, and renovating apartments. A second marriage, to Richard Comyns Carr, who worked in the Foreign Office, took place during World War II. Comyns wrote her first book, \u003ci\u003eSisters by a River\u003c\/i\u003e (1947), a series of sketches based on her childhood, while living in the country to escape the Blitz, which is also when she made an initial sketch for \u003ci\u003eThe Vet's Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e (available as an NYRB Classic). This, however, she put aside to complete \u003ci\u003eOur Spoons Came from Woolworths\u003c\/i\u003e (1950) and \u003ci\u003eWho Was Changed and Who Was Dead\u003c\/i\u003e (1954). \u003ci\u003eThe Vet's Daughter \u003c\/i\u003ewas published in 1959. Among Comyns's other books are the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Skin Chairs\u003c\/i\u003e (1962) and \u003ci\u003eThe Juniper Tree\u003c\/i\u003e (1985; forthcoming from NYRB Classics), and \u003ci\u003eOut of the Red into the Blue\u003c\/i\u003e (1960), a work of nonfiction about Spain, where she lived for eighteen years. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e Emily Gould\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the essay collection\u003ci\u003e And the Heart Says Whatever\u003c\/i\u003e and the novel \u003ci\u003eFriendship\u003c\/i\u003e. She is the co-owner of Emily Books and lives in Brooklyn.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 224\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 7.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 10, 2015\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44516555194470,"sku":"9781590178966","price":26.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/b0oyN1UwTTZiaWVQWVlyVmY5eVUwZz09.webp?v=1770753276","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/our-spoons-came-from-woolworths-paperback","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}