Things at home were not good for myself or my three elder brothers. Our father was killed whilst working down a coal mine and our mother was in a deep depression. The boys all worked at the coal mine it was the town's biggest employer. To help with the family finances

I left school at fifteen and went job hunting. Our house was almost derelict, small, and at times very cold indeed. It was usual for me to sleep with one or more of my brothers just to try and stay warm.

There were vacancies at the local fish canning factory and also at the poultry processing factory. Needless to say neither really appealed. I was considered to be by my school teachers a bright girl with good prospects for a career in something a lot better than factory work. 

I spent hours walking around the town looking for work everywhere I tried I got the same answer. It was the year 1906 and good King Edward was our monarch. He seemed to be quite popular and very different from his mother Queen Victoria

Since I  was quite small I used to visit a little bookshop in one of the many back streets I had always had an interest in books. The place was quite close by and the rain was threatening yet again so I headed towards the shop with some haste.

There were always the same three gentlemen there. The founder Mr. Thomas, his son Mr. Peter, and his son Mr. Jeremy. As I  browsed through the bookshelves Mr. Thomas put a card in my hand and gave me a silver sixpence with the instructions to take the card to the newsagents and ask for it to be put on their notice board in the shop window.

Before I left the shop I  took a little look at the card. It read trainee required for a well-established book shop? That job was mine without any doubt whatsoever. I never took the card to the Newsagents shop? Bad bad me. On my way home I bought myself some sweets and kept the change for another day.

That evening I  wrote a letter in my very best handwriting to Mr. Thomas requesting a job interview. Several days later I received his very polite and rather encouraging reply. It was late winter when I attended the interview and a bitterly cold day. We had seen each other many times over the years but had never actually spoken.

I wore my very best dress and the all-important black laced-up leather boots with small heels because I did not want my ankles to be seen. I liked Mr. Thomas he had a pleasant disposition and I was sure that he rather liked me? 

To my surprise and gratitude, he offered me the job there and then mumbling something about no one else had even bothered to enquire about the vacancy? I was so so happy I almost skipped home.

After what seemed like an eternity Monday morning finally arrived and I was fast approaching the book shop. Mr. Thomas did the formalities introducing me, then I was put under the supervision of his son Mr. Peter who showed me not only the shop but also behind the scenes. The places that the public never see.

I really could not believe that I had actually got a job in what to me was almost Paradise. I  was surrounded by books, books, and books and if that wasn't enough there were three gentlemen who clearly liked having a very young lady in the shop? 

The building had great character and age I just loved the place. As for the books well not only were some of high value but collectively they gave off the most wonderful fragrance. Best described as a kind of musty smell.

Mr. Peter was so attentive and very helpful. He was living in lodgings near the town centre with a certain Miss Jennings whom he described as an old battleax. She lived by the clock. Everything was done at the same time every single day.

The wintertime soon passed and the spring moved on into early summer. My sixteenth birthday came and went almost unnoticed which suited me in certain ways. I was always dressed as a young Edwardian lady should have been. My mother made quite certain of that.

Around late July in the year 1908, there was a heatwave which was so severe that people were not only fainting but dying from it. I was struggling with the heat because not only was I wearing full-length dresses but also quite thick petticoats and rather big baggy knickers.?

There was almost no breeze in the shop yet the owners never even removed their ties nor undid the top button of their shirts. I was drinking lukewarm water from the tap in the little kitchen at the back of the shop. I  had too. The result of course meant quite frequent visits to the toilet in the yard.

That night as I lay on top of my bed I made a decision which was more than a little risky? The following morning on my way to the shop I stopped at the home of My old school friend David Wilson. He was very pleased to see me even more so when I slipped off my petticoat and knickers and told him I would collect them on my way home at about 5 pm

As I continued my short trip to the shop I felt more than a little naughty. The soft fabric of my dress was lightly caressing my clitty as I walked along the cobbled pavement. I needed to stop for a few minutes to calm myself down before entering the shop.

I felt much better that day far cooler and fewer visits to the toilet. It was a Friday as I recall the day that I took down the rarest books from the top shelves and dusted them off. Mr. Peter always held the bottom of the ladder for me to steady it.

I had, of course, realised that I  was very vulnerable perched high up on that old ladder but he had always shown me nothing but kindness from my first day at the shop so if he wanted to peep up my dress it was alright by me?   

To be continued...