The Necessary Aptitude

Ayres gives a wonderful account of what it was like to grow up poor but respectable in post-war rural England. Some of her writing in the early chapters, describing life as the youngest of six children in a council cottage in the Vale of White Horse, Berkshire, has the original freshness of classics such as Flora Thompson's Lark Rise to Candleford -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday * I find her work sweet and sour, gentle and sad, and often very moving in its wistful way ... The descriptions of post-war Berkshire life in The Necessary Aptitude are wonderful ... The world Ayres evokes is Hardy's Wessex ... I do admire (and envy) this marvellous woman -- Roger Lewis * Daily Mail * Excellent ... Unsentimental, especially about herself, Ayres gives a surprisingly moving account of what it was like to grow up poor in rural England without any ""aptitude"" for making something of herself -- Kathryn Hughes * Christmas Guide to a Cracking Read, Mail on Sunday * Highly readable ... Pam's memoirs are a masterclass in effective and effervescent prose * The Lady * An evocation of long-gone village life as captivating as Thompson’s Lark Rise to Candleford. At the book’s height, she reaches up and touches Laurie Lee * Buckinghamshire Life * As funny and benevolent a memoir as you’d expect from one of Britain’s finest comic * Good Book Guide * It’s all so well written, so funny and so touching * Readers' Digest * Charming * Choice *