What the Grown-Ups were Doing

Embark on an odyssey through 1950’s suburbia –a Metroland of neat lawns, bridge parties and Martini socials through the eyes of an ‘oddball tomboy’. As well as the awkwardness of late childhood, Michele Hanson also has to contend with a mother who requires daily updates on bowel movements and remains loudly suspicious of the domestic and personal habits of all the neighbours.

This is hilarious and intensely evocative storytelling which affectionately captures suburban Britain. But scratch the surface of the post-war austerity and you’ll uncover a multitude of salacious goings-on.

Michele Hanson is the author of a memoir What the Grown Ups Were Doing. Age of Dissent, Treasure and What Treasure Did Next were all originally published as a column in The Guardian. She has also written the poignant, often very funny, book of recollections: Living With Mother.

Stephanie Calman is the founder of the hugely successful www.badmothersclub.com, contributor to many magazines and radio shows and the author of Confessions of a Bad Mother and Confessions of a Failed Grown-Up.