Author: Spike (Cedric) Mays
Publisher: Robin Clark Ltd Also MacMillan/ Eyre & Spottiswood
Published Date: First Published in 1969. Re-published 1973 & 1981
ISBN 10: 0330236008 ISBN 13: 978-0330236003
Length: 223 pages
Price: Originally priced at £3.50 Second hand £8.00 or less plus postage.
Available From: Amazon.co.uk Abe Books World of books
Description:
This book has been referred to as a minor classic. It covers the early part of the author’s life, including the hardship and deprivation experienced by his family as well as those around him in the village of Ashdon. It is almost unbelievable that such poverty existed in the first two decades of the twentieth century. It also serves as a reminder that returning soldiers such as Spike’s father found it difficult to find work, as he had been injured many times in the First World War. Life was hard, there was never enough to eat, and children went to school attired in clothes cut down from their parents’ cast-offs. Spike also remembers the warmth and character of village life, singing in the church choir, working for the Squire, or spying on courting couples in the fields.
The Author:
Spike Mays was born in Suffolk in 1907 and brought up in Ashdon, Essex, which he describes in Reuben’s Corner. He joined the Royal Dragoons when he was sixteen and left after twelve years to become a post office clerk. He later went to Edinburgh University, and in 1967 retired from his job as public relations officer at Heathrow Airport. He has written five other books, three of which continue the autobiography he began with Reuben’s Corner. (The Only Way Was Essex, Five Miles from Bunkum, Return to Anglia)
When it was first published in 1969, Reuben’s Corner won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award.