Perhaps that's because my expectations, as I mentioned earlier, were for something slightly different – but I can't help thinking some sort of strand to hold it together would have made for a more interesting read than just a couple of dozen bits of trivia on each of the subjects covered. What's rather lacking, though, is any real thread to the book. Elsewhere, eye-opening information is found, including the prices of food and drink in nightclubs of the time – and just how much these were increased after hours! It also has a nice mix of the extremely famous personalities such as Waugh, Mitford and the Fitzgeralds and some who are perhaps less familiar to many readers today, including nightclub owner Kate Meyrick and Rosa Lewis, whose rise from kitchen maid to cook to hotel owner inspired 'the Duchess of Duke Street'. A particular strong point is 'Who's That Boy/Girl' which provides brief profiles and quotes from celebrities of the age, including Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh. It's easy to dip into, with most of the pieces being between half a page and a page long, while they're set out into chapters such as 'Upstairs, Downstairs', 'Cocktail Hour' and 'Fashion in a Flap'. The slight grumbling about the blurb being open to misintrepretation aside, then there's some really interesting information in the book.

Similarly, the 'first person accounts' mentioned on the inside front cover are limited to two or three sentence quotes. I was expecting it to be something of a narrative account of the Roaring Twenties – in actual fact, it's set out as a collection of trivia about the decade.

Summary: Collection of trivia is good fun to dip into despite lacking any real insight into the decade it covers.Īccording to the summary I read of Bright Young Things before choosing the book to read, it 'takes a sweeping look at the changing world of the Jazz Age'.

Bright young things by alison maloney