I'm Not Complaining

"Squalor did not frighten me...But somewhere beneath it all was a live, burning thread that ran through these human miseries that was not just mismanagement, nor stupidity nor a faulty social system, but something living, primitive, terrible - something I dare not look in the face"Madge Brigson is a teacher in a Nottinghamshire Elementary school in the 1930s. Here, with her colleagues - ranging from the beautiful, "promiscuous" Jenny to the earnest communist Freda and kind, spinsterish Miss Jones - she battles with the trials and tribulations of that special nits in the hair, abusive parents, inspectors' visits, eternal registers, malnutrition, staff quarrels and staff love affairs. To all of this Madge presents an uncompromisingly intelligent and commonsensical laughter is never far away as she copes with her pupils, with the harsh circumstances of life in the Depression, and with her own love affair. For Madge is a splendid determined, perceptive, warm-hearted, she deals with life, and love, unflinchingly and gets the most out of the best - and worst - of it.