Books like Business as usual by Jane Oliver

"Business as Usual" traces the journey of Hilary Fane, an Edinburgh university graduate determined to support herself in London for one year. Through a series of letters, she recounts her nervous start, the rapid depletion of her savings, and her eventual employment as a typist in the London department store Everyman’s—a thinly veiled reference to Selfridges. As she advances, Hilary is tasked with modernising the store’s library, confronting entrenched, frosty colleagues and navigating the social conditions of the 1930s. The novel offers a charming, lighthearted perspective while providing valuable insights into shopping culture and societal issues such as poverty and illegitimacy during that era. Written by Helen Evans under the pen name Jane Oliver in collaboration with Ann Stafford (Ann Pedlar), "Business as Usual" marks their first joint novel. The book showcases their combined narrative strengths and remains a heartfelt, intelligent, and entertaining record of its time.

First publish date: 1933