Brought up and brought out

An autobiography, written by Mary Pakenham(1907-2011), of her early childhood and into young adulthood. It includes her early experiences of the "Troubles" on family holidays to Ireland, her education by governesses and at boarding school, coming out as a Debutante in the 1920s and her early working years. Entertaining and lighthearted she acknowleges in the Foreword that her memories may not be accurate - never let the truth get in the way of a good story. She does not take a sentimentalist approach. Of the Troubles she said was mortified when asked "What's the shooting like round you?" She had to admit that "there was not much, in the same shamefaced way that people in England confess that their shooting isn't good, not like Yorkshire or Norfolk". Of Debutantes she said "In my day all the debutantes were dowdy unless they wanted to be branded as unpresentably fast, but the actual year that I came out was a bumper dowdy year." "Soon there is nobody left but yourself and two monstrously ugly girls. Your hostess catches sight of you three and looks quickly away." Even if you secured a partner, it was unlikely that he could dance. After all, she recalled: "It was considered very vulgar for a man to dance well, like talking French with a French accent."