The Diary of a Farmer's Wife 1796-1797

This marvelous book was gifted to me recently from a dear friend in England (thanks Mummy C!).

Inside note - 'Anne Hughes - her boke in wiche I write what I doe when I hav thee tyme, and beginnen wyth this daye, Feb ye 6 1796'

From the back cover - Passed down by her daughter and complied by Jeanne Preston, it is an extraordinary document written by a young woman who lives and breathes in its pages as she did then.

Domestic, endlessly busy and clever, but also loving and tender, Anne was the centre around which her husband and the farm revolved. Her diary is a faithful record of her day-to-day preoccupations - pig killing and cheese making, love affairs and scandals, feasts and food and the seasons passing. It is a unique and intimate glimpse into the very stuff of life as it was in the days before the Industrial Revolution.

A book that's right up my alley! A real treasure.