Very thorough book on Mrs Marshall and Mrs Beeton. It talks about their families, lives, and recipes. I have read Mrs Beeton's book. It was interesting to learn about their backstories.

NetGalley, Rebecca Smith

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Emma Kay does a great job in writing this type of book, I enjoyed getting to meet these two cooks.

NetGalley, Kathryn McLeer

A detailed history of these two women. I knew a bit about Mrs Beeton, but hadn't heard of Mrs Marshall, so it was interesting to find out about her and about the context that the two women lived in.

NetGalley, Melanie Knight

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


An absolutely fascinating, well-written and deeply-researched look into the lives and work of Isabella Beeton and Agnes Bertha Marshall, Victorian women who made names for themselves by writing about cookery and household management for an emerging middle class. I was familiar with (and own a cheap copy of) Mrs Beeton’s works, and was aware that she has been accused of plagiarism — turns out, that was more or less the norm back then, and seen much as we see “amplification” on social media today. Mrs. Marshall and her family were more entrepreneurial (and several decades after Mrs. Beeton, taking advantage of a freer society), establishing a cookery school and promoting their own kitchen equipment and ingredients.

Emma Kay’s book explores the Victorian era through the stories of these two women, highlighting how quickly society changed over the thirty years that separated them, the emergence of the suffragist movement — and how cooking and housekeeping themselves changed over that time.

NetGalley, Mo B

Such an interesting book about two (2) passionate women, ahead of their time in my humble opinion, whom probably most of us novice type cooks never heard of. This book tells of their lives, their families and even shares some terrific recipes. I have to say Agnes was my favorite of the two (2). I also enjoyed the authors writing style - was like she was just telling me their stories directly. The book even contains pictures which is always an added bonus for me!

NetGalley, Christine Cazeneuve

Besides the fact that this book made me hungry, I had fun reading about two women-- Isabella Beeton and Agnes Marshall--who both attributed major contributions to the field of cookbooks, recipes and overall hospitality/cuisine.

NetGalley, Samantha Armstrong

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

It was great to be able read the bio of Mrs Beeton and Mrs Marshall and to see the recipes that they used.

NetGalley, Abi Davies