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TOASTED ENGLISH by Marghanita Laski

TOASTED ENGLISH

By

Pub Date: April 5th, 1949
Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin

Oh for the good old days!"" -- Sound familiar? Well, give this to the people who think they'd like ""the good old days -- when- "". In an original, humorous and ironic story, Harold Laski's daughter (?) tells the story of five Singapore castaways, rescued later, who return to an England run- not by Labour as they had expected- but by a commission which is reverting to the dream of what the good old days had been. Social lines are sharply drawn: -- the A's have their estates restored, their coffers refilled; but they are virtually policed by servants in the house, who belong to the C's and keep the A's in their place...The B's are backbone of the country, but the A's dread demotion, and the B's are struggling to be reclassified as A's, fearing that they may be demoted to C's- or worse still, to D's. For the D's and E's are the scum, and by bleeding those below the salt, the minority at the top are kept in luxury. A cynical picture of dictatorship in reverse -- and nobody likes it but the few who run the show, and those who wear blinders and accept the glitter as gold. Adroit satire- entertaining reading.