Down Lambeth Way (The Adams Family, #1) by Mary Jane Staples

Down Lambeth Way (The Adams Family, #1) Reviews

• 
  Dorcas

  "Down Lambeth Way" is the first book in a 29 book series of the Adams saga. The covers in the series look YA but they're really not. By that, I don't mean to say they're neccesarily inappropriate, but it depends on the age of the reader, some subject matter may be a little mature or intense for very young readers. (I'll explain in the content section below).
  
  I think first books in a series are very much like pilot episodes on TV. Some time is by neccesity taken up in the introduction of characters, setting the scenes, the backgrounds, the personalities etc. For the first 80-100 pages you might just assume its a cheeky cockney YA story with lots of playful characters but not much substance. But its so much more. Just give it time.
  
  In this series, we start with a cockney family, fatherless since the Boer war, a mother who makes due with the help of "Uncle" (the pawn broker) and her enterprising children. When the story begins, the children are quite young, the oldest being 14 or 15, but over the course of the book, about five years elapse and everyone is forced to grow up.
  
  The first serious thing (well, aside from getting head lice) that the family experiences, is a murder in the neighborhood, and their good friend and neighbor is being tried. There is a court trial with several characters being cross examined.
  
  Around the same time, war is declared and we experience the reality of life on the front as well as its aftermath.
  
  Between that there is love, courtship, marriage, political intrigue, and plenty of tea and cockney humor.
  
  I always love Mary Jane Staples books (aka Robert Tyler Stevens), he manages to combine just the right amount of serious subject matter with humor and action to keep me engrossed page after page and leaving me with a warm fuzzy feeling. I don't understand why his books never really "made it" in the US but I'm happy they can still be found through online sites.
  
  CONTENT:
  SEX: Fade to black, mentioned frankly but not explicitly for example, one character is taught the "mysteries " by a female ambulance driver on the front. There is also frequent mention of underclothing and particularly breasts being either firm, pouty, perky, overflowing, soft as pillows, nipples showing through, as well as one touch and some cheeky innuendo
  VIOLENCE: War time violence, nothing gory but people are injured. A woman is murdered her throat is slit
  PROFANITY: Some, mostly British in nature
  MY RATING: Strong PG
• 
  Lianna

  This book was bought for me by Mum as a Christmas present. When I opened it, I can't say I was thrilled at the prospect of reading it. However, she used to read this series when she was younger so her buying it for me held some sentimentality. For this reason, I thought I'd give it a go.
  I have to say that I quite enjoyed it. Now it's not going to be the best book I ever read, but with it being a series, I might actually buy and read the next one.
  It's a sweetly innocent family saga set during the period of World War One. It centres around the Adams family (not the gothic one with the catchy theme tune) and their experience of living through London in the wartime.
  The characters were likeable and I have a bit of a soft spot for the wild terror that is Emily. They had to endure some serious issues and post war injuries that made the family really endearing. I was definitely rooting for them to pull through the tragedies that they faced; And pull through they did.
  This is a sweet tale of youth, innocence and family that actually made me feel quite nice afterwards. I told my mum that I enjoyed it and she couldn't have been more excited. I think I know what I'll be getting for many Christmases and Birthdays to come.
  The only reason I didn't give it more stars was because of the length. Staples chooses to describe every little detail which can be a tad tiring at times. I think that this book could have benefited from a little more editing. It would have been 100 pages less and benefited from more stars.
  That being said, I enjoyed it and will definitely buy the next book in the series.
  A surprising read that reminded me not to judge a book by its cover.
• 
  Loretta

  I read rather a lot in this series many years ago. I enjoyed the first first four or five but only continued reading the later books because I'd become attached to a few of the characters and wanted to see what happened to them.
  After a few books, the continual attempts at 'Cockney' chat and 'humour' began to get on my nerves, as did the 'upper class' conversations. It sounded a bit too over-the-top and almost stilted in a weird way. I started becoming irritated by the same old banter (especially when romance was involved) of all but a couple of the main people. In the end, it all grated too much and I stopped reading them. However, this first one was enjoyable as we're the next few and the fact that I did continue to read them for a while does say something positive.
  I still have the first books I bought on my bookshelves but only keep them because I did become attached to the characters. Nevertheless, they whiled away a good few hours when I was very ill and for that, I am grateful.
  By the way, Mary Jane Staples also wrote under the name of Robert Tyler Stevens, which I believe was the author's real name.
• 
  Catherine Yarwood

  I've read nearly all of these books - so I'm reviewing them as one.
  
  The books in question are a large collection of stories about Walworth cockneys spanning the early 1900s to the 1950s, mainly surrounding the Adams family. Mary Jane Staples is actually a pseudonym for a man called Reginald Thomas Staples (1911 - 2005). He lived in Walworth during the times he writes about and a lot of the writing does seem a little rose-tinted. I mean this was Walworth during and between the wars. It can’t have been pretty.
  
  The first couple of book are actually quite good if you like a bit of a light read. The characters start off interesting and complex, the First World War breaks out and there are a fair few 'Moiders’ and other grisly happenings.
  
  However as they progress, the author clearly gave up. He just churns out the same dialogue pattern again and again. Basically something boring will happen and you get to see the entire family all react in different places and in different ways. Helene, who is French, will go 'Ooh la la Bobby, Ma Cherie this is crazy but not as crazy as you’ (I shit you not). Chinese Lady will go 'Oh I don’t know Edwin about all these changes. Would you like a nice pot of tea?’ The list goes on. Honestly, he uses up about two thirds of the books towards the end just going through it. It reminds me of crap sitcoms that just trot out catch phrases and old jokes that were popular in a now-long-ago episode.
  
  The overuse of two-word sentences to end a scene. Because these Adams folk are jolly, lively folk. 'Sammy winked. Suzie smiled. Paula giggled’. 'Boots smiled. Eyes rolled.’ Honestly, it happens constantly. I don’t know if the author was trying to give the impression of stage directions to have the connotation of watching a 'lively’ domestic scene, but it. Didn’t work. It’s lame. Stop it.
  
  The women are pathetic. They only live to serve. They are weird if they don’t get married and have babies. There were a handful of women who started out feisty, purely as a plot device. Polly (the flapper) - she got married off and impregnated. Lulu (the politician) - she was portrayed negatively the whole time she had a political career and supported feminism. She was of course married off and impregnated. Once she had children she calmed down and became a 'proper’ woman (also, for some reason in these books, troublesome women are conveyed through harsh haircuts. When they accept servitude, their hair is suddenly described as longer and softer, and the language because so much more pleasant). Emily, who only has one child (no!) and small boobs (the horror!) wants a career AFTER she is married (crazy bitch). It’s OK though, she gets killed by a bomb. Not a moment too soon.
  
  However, one thing that is consistently good is the way food is described. It makes me hungry a lot. Similar to Mallory Towers books - I end up craving things that are just not in my regular life. Like jam sponges and custard. Or treacle tart. Or winkles. I don’t even know what winkles are.
• 
  Kathy

  Very enjoyable story set in an English village during the war. This is about a family and their neighbors, the ups and downs, laughter and sadness.
  The Adams family are without a father and so Mrs Adams is both. She's learned that sometimes her sons need a box around the ears occasionally and she tries to make them learn to speak properly so that their expectations can rise. Mrs Adams known as Chinese Lady is a real character and so are her children. Boots is the eldest and is determined to be a gentleman, he's language is to be heard, according to his siblings. Another of Chinese Lady's sons, Sammy is a definite money lender as far as his famiy believes. Already loan sharking at 9 years, even lending with interest, to his mother at only 10.
  As well as these entertaining individuals there is also a community mystery taking place after one of the neighbours is found in her bed, murdered.
• 
  Sarah

  I've read this before and enjoyed it, who couldn't love the Adams family. Read it again as a bedtime book so I didn't keep myself awake trying to find out what happens.
• 
  Jeanette Smith

  A good old-fashioned cockney family making the most of the little they have in London 1912.
  
  Another great read!
• 
  Lynn Smith

  An enjoyable read which is at times quite comic but also an informative social history of cockney life and times of an ordinary everyday family.
• 
  Emmy-Lou James

  This is the first book in Mary Jane Staples 'Adams' family series.
  I loved every aspect of the story, from the humour of this beautiful family.
  Robert 'Boots' Adams, the eldest son, his sister Lizzie, Tommie and Sammy the youngest boys, their mum, Chinese Lady and Emily, the girl next door.
  The story is all about their family and their struggles with poverty in the East End of London in pre-WW1 London.
  What was particularly stunning, was the way the family dealt with the trials and tribulations poverty brought with a sense of humour, community and family values.
  Would definitely recommend to anyone who loves books about family, life in the East End, London and the wit centred around Cockney charm.
• 
  Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)

  First in the Adams Family series, and perhaps Staples's first novel. It lacks the spark and banter of the later books in the series, probably because the author chose to use Boots as first-person narrator. I'm not the sort of person that condemns that out of hand but it really doesn't do this book any favours either.
  I did get rather tired of Emily's hero worship of Boots, because Staples can't decide between making her surprisingly well read and perspicacious for a young East End girl or her "you can walk all over me and I'll still come up smiling" gratitude for His High and Mightiness taking the merest notice of her. Erk. I understand the MC was a young man of 16 to 19, but his obsession with breasts (even his mother's and sister's) got old fast.
  3.5 stars.
• 
  Lynn Rickard

  Great story line!
  Loved the cockney slang
  Characters were wonderful!
  Will read next in series , “Our. Emily “
• 
  Margaret

  Charming family story
• 
  Gwen

  Love love love this! The spy thing was a bit much, but I adored the details of daily life and the characters.
• 
  Susie

  Now I'm basing the four stars on my impressions of it when I read it at 14, yet my impressions may be different if I were to reread it now. I'm thinking that perhaps I should give it another go...
• 
  Lesley Draper

  average
• 
  Charlie-Dee

  Enjoyed the read. Will look out for the next book
• 
  Lin

  really easy read
• 
  Angela Arnold

  Good read, have read most of her novels