THE BISCUIT GIRLS by Hunter Davies, £6.99

PROLIFIC author Hunter Davies is perhaps most famous for penning the first biography of The Beatles. In this no less entertaining book, he tells the story of a band of women who worked at Carr’s biscuit factory in Carlisle.

Although seen by many as a lowly, uninspiring occupation, working at Carr’s was nonetheless classed as a ‘good job’ among those who left school without qualifications.

Ivy, Dulcie, Barbara, Ann, Dorothy and Jean – known locally as ‘cracker packers’ – followed in the footsteps of one of the factory’s most notable employees, Ethel Bragg, the mother of the writer and broadcaster Lord Bragg of Wigton, who worked there in the early 1930s.

The six women Davies featured in his book might have all joined Carr’s for different reasons but they had one reason in common for staying – a sense of camaraderie.