In Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes, Virginia Nicholson tells the story of women in the 1950s: a time before the Pill, when divorce spelled scandal and two-piece swimsuits caused mass alarm. Turn the page back to the mid-twentieth century, and discover a world peopled by women with radiant smiles, clean pinafores and gleaming coiffures; a promised land of batch-baking, maraschino cherries and brightly hued plastic. A world where the darker side of the decade encompasses rampant prostitution, a notorious murder, and the threat of nuclear disaster.

Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes reconstructs the real 1950s, through the eyes of the women who lived it. Step back in time to where our grandmothers scrubbed their doorsteps, cared for their families, lived, laughed, loved and struggled. This is their story. Praise for Millions Like Us

'[A] rich, entwined narrative, moves in and out of the lives of an absorbing cast of characters...Vividly entertaining, uplifting and humbling' Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

'Nicholson's vivid narrative is set firmly in the context of the time, which can seem so alien today as to be from another planet...Poignant, hilarious and inspiring' Edwina Currie, The Times

'[A] brilliantly readable, often haunting history of the war. Sharply written and intensely moving' Sinclair Mckay, Daily Telegraph