Dorothy Whipple was acutely aware of forms of petty snobbery which could prevent young women from enjoying fulfilling working lives. At the insistence of the powerful Mr Lockwood, Molly Hunter spends five unhappy years as a governess, becoming 'spiritless, ailing and defeated'. Then, encouraged and helped by the dynamic but socially inferior Oliver Reade, she escapes: she takes a Diploma in baking - her true métier - and finds success running The Bun Shop. Nevertheless, her mother continues to ask herself, 'in the strictest secrecy, [what] could be expected socially from a shop?' (Photos: Hindleys of Lichfield in the 1920s.)