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Mrs.P's Journey: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Created the A-Z Map
 
 
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Mrs.P's Journey: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Created the A-Z Map (Paperback)

by Sarah Hartley (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with A. to Z. Maps: The Personal Story - From Bedsitter to Household Name by Phyllis Pearsall

Mrs.P's Journey: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Created the A-Z Map + A. to Z. Maps: The Personal Story - From Bedsitter to Household Name
Price For Both: £13.92

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Product Description

Product Description

Disproving the theory that women can't read maps, this is the story of Phyllis Pearsall, the eccentric British artist who single-handedly mapped London's A-Z and created a publishing phenomenon. Born Phyllis Isobella Gross, her lifelong nickname was PIG. The artist daughter of a flamboyant Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and an Irish Italian mother, her bizarre and often traumatic childhood did not restrain her from becoming one of Britain's most intriguing entrepreneurs and self-made millionaires. After an unsatisfactory marriage, Phyllis, a 30-year-old divorcee, had to support herself and so became a portrait painter. It is doing this job and trying to find her patron's houses that Phyllis became increasingly frustrated at the lack of proper maps of London. Instead of just cursing the fact as many fellow Londoners probably did, Phyllis decided to do something about it. Without hesitation she covered London's 23,000 streets on foot during the course of one year, often leaving her Horseferry Road bedsit at dawn to do so. To publish the map, and in light of its enormous success, she set up her own company, The Geographer's Trust, which still publishes the London A-Z and that of every major British city.


About the Author

Sarah Hartley is commissioning editor at the Daily Mail. Prior to that she worked on Tatler, Frank and most recently the Times. This is her first book.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
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 (2)
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 (1)
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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, 2 Aug 2002
By A Customer
What attracted me to this book was the prospect of reading about the development of the A-Z map. Maybe I didn't read between the lines of the front cover properly. Anyway, I didn't really expect to spend quite so long reading about Mrs P's parents. It is not until page 204 that Mrs P decides to write the A-Z, and when it happens there is not enough detail. I admit that Mrs P's early life is interesting but I found the emphasis rather poorly balanced considering the book's main selling point. It is also written in a rather confusing manner. Has Sarah Hartley not heard of chronological order? While it moves froward in time in a general manner the narrative constantly flits backwards and forwards a few years, often leaving one confused as to what exactly has happened. Massive potential here in the subject but could have been executed better.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing account of this remarkable woman's life., 12 Dec 2001
By A Customer
Right from the beginning of this book I was absorbed into the chaos of Phyllis Pearsall's family. Both she and her father were inveterate liars and throughout the book the reader is invited to make choices between different versions of the same incidents. This contributes to a somewhat haphazard account, but at the same time emphasises the difficulties which this extraordinary family encountered and overcame. Alongside the family dramas and romances there runs an informative account of the history and development of cartography, and a real insight into society life as seen by people 'on the fringe'.We get to know Phyllis as a daughter, sister, friend, wife and business woman - but above all we get to know her as an artist.I found her singlemindedness, determination and philosophical acceptance of set-backs quite inspiring. A satisfying and amusing read.
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16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Mrs P did not create London's first A to Z atlas., 27 Jun 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Mrs.P's Journey: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Created the A-Z Map (Hardcover)
...

Phyllis Pearsall did not produce London's first A to Z. She produced the first atlas of London to be called an A to Z. Slightly different.

She did not tramp the streets mapping every road in London. This task had already been done by several others, including Bartholomews and Philip. She added some street numbers - very useful, but not quite as sensational.

Curiously, in her autobiography, 'From Bedsitter to Household Name', Pearsall steers clear of claiming to have produced the first London pocket atlas. In fact, she even alludes to the 'competition'. Perhaps she was bothered about law-suits which might have followed such a claim.

Anyway, Ms Hartley has, in a strange version of Chinese Whispers, taken Pearsall's odd, badly written autobiography, uncritically believed everything it claimed, added some points which it DIDN'T claim, and on such poor foundations has built a very wobbly building.

Once you accept that Pearsall did not produce London's first A to Z, then the whole house of (index) cards comes tumbling down...

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Mrs P's Journey
Mrs P's Journey is the true story of how Mrs P, a courageous tenacious lady set about charting and mapping in detail geographical districts of London, giving birth to what we now... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. S. M. Elkington

1.0 out of 5 stars Completely misses the point
I was very disappointed with this book. Clearly Ms Hartley fell in love with Mrs Pearsall's dysfunctional (but not actually very interesting) parents and spends most of the book... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Y. Abidi

2.0 out of 5 stars confusing
This is an unusual book, in as much as the author seems more interested in writing an emotional story of a stressful childhood and eventual triumph rather than an biography. Read more
Published 14 months ago by michelle ann

1.0 out of 5 stars If I could give it half a star I would be happier,
This is an object lesson in how to make a potentially interesting subject very dull indeed. The author rambles with no thought for chronology and has created a very convoluted... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Babs

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing little book
I don't often read biographies, precisely because I find the need to back every point up with dates, places and name dropping gets in the way of the characters. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2007 by Jaybird

2.0 out of 5 stars How NOT to write a biography
This is an extraordinarily badly-written book, doing the subject no favours at all. There are countless factual and chronological errors (such as having a hospital full of war... Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2005 by R. L. Smith

1.0 out of 5 stars Interesting subject, poorly written
While I was intrigued by the life Ms. Pearsall seemingly led, the writing of this 'biography' really lets her down. Ms. Read more
Published on 28 April 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing how little feet took one so far.
... Read this book. You will not be disappointed... an excellent tale. Historical accuracy (if, Miss Hartley has not represented fact correctly) is, quite frankly, irrelevant in... Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Quirky, original and absorbing
I picked this book up expecting it to be a dry biography, but instead found a charming, romantic, and intriguing story. I found it both inspirational and poignant. Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey Worth Taking!
I'm not normally a huge fan of biographies but I have just read Sarah Hartley's Mrs P's Journey and have to admit that I was forced to change my mind. Read more
Published on 12 May 2001

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