In this volume Peter Farrer gives readers another extensive selection of newspaper correspondence concerning petticoating, over the five years 1916 - 1920. The selection of reprinted letters covers 234 closely printed pages, and there is an Introduction, Notes, and two indexes.

The book cannot be recommended highly enough. There is enough material here as you would read in 'Petticoat Discipline Monthly' over two years. The headings to the letters include, 'Domestic Discipline', 'Corsets for Men', Another Boy-Girl', 'Short Skirts and Kilts for Boys', 'Husband Taming', 'Making a Pretty Boy', 'Treated Like a Child', 'Cap and Apron Punishment', 'Petticoated by Force', 'The Servant Problem Solved' (my favourite heading)...and so on, for 286 letters.

The index which classifies the letters under different headings has categories which include, Dominant Wife Compels, Boys Dressed as Girls, Boys in Pinafores, Should Boys Wear Petticoats under Kilt? and so on.

Letter 183 reads, '...it was as an unruly boy of twelve some nine years ago that I made my first acquaintance with petticoat punishment...my sisters, who brought me up, and I am afraid found me a handful, saw in ['Photo Bits'] some articles advocating petticoat training for recalcitrant boys.

'And one day, to my dismay, I found a complete and elaborate outfit of girl's clothes awaiting me. In vain I protested and struggled fruitlessly; in a very short time I was swathed in the befrilled white underclothes of a girl, laced up in corsets, petticoated, and fastened up in a frock'.

As with his other books, Peter does not just reprint letters. There is a well-researched introductory essay, and notes after the letters section. As a bonus which the reader will surely enjoy, there are reproductions of some illustrations of absolutely beautiful ladies' and girls' frocks and unmentionables, originally published in 'The Girl's Own Annual'.

Anybody interested in the history of petticoat discipline correspondence (and if you are not, then you have certainly come to the wrong web site) will be enthralled by such a meticulous and thorough examination of this perenially fascinating subject. You can obtain the book via Peter's website. Its cost is fifteen pounds, and that will be money well spent, even for Scotch readers.

A word of warning to those male readers who are a little frightened by the thought of petticoat training in the home: it might be best to keep this book well away from the eyes of your wife. For my lady readers who are already practising it, definitely purchase the book - it will give you more good ideas than you ever thought possible.
Susan MacDonald