A splendid evocation of the biscuit manufacturing Carr clan of Carlisle. Hard work, thrift and uplift were the messages and, in relating the story of God-fearing enterprise, Forster manages to illuminate a great deal of bygone social history.

Rich Desserts and Captain's Thin are biscuits. The book's subtitle: 'A family and their times, 1831-1931', reveals that the subject matter is people making biscuits, more than the biscuits themselves. This social history describes the founding of the Carr's biscuit factory in Carlisle by Quaker entrepreneur J D Carr, and follows the fortunes of this family business through a hundred years of change.

I found this a fascinating story. The author also writes novels, and knows how to tell a good story. Particularly interesting was her charting of the changing ethos underpinning the business - the strict but practical Quaker values which informed the benevolent paternalism of the founder giving way in subsequent generations to greater emphasis on profit. It is also the story of how any enterprise manages after the death of a strong and capable founding figure (J D Carr dies half way through the book), and how a family business survives when not all members of the family are equally interested in or capable of running the business.

Carr's were eventually taken over by United Biscuits, though the factory is still known locally as Carr's, and the brand name survives in Carr's Table Water biscuits/crackers, a descendent of the Captain's Thin, themselves descended from the original ships biscuits which were the staple of sailors. Next time I have a water biscuit with my cheese, I shall remember the story of the Carr family. ( )