The House in Little Chelsea

This fascinating book imagines the lives of the inhabitants of 53 Finborough Road, in London’s ‘Little Chelsea’, from 1871, when it was built, to the outbreak of the Second World War. The house is still standing (occupied, in fact, by the author), though the world described here has all but vanished. Detailed in the census records and other sources, these very real residents –ranging from bodice-makers, by way of booksellers (and a bigamist), to a glamorous, though unemployed, Irish barrister – are all now long gone, but their footsteps are etched into the floorboards at Finborough Road and their hopes, frustrations and joys are locked forever into the history of the house. Clare Hastings brings to life the story of this rather ordinary London house and the people who lived there in a vivid blend of social history and fiction. The House in Little Chelsea combines humour, warmth and compelling storytelling and is perhaps reminiscent of George and Weedon Grossmith’s Diary of a Nobody.

Clare Hastings is the daughter of Anne Scott James, the step-daughter of Osbert Lancaster, and the sister of historian Max Hasting. She started her career in the fashion department of Harpers & Queen magazine, before leaving to work freelance as a stylist and later as a costume designer. Thirty years later, Clare changed direction to work freelance alongside her daughter, Calypso, in The Indytute.