The Abbey Girls Win Through by Elsie J. Oxenham (Collins, 1949)

I found this book for girls at a church fundraiser last weekend:

 

First published in 1923, this edition dates to 1949.  It must have been someone's prized possession, because unlike most children's books more than sixty years old it still retains its dust jacket!  Opening it up, my eyes fell on this passage:

Norah and Connie were different.  They were a recognised couple.  Con, who sold gloves in a big West-End establishment, was the wife and homemaker; Norah, the typist, was the husband, who planned little pleasure trips and kept the accounts and took Con to the pictures.

Well, OK.  It was a more innocent age!

(I'm told that because of the shortage of men after World War I, many women banded together for mutual support.  However Norah and Connie are referred to as "husband" and "wife" throughout the book, which is a bit ... disconcerting to a modern person, especially when you consider the intended audience for The Abbey Girls Win Through.)