This was a great read. Deborah Cadbury's writing style is fresh and interesting, and she writes about her family without too much hype. I liked it a lot. Definitely recommended. ( )

This book is absolutely wonderful.

The author keeps the story moving swiftly, writes in completely chronological order, and writes very well in general. While the focus IS Cadbury, she doesn't neglect the other major firms. Keep in mind that it's not meant to be a history of chocolate, but a history of innovations, rivalries, and how/why the Quaker businesses faded away.

Some people have complained that this talks about the Quakers and Quakerism too much, but the English chocolate firms and Quakers are inseparable. That's part of what led them into chocolate making and it influenced every part of how they ran their businesses and what they did with the money.

The only thing I disliked in this was that she gave prices in different currencies. It's meaningless to go from pounds to dollars, because I have no idea what the exchange rate was in 1904 or 1947! It makes giving dollar amounts pointless. That's a really minor issue and didn't affect my enjoyment of the book, but that sort of thing just grates on me a bit, because it's so illogical and useless.

I read at least two books every week, most of them non-fiction, and this is one of the best I've read in a long time. I highly recommend it. Also, the audio edition is done really well. ( )

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