Good manners are simply codified kindness

and being in possession of them enhances the quality of your everyday life and that of the people around you. At home and abroad, Debora and Kay have done the fieldwork, made the mistakes, and committed enough embarrassing faux pas for two lifetimes, in the hope that you don’t have to.

Illustrations by Denise Dorrance

Good manners aren''t about cutlery, codes or cleverness – they''re about kindness.

Writers Kay Plunkett-Hogge and Debora Robertson have honed their combined social wisdom into a warm, witty, how-to guide on how to live modern life with manners – and have a lot of fun along the way.

Debora and Kay have done the fieldwork, made the mistakes, and committed enough embarrassing faux pas for two lifetimes, in the hope that you don’t have to! Their funny, frank handbook is your cheat sheet to every social situation, your right-hand man(ual) to styling out life with sass and a modicum of grace.

Their tried-and-tested guidelines are divided into five main categories:

At Home

family life; sharing is caring; entertaining at home; dinner; welcome to the neighbourhood

At Large

work; public spaces; public transport and petiquette – pets in public

At Play

social life; eating out, staying away; dating in the modern world

@ Your Computer

digital decorum; phones

At the End

dealing with illness and death

Good manners are not about knowing what to wear for drinks at six, being pretentious or catching people out with some mysterious salad-fork-related regulation. In essence, good manners are simply organised kindness, and Kay and Debora will show you how being in possession of them will enhance the quality of your everyday life and that of the people around you.