SOURCE: A review of Rich Desserts and Captain's Thin: A Family and Their Times, 1831–1931, in Business History, Vol. 41, January, 1999, pp. 123–24.

In the following mixed review, Corley suggests that Rich Desserts and Captain's Thin would have benefited from more of a business history perspective.

Many gaps remain in the ranks of full-length business histories, and one of especial value would be a history of United Biscuits (UB): from 1948 onwards the leadership of Hector (now Lord) Laing tamed this combine into one of the country's major forward-looking enterprises.

Among the units in UB, which to the author's surprise is still allowed to operate in remote Cumbria, is Carr & Co., a biscuit-making company which forms the subject of Margaret Forster's book entitled Rich Desserts and Captain's Thin. An attractively written and produced work by someone brought up in Carlisle, it is primarily aimed at those interested in local and family history...