tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post6605718647012153264..comments2024-03-28T09:33:29.705+00:00Comments on Clothes In Books: Thursday List: Books About the WW2 HomefrontClothes In Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-76232735181238021872017-05-07T22:25:23.983+01:002017-05-07T22:25:23.983+01:00I love almost any book about the homefront, and as...I love almost any book about the homefront, and as you say, the subject of evacuees specifically is particularly fascinating. Such strange stories, such a strange thing to do. My mother was evacuated, but to family in Ireland, and she says she still can't understand how people sent their children away to strangers. <br />Do read the Lissa Evans, and see the film!Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-91363990688311080922017-05-07T12:27:08.854+01:002017-05-07T12:27:08.854+01:00Two years behind here, but enjoying this list. Wil...Two years behind here, but enjoying this list. Will be looking up several of these now as it is a subject that interests me. The Mary Wesley novels are a particular weakness of mine. One I've meant to look for is an evacuee novel by Lynne Reid Banks (Uprooted). She was sent to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where she attended high school with my uncle. Also on the subject of children sent to Canada is The Guests of War trilogy by Kit Pearson. I did make a serious study of the evacuees at one point and wrote an unproduced screenplay about children from Glasgow sent out to the countryside. My favourites listed above would have to be the Bowen, the Waters, and the Atkinson. I do have that Persephone edition of the Vera Hodgson but have only dipped into into it. And I keep meaning to get the Lissa Evans to read before the film...thanks for this reminder!Sara O'Learyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12072523590967285445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-14355343912547205232015-05-22T14:14:10.575+01:002015-05-22T14:14:10.575+01:00Yes Mrs Miniver is a killer. And the post-war peri...Yes Mrs Miniver is a killer. And the post-war period always sounds fairly grim in terms of rationing - miserable food regulations lasted longer in the UK than anywhere else (including Germany) I believe. I'm glad to hear you didn't starve!Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-47195851060260730372015-05-22T12:34:39.184+01:002015-05-22T12:34:39.184+01:00I never fail to cry during Mrs Miniver, I hope tha...I never fail to cry during Mrs Miniver, I hope that is acceptable for a bearded old man. I read Green For Danger many years ago and want to read it again. Things were not much different for the UK population in the post war years with rationing lasting till about 1953. <br />I don't remember the war years I was a baby, but from my photos I can tell that we were not starved by the U - Boat campaign. Uriah Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02046023583067265187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-64795748325776234712015-05-16T10:36:41.787+01:002015-05-16T10:36:41.787+01:00I read the Dunning book - because I worked in radi...I read the Dunning book - because I worked in radio for a long time I always like books about it, and read it for that reason. I had high hopes of h is Bookseller series, but, like you, didn't really take to them. When I get going on Rex Stout I will look out for wartime ones!Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-16639718839440750272015-05-15T22:18:14.469+01:002015-05-15T22:18:14.469+01:00I don't do well trying to remember books, but ...I don't do well trying to remember books, but there are a few. John Dunning wrote Two O'Clock, Eastern Wartime, set in 1942 and at a radio station. Dunning is a historian of the early days of radio, so that background is very interesting and well done. Unfortunately I did not like his style of writing in this book or the other one I read by him. If I still had my copy I would send it to you, I think you might like it.<br /><br />Rex Stout wrote three Nero Wolfe novellas (published in two different books) set during World War II, all of which I enjoyed a lot. No surprise there. I don't think any of the novels were set during the war because he was involved (as a civilian) in the war effort and did not publish much.TracyKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303342674824383688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-4514493714777420102015-05-15T11:19:42.794+01:002015-05-15T11:19:42.794+01:00I know exactly what you mean about Nella Last, it ...I know exactly what you mean about Nella Last, it is such a lovely book, but it IS sad, and you can't help wondering what life she would have led in other circumstances. Sword of Honour I find admirable rather than lovable, but I do love Anthony Powell. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-25623985410846385982015-05-15T11:05:49.047+01:002015-05-15T11:05:49.047+01:00Love so many of these. I adore the Dennys ones, es...Love so many of these. I adore the Dennys ones, especially and have lost count of how many times I have read Nella's. Even had to replace a copy that had become too tattered to read properly! Even though they always make me feel rather sad.<br />I have never read D L S, always meant to but somehow never got around to it. Must remedy that forthwith.<br />I'm on the last of the Sword of Honour trilogy at the moment, and about to start Anthony Powell's Dance to The Music of Time.LollyWilloweshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05616800459266149659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-67199091391467532642015-05-11T18:26:58.510+01:002015-05-11T18:26:58.510+01:00Thanks Luisa for some great additions to the list....Thanks Luisa for some great additions to the list. I should have had the Kate Atkinson on all along. I'd not heard of Helen Humphreys, she sounds reaslly interested, I am off to look her up. Thanks for the extra info on films too - fascinating about Miniver being constantly updated, didn't know that. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-88494457998023158302015-05-11T17:19:10.780+01:002015-05-11T17:19:10.780+01:00Great lists! Have read five of those here and see...Great lists! Have read five of those here and seen the film version of Green is for Danger. Also recommend Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, as the WWII section is shattering, The main character Ursula, goes through the Blitz in horrifying fashion, at one point working in Civil Defence and facing the gruesome after effects of the bombings. Brilliant stuff beautifully written. Another recommendation is the too little known Canadian author Helen Humphreys, whose The Last Garden is about a land girl in Devon, but the Blitz is covered. Humphreys's less successful Coventry has strong sections about the cathedral's destruction.<br /><br />As for films, the shocking Went the Day Well? is a fictional account of what the home front might have faced and remains staggering. Great to see some love for Mrs Miniver, an iconic film of the genre. It went into preproduction just as after the Blitz got going and that as well as the real fear England would be invaded continually disrupted the screen writing. The original stories were all set prior to the war, which also affected the writers (about six in total contributed). Although with Barbarossa in June 1941, invasion fear receded, the Miniver script was continually tweaked to remain "fresh" and realistic (given the time and being made in Hollywood before Pearl Harbor) until shooting began in Nov 1941. It still packs a punch.ClscFlmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12083642868811453497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-54830464049799278232015-05-11T10:52:32.041+01:002015-05-11T10:52:32.041+01:00Oh yes, Noah, thanks - she did didn't she? I t...Oh yes, Noah, thanks - she did didn't she? I think I read them at some point of Sayers completism many many years ago, but can't remember where. And yes I agree about the JPW book... so disappointing. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-44684213887891679982015-05-10T22:50:19.615+01:002015-05-10T22:50:19.615+01:00Dorothy L. Sayers wrote ... hmm, I'm not certa...Dorothy L. Sayers wrote ... hmm, I'm not certain if it was letters or newspaper columns or what, outlining how the Wimsey family dealt with wartime restrictions, etc. They were never published in book form, to my knowledge. And as I remember, Jill Paton Walsh used them as the basis for a (dreary) Wimsey novel, A Presumption of Death. There is quite a bit, as I recall, about the fine points of rationing and food shortages. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-53980886051530586612015-05-10T22:02:56.928+01:002015-05-10T22:02:56.928+01:00Indeed it must have been dreadful. Nowadays people...Indeed it must have been dreadful. Nowadays people would at least worry about the psychological after-effects of these situations, but I don't think that happened then...Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-87393633606336063042015-05-10T04:28:54.084+01:002015-05-10T04:28:54.084+01:00My friend had lost her mother, so it was her fathe...My friend had lost her mother, so it was her father and two siblings who went to England. Being separated from her father who stayed in London, and then being excluded from the resident family's togetherness may have been too hard on her.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-84476699695456065782015-05-08T13:19:44.260+01:002015-05-08T13:19:44.260+01:00Mrs Miniver was an iconic movie I think, and Greer...Mrs Miniver was an iconic movie I think, and Greer Garson was a terrific actress. Films set at that time really is a good subject.<br />Evacuees, and families billeted on others, had very very varying experiences, which I suppose makes them good for fiction. Some people established lifelong bonds with their host families - this happened to one of my mother's best friends, and I've heard it about others. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-79777260957410760982015-05-08T13:02:06.870+01:002015-05-08T13:02:06.870+01:00Of the titles above, I only read Night Watch by Sa...Of the titles above, I only read Night Watch by Sarah Waters.<br /><br />But I sure saw films set in England at the start of and during WWII. So many. But a real favorite of mine, and I join millions in saying this, I'm sure, was Mrs. Miniver.<br />I thought Greer Garson was the most incredible woman hero of that war. (Since I've accepted she was a fictional hero, though many women had to cope with what she did, I've moved on to look at real heroes.) But I then saw every movie she was in.<br /><br />I have a friend in her 80s who lived in England during the war, her Jewish familh having fled Poland and landed there. During the blitz, she and her siblings were sent to live on a farm in the countryside. They weren't treated like family members and had to eat in the kitchen, not in the dining room with the family. This is what I've heard.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-55809669714348936022015-05-08T12:51:06.866+01:002015-05-08T12:51:06.866+01:00Our lists are just skimming the surface - it's...Our lists are just skimming the surface - it's so interesting that so many people have come up with favourites. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-72021470477797068402015-05-08T12:50:38.564+01:002015-05-08T12:50:38.564+01:00Oh that sounds good, I must read it. Oh that sounds good, I must read it. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-26190549749149583752015-05-08T12:50:25.377+01:002015-05-08T12:50:25.377+01:00That's the Irish connection - she's a real...That's the Irish connection - she's a really Anglo-Irish author. You'd think there must be some nourish wartime books, but I can't think of any!Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-32579493352902774592015-05-08T12:49:31.271+01:002015-05-08T12:49:31.271+01:00As I was saying to Margot above, if you think of a...As I was saying to Margot above, if you think of any US homefront books you must tell me about them. I really like the John Lawton books, but haven't read one for ages. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-18739278314332630532015-05-08T12:48:39.001+01:002015-05-08T12:48:39.001+01:00Haven't read any Sansom, nor that Green, nor t...Haven't read any Sansom, nor that Green, nor the Agate - though I recently read a novel by Anthony Quinn with a character plainly based on Agate! The Waugh brings back Basil Seal doesn't it? And the Hamilton is very good. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-75422845319471488022015-05-08T12:45:19.551+01:002015-05-08T12:45:19.551+01:00I've read something by Mollie P-B but not the ...I've read something by Mollie P-B but not the stories, and will note that and the Vere Hodgson - have I seen that on the Persephone list?Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-42313095912925513782015-05-08T12:43:50.972+01:002015-05-08T12:43:50.972+01:00Films is a great idea - Mrs Miniver. I was going t...Films is a great idea - Mrs Miniver. I was going to say This Happy Breed, but I think that ends before the war. So what is the Cecil Parker? Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-50828859210331991832015-05-08T11:12:43.384+01:002015-05-08T11:12:43.384+01:00Moira, this is a fine list of WW2 novels set on th...Moira, this is a fine list of WW2 novels set on the British homefront. Not all of the authors are familiar but their stories sound really good.Prashant C. Trikannadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079354501998741758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-68855241346887506802015-05-08T09:32:39.943+01:002015-05-08T09:32:39.943+01:00Sorry, it was Virginia Nicholson - and the book wa...Sorry, it was Virginia Nicholson - and the book was specifically about women's lives on the Home Front.Christinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16510409974009816550noreply@blogger.com