Ben Wicks, beloved cartoonist and journalist, grew up in England. He was from one of the poorer districts of London but did much of his growing up in rural England. Wick and thousands of children like him were evacuated from the city just before England formally entered World War II.
No time to wave goodbye is an assemblage of commentary and letters from former evacuees, collected by Wicks from Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and Canada. Some of the correspondents had never told their stories before - not to parents, spouses, descendants, or counsellors. Some were grateful for the evacuation and the way it shaped them as people. Others think it should never have happened. All agreed they would never send their children away.
This was a very difficult time for children, parents, and foster parents and, as a result, the book could have been an emotionally harrowing one to read. Wicks manages to avoid that by filling the text with brief excerpts from many letters. The stories and still poignant and the struggles clear but it's not nearly as overwhelming as an uninterrupted narrative would be. For that I am thankful.
I wanted to know more about the evacuations. I knew there would be both good and bad experiences, but I didn't want to carry the weight of a 70-year-old trauma with me for days afterwards. After all, there was nothing I could do to change it now. This book was exactly the format I was looking for - personal and direct but limited to brief glimpses of the long ordeal.
I'm glad these stories haven't been lost. They don't all have happy endings but some of them do and that's encouraging. It's hard to believe some of what passed as "normal" behaviour then. Unfortunately, I know people haven't changed much since then. That makes me wonder how I would behave under similar pressures. I'm not sure I want to know just yet.
I would recommend this to history buffs, social students, and brave child welfare advocates.
No time to wave goodbye by Ben Wicks. Published in 1988 by Stoddart. ISBN: 0-7737-2215.
Showing posts with label letters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label letters. Show all posts
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society
You must admit, the title alone is intriguing. What is potato peel pie, who would eat it, and what does it have to do with something as pretentious as a literary society? The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society is a novel written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's set up as a collection of letters exchanged in post-war England starting January 1946. Juliet, the central correspondent, is a newly popular published author struggling to start her next book. On the one hand, she doesn't want to disappoint her fans. On the other, she doesn't want to write more of the same.
At the same time, Juliet, like the people around her, is trying to come to terms with life after the war - why is there more rationing now that the war's over? how long until my flat is resurrected from that pile of rubble? why didn't I know what happened in Guernsey? and above all, how can I make up for the lost time?
You can't regain lost time but you can try to make sense of what happened and that's exactly what Juliet intends. A letter from someone who found her name and address in the flyleaf of a book he bought secondhand, starts a whole new set of friendships with island dwellers who were cut off entirely from the mainland during German occupation. These people are hungry for news, both old and new and Juliet is happy to oblige.
I found this to be a wonderful story and a thoroughly enjoyable way to learn a little history. It doesn't take long for the characters to come to life. I learned as much about them through their writing styles as I did through the contents of their letters. Their many stories are varied so the novel doesn't come across as a heavy or hopeless book despite the fact that horrible things are talked about. Hilarious things are talked about too.
I enjoyed the structure of the book. Although I wouldn't want a steady diet of reading other people's correspondence, it's fun when well done and this one is well done. No other text is inserted except for an introductory line before each letter telling you who wrote it - much better than skipping down to the signature for each letter.
Two other books I would recommend in a similar format are Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, and Life on the refrigerator door : notes between a mother and daughter by Alice Kuipers. Don't read the refrigerator door book without a box of tissues handy.
If you like fictionalized history or reading about ordinary people's lives, The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society is a must read. I've seen it in hard cover and audio book. It's published by Dial Press, August 2008. ISBN for the book is 987-0-385-34099-1.
At the same time, Juliet, like the people around her, is trying to come to terms with life after the war - why is there more rationing now that the war's over? how long until my flat is resurrected from that pile of rubble? why didn't I know what happened in Guernsey? and above all, how can I make up for the lost time?
You can't regain lost time but you can try to make sense of what happened and that's exactly what Juliet intends. A letter from someone who found her name and address in the flyleaf of a book he bought secondhand, starts a whole new set of friendships with island dwellers who were cut off entirely from the mainland during German occupation. These people are hungry for news, both old and new and Juliet is happy to oblige.
I found this to be a wonderful story and a thoroughly enjoyable way to learn a little history. It doesn't take long for the characters to come to life. I learned as much about them through their writing styles as I did through the contents of their letters. Their many stories are varied so the novel doesn't come across as a heavy or hopeless book despite the fact that horrible things are talked about. Hilarious things are talked about too.
I enjoyed the structure of the book. Although I wouldn't want a steady diet of reading other people's correspondence, it's fun when well done and this one is well done. No other text is inserted except for an introductory line before each letter telling you who wrote it - much better than skipping down to the signature for each letter.
Two other books I would recommend in a similar format are Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, and Life on the refrigerator door : notes between a mother and daughter by Alice Kuipers. Don't read the refrigerator door book without a box of tissues handy.
If you like fictionalized history or reading about ordinary people's lives, The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society is a must read. I've seen it in hard cover and audio book. It's published by Dial Press, August 2008. ISBN for the book is 987-0-385-34099-1.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
