# Good books about domestic life in Britain during & after WWII? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696 "2006-10-16T22:46:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/1 "2006-10-16T22:46:33Z")
I’m becoming very interested in the domestic aspects of life in Britain during and after WWII–particularly in the ration system and in the evacuation of children to the countryside, but just because those are the two issues I have heard the most about. Can anyone recommend some good \*non-fiction \* books on this subject? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/2 "2006-10-19T05:43:13Z")
Bump. I’m kind of interested myself. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/3 "2006-10-19T06:45:45Z")
For one aspect of British life at that time I highly recommend [An Underworld at War: Spivs, Deserters, Racketeers and Civilians in the Second World War](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Underworld-War-Deserters-Racketeers-Civilians/dp/product-description/0719563402) . ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/4 "2006-10-19T08:00:59Z")
I can recommend [Our Hidden Lives,](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Hidden-Lives-Everyday-Forgotten/dp/0091896959) a book compiled from the diaries that four ordinary people kept for the Mass Observation Project. I see from that link that the author has other books on the same lines. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/5 "2006-10-19T09:16:36Z")
Anything by Juliet Gardiner. Well, not quite, as she’s written on other subjects as well, but she’s the big name in the field, well-regarded by professional historians but who nevertheless writes for a wider audience. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/6 "2006-10-19T09:44:07Z")
I take my pupils on an annual school trip which includes visiting a WW2 museum. Obviously I don’t have anything like the wealth of information in a well researched book, but the exhibits included Andersen shelters built in gardens to use during bombing raids. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/c54690/index.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/c54690/index.shtml) (N.B. the BBC has a section devoted to people’s memories - undoubtedly a reliable source) Once the class had an impromptu chat with a couple of elderly lady pensioners. During the war, they worked in an ammunition factory, checking for quality. The food was very basic and they had to use some ingenuity as even basic ingredients were in short supply. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/7 "2006-10-19T12:39:02Z")
Seconding **aldiboronti** ’s recommendation of _An Underworld at War_, which I think is an excellent read, and adding [this](http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-War-1939-1945-Philip-Ziegler/dp/071269871X/sr=1-22/qid=1161261337/ref=sr_1_22/202-4528095-9967862?ie=UTF8&s=books) one. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/8 "2006-10-19T13:53:39Z")
I know the OP asked for non-fiction, but… my MIL read “Land Girls” by Angela Huth and really liked it; it’s about a novel about city girls who were sent out into the countryside to do agricultural work while the farmers went to war. PBS’s “The 1940 House” is an interesting look at domestic life in the UK, with a modern British family trying to live as a family would in the early years of World War II. John Boorman had a pretty good movie about his childhood during the Blitz - “Hope and Glory,” IIRC? And PBS’s “Foyle’s War” series is an interesting look at life on the homefront, as seen through the eyes of a world-weary police detective in Hastings; his son is an RAF pilot. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/9 "2006-10-19T14:01:49Z")
More fiction: _The Machine Gunners_, a children’s book, and _Small Island_, which is a superb novel about the interaction between whites and Jamaican servicemen in the UK during the war, with lots of well-researched domestic detail. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/10 "2006-10-19T16:20:51Z")
[the 1940’s House](http://www.amazon.co.uk/1940s-House-Juliet-Gardiner/dp/0752272535) based on the TV series. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/11 "2006-10-19T16:26:53Z")
Some part of my brain is telling me that our very own Eve wrote a book about Britian during WWII. You might want to ask her. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/12 "2006-10-19T16:28:59Z")
[My East End](http://www.amazon.com/My-East-End-Gilda-ONeill/dp/0140259503/sr=1-1/qid=1161274902/ref=sr_1_1/002-7687676-7796844?ie=UTF8&s=books) is a good read. Obviously it’s really a history of the East End, but there’s quite a lot about WWII and the evacuations, and it does concentrate on domestic life. Very enjoyable! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/13 "2006-10-19T16:34:01Z")
Oh, here’s a long shot: a children’s novel. _Dawn of fear_, by Susan Cooper, is about a little boy during the war; there’s lots of domestic detail, and the story is really autobiographical–the author just changed herself into a boy and wrote down her own memories. Just in case… ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/14 "2006-10-19T16:54:33Z")
If you’re open to fiction, check out [Good Night, Mr. Tom](http://www.amazon.com/Good-Night-Tom-Michelle-Magorian/dp/006440174X), by Michelle Magorian. It’s about an 11-year-old boy evacuated to the English countryside on the eve of WWII. Wonderful and touching story. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/15 "2006-10-19T18:02:56Z")
Oh, snap. I just saw that you’d specified non-fiction. Still, for others reading this thread, it’s a damn fine book I recommended! ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/16 "2007-07-02T23:40:31Z")
Wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/17 "2007-07-03T02:56:10Z")
Keeping in mind the family is _out to lunch_, Mary Lovell’s biography of the Mitford sisters covers a large stretch of time, and pays a lot of attention to the war years and just after. I think the most bizarre thing about the Mitford bunch is that their experiences were a blend of typical things that happened to many folks during the war years, as well as stuff that is stranger than fiction. Someone recently recommended _Nella Last’s War_ which is another of the published diaries that came out of the Mass Observation Project that **WotNot** mentioned, although I haven’t read it yet myself. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/18 "2007-07-03T06:25:54Z")
[QUOTE=delphica] Keeping in mind the family is _out to lunch_, Mary Lovell’s biography of the Mitford sisters covers a large stretch of time, and pays a lot of attention to the war years and just after. I think the most bizarre thing about the Mitford bunch is that their experiences were a blend of typical things that happened to many folks during the war years, as well as stuff that is stranger than fiction. Someone recently recommended _Nella Last’s War_ which is another of the published diaries that came out of the Mass Observation Project that **WotNot** mentioned, although I haven’t read it yet myself. [/QUOTE] _Nella Last’s War_ has just been made into a very successful TV Drama. Look out for that, if you haven’t seen it already. It goes under the title [Housewife 49](http://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/people/celebrities/Housewife49.asp) ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/19 "2007-07-03T07:31:16Z")
Oooooooh…this is driving me crazy. 'Cause I can’t remember the name. But they’re a very interesting book (acually a couple) about the deportation of English kids out of England to keep them out from under the bombs. Some of them came here. My sort of FIL came here. (New England). That’s why my SO came here 40 years later. Anyway I got my sort of FIL the book for xmas. Google it. it’s an interesting story. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696/20 "2007-07-03T14:16:52Z")
Persephone Books has a great catalog full of awesome books that they love, and a lot of them are from that time period from a female perspective and have tons of domestic stuff in them. There are some diaries as well. [www.persephonebooks.co.uk](http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-books-about-domestic-life-in-britain-during-after-wwii/376696.md?page=2)