Customer Reviews

Children Of War

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British novelist, Susan Goldman,has researched and written an extraordinary oral history of young children growing up during WW II throughout England. In her book, she explores a number of dislocating and unsettling experiences that many of her subjects endured throughout this tumultuous time in modern English history. While this period of war on the home front is usually seen through the eyes of adults and parents, Goodman, perhaps influenced by some of her childhood memories, taps the often neglected recollections of her generation to offer a fresh perspective on what it means to grow up under the shadow of a world war. The reader is treated to a number of fascinating social phenomena that emerged from this time, some of which can only be cast as typically British. There were the Kindertransports involving Churchill's orders to move hundreds of thousands of children from the cities to the countryside during the blitzes; the introduction of wholesale food rationing and the learning to eat awful concoctions like whale-meat sausages; women stepping into fill the role of men while they fought overseas; the ritual of preparing for the ever-constant threat of bombing raids; and the many games children played to pass the time while waiting for the war to end. What makes Goodman's work so memorable is that its many stories are the personal reflections of children who were traumatically affected by this prolonged and devastating conflict. Their accounts of being separated from parents, living daily with the sounds of bombs exploding in their neighbourhood, and contending with life-altering demands of a war regimen make for both an heroic and harrowing tale. Goldman does a wonderful job in capturing that combination of human vulnerability and adaptation that make children a very unique breed of humans during times of great social upheaval. This book is definite a must read for those who want to get a taste of what it was like to grow up in the middle of a war under a different moral compass.

As a child who grew up in this time and in this place, outer London, this book is truly a gift. Just the language and the turns of phrase, no longer used, bring back the flavour of my childhood. I had forgotten so much and buried so many memories that I found I wanted now, in my old-age to re-visit.
A book to treasure and to give to my children.

Hi the book was great the shipping was fast and I am very pleased with my purchase.