Dearest Ones: A True World War II Love Story [Paperback]

Rosemary Norwalk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0471379468 | ISBN-13: 978-0471379461

"Charming . . . an intimate memory of a time that has gone forever." Rosamunde Pilcher

"An amazing narrative . . . Everything about this account is blazingly authentic. There is no pretense, no false modesty or grandstanding. The gray privations of life in cold, wet wartime England come alive." Washington Post

"A different perspective on the war from those in the thick of battle or those writing on the home front. . . . The author s letters . . . speak of the camaraderie and adventure of it all . . . she paints the everyday details, not the heroics." Dallas Morning News

"A fascinating work of social history, revealing much about British life and American attitudes fifty years ago." Sunday Times (London)

This captivating memoir of a World War II Red Cross volunteer recounts the touching stories of American women and men who served their country abroad. Based on richly detailed and beautifully written letters and journal entries, Rosemary Norwalk tells the unfolding love stories of her and her friends while stationed in England. Deflecting the advances of GIs of every stripe, but caught up in the romantic excitement of the times, they meet and fall in love with their future husbands and make plans for life after the war. With its absorbing narrative of devotion and heroism, Dearest Ones delivers an emotional testament to the endurance of the American spirit and an exquisite tale of love s discovery.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This affecting memoir by a Red Cross volunteer eschews sentimental clichés about World War II. Letters to the author's parents in San Francisco, supplemented by entries from a journal in which she recorded material she feared would disturb either them or the censors, relay Rosemary Norwalk's experiences in England during the war's final year and for a few months in Germany after it ended. The Red Cross "girls" served doughnuts and coffee to soldiers disembarking from or boarding ships to the European front, but the mundane nature of their work didn't prevent sharp observers like Rosemary from grasping how this bitter, global conflict was indelibly marking her generation. The author's youthful prose is no more than serviceable in her letters and at times in the journals even self-conscious, but her insights are impressive. Thumbnail portraits of her Red Cross buddies are vivid and perceptive; her political maturity shows in biting remarks about average Germans' willed blindness to the horrors of the Holocaust--and, much more impressive for a young woman on the winning side, in her acknowledgment that many Americans probably would have done the same. Her romance with the army captain she eventually married was similarly grown-up (he had an estranged wife and a young child), and readers will root for their happy ending. --Wendy Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Norwalk provides a vivid account of her service with the American Red Cross in England and on the continent during and immediately after World War II. Her book consists of her World War II journal, a scattering of period documents, and letters home to her family in California. These varied sources describe both her duties and her fascination with Europe's history and people. Readers of Norwalk's generation will enjoy her story of hard work, service, and falling in love with her G.I. husband. Academic readers will profit from the views of this liberated University of California graduate who moved from retail management to nonprofit management yet still was awed by a Buckingham Palace garden party. Norwalk's writing shows an awareness of racial, ethnic, and social prejudices and a can-do attitude in coping with sexual harassment and the possible dangers of wartime romance. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.?Susan A. Stussy, Kansas City, KS
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (March 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471379468
• ISBN-13: 978-0471379461
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #871,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well-written diary, May 24, 2007

By 

Tess (MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dearest Ones: A True World War II Love Story (Hardcover)

I picked up "Dearest Ones" in a discount store and didn't expect much. There's a certain sameness to the World War II diaries of young women: young woman from small town bucks convention, kisses parents good-bye, and runs off to get liberated. She has some very mild adventures, makes a lot of friends, says "gee golly whiz" a lot, and swans on home at the end of the book. A postscript informs us that she settled down with a man named Bob or Hank or Earl, of whom we heard absolutely nothing in the course of the book except for a few mentions of "letters from So-and-So in the South Pacific," and is living somewhere in the midwest near her three grown children.

Boy, was I surprised, and pleasantly so. Perhaps it helps that Rosemary Langheldt was older, in her mid-twenties, and already a career woman when she applied to join the Red Cross overseas. It also helps that she seems to have been a very curious and thoughtful person. As other reviews have mentioned, she takes notice not only of the glitz and fun of work abroad, but of Britain's sometimes stifling class distinctions, American racial prejudice, and the difficult moral compromises involved in the occupation of Germany. There is also plenty of romance, fun, and gee-golly-whiz adventure, but one never gets the sense that Rosemary lost track of her primary reasons for being in the Red Cross or saw her job as a mere means of adventure. Rather, she was there to work and the adventure happened along the way.

She was keenly interested in other people, making this book a pleasure to read-- it can be incredibly frustrating to read a diary when the only "character" the diarist is able to make three-dimensional is the diarist herself. She had a skill for interacting with people (I get the sense that I would never in a million years have been able to handle her job) and trying to understand them, and that curiosity and interest in humanity permeates the whole book. (I also feel compelled to mention, as a reader, that I really appreciated the narrative cohesiveness of this book. If someone is introduced, then they will be around until a reason for their departure is given. A lot of diaries suffer from people and events appearing, disappearing, reappearing, necessitating either a lot of head-scratching or awkward footnotes. This book doesn't have that problem. Rosemary was a really excellent correspondent.) This is really a stellar example of the genre, probably one of the best I've read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Record of WWII, August 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Dearest Ones: A True World War II Love Story (Paperback)

I came across this book at a local bookstore and thought it was a very touching and well-written account of love during wartime. As the author lived in my area, I was able to meet her and have her sign my copy. I'm so glad I did as she passed away August 22, 2002. What a great keepsake for her family and a wonderful book for the rest of us. So if you've been meaning to write your memoirs, don't put it off! It may not ever be listed on Amazon but it would probably mean a lot to your loved ones.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Side of WWII and the Women who Served, July 18, 2000

By 

Erin O. (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dearest Ones: A True World War II Love Story (Hardcover)

Dearest Ones is a wonderfully touching historical account of WWII and of the untold heroines of the war. This is a must read for all WWII historians, it provides a different account of the war and the untold efforts that went into the war effort. The authors details in her letters home carry the spirit and humor of those who served with the Red Cross overseas.

I have had the pleasure of meeting several of the women who served with American Red Cross overseas. They are truly wonderful women, who continue to serve their country, community, and the Red Cross with the compassion and spirit that Rosemary describes in Dearest Ones. Keeping in mind many of these women are grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, they have more energy, happiness, and effervescence than I do at 22- they are truly irreplaceable and inspiring. Read this book to capture their love, inspiring nature, and the sparkle of their unique lives.