Mollie Panter-Downes

London War Notes, 1939-1945

Lisa Miller

This is the book I had been looking for but didn't know existed. A series of letters from London about the war as experienced by the common man/woman sent once a fortnight to the New Yorker to be published. For six years Britain was at war with Germany and for a good portion of that feared imminent invasion. These letters were written without the benefit of hindsight and is packed full of delightful details that isn't important now or forgotten. It is more admirable, for all that it's toned down comparative to today's storytelling/myth-building, as you get a real sense of the weariness as the war ground on endlessly and and the building horror as destruction and death was met more and more casually as it got more familiar. This was an epoch that totally changed the culture of Britain and you can see it in these pages.

London War Notes, 1939-1945

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