Jennifer Purcell

This is a delightful book which tells the story of the women who kept the 'home fires burning' in their own words. Jennifer Purcell has chosen six very disparate women who contributed to the Mass Observation Archive during the second world war. I had heard of one of them, Nella Last, because of the Victoria Wood television programme, so it was doubly fascinating to hear from other women with different priorities. It is also fascinating on another level, that of the place of women in the 1940's. During the war women started to go out to work, either paid or voluntary, but were still expected to have a meal on the table (having queued for the scarce provisions) and keep the house clean, laundry done, children cared for, while the man of the house came home from his days work and sat down expecting to be waited on. It was also their job to make slender wages go a very long way. The author has done a very good job of bringing these women to life. Any student of the second world war would find the book not only interesting, but useful.… (plus d'informations)