Mrs Miles Diary

Product Description

At the outbreak of the Second World War Constance Miles was living with her husband in the pretty Surrey village of Shere. A prolific correspondent with a keen interest in current affairs, Constance kept a war journal from 1939 to 1943, recording in vivid detail what life was like for women on the Home Front. She writes of the impact of evacuees, of food shortages & the creative uses of what food there was, & the fears of the local populace, who wonder how they will cope. She tells of refugees from central Europe billeted in village houses &, later in the war, of the influx of American servicemen. She travels frequently to London, mourning the destruction of familiar landmarks & recording the devastation of the Blitz, but still finds time for tea in the Str&. A woman of strong convictions, Mrs Miles is not afraid to voice her opinion on public figures & her worries about the social upheavals she feels certain to follow the war. But most of all her journals record an overlooked aspect of the conflict: the impact on communities outside of major cities, who endured hardships we find hard to imagine today. It is a fascinating document that makes for compulsive reading.