Mrs Milburn's Diaries - An Englishwoman's Day-to-Day Reflections 1939-1945

WW2 was the first real `People's War' in our history. Yet, for the most part that war has been recorded by generals and politicians. But what of the ordinary English housewife who had to bear the brunt of rationing, billeting, civilian war work and the rest, all under the menace of air attack and with the added anxiety concerning the fate of a son or husband in enemy territory. Clara Milburn was a woman of her time and class. Like most people she was saddened by the destruction and futility of war, and all the suffering it entailed. At the outbreak, she showed compassion for friend and foe alike, but this tolerance faded as the years went by. With the capture of her son at Dunkirk, the Diaries reflect a hardening of attitude to a world which seemed to have gone insane. These Diaries convey the special atmosphere of the war; the tedium and the excitement, the deprivation, the humour and the despair. Throughout, Mrs Milburn endures all with dignity and resolve, pursuing her daily routine, under severe worry and stress, at her home at Balsall Common near Coventry...