Product Description

This is a moving and personal account of a young woman's experiences of the Second World War from the mother of Sir Tim Rice. Joan Rice had the same ambitions as many young women of her generation: she wanted to write; wanted to travel; and wanted to be famous. With the outbreak of World War II, she hurried to enlist - aged 20 - in the Women's Auxillary Air Force, hoping for change, for adventure, and for the chance to 'swank around in uniform'. Throughout the early years of the conflict, she kept a regular diary of her life as a WAAF. Working first at RAF Hendon, she soon moved to a job in British Intelligence, and ultimately to postings in Egypt and Palestine. She witnessed the 'phoney war' explode into the Battle of Britain, lived through the London Blitz and was forced by Rommell's advance to flee Cairo. But her diary also tells the story of everyday war life, of the social whirl of service society and of her very first encounters with the man who would become her husband. "Sand in My Shoes" is a compelling first-hand account of life and love in a defeated Europe. Written with flair and exuberance, Joan's story has lain untouched for some fifty years. Incorporating additional material from her husband's own notes, her diary is a testament to the many women who kept the RAF in the air.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #258683 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Country Life
'enchanting...a vivid immediacy the author's diary...conveys what it was like to live through such a whirligig of experience.'

The Daily Telegraph
'[Joan's] diary succeeds entirely in bringing this kind of war experience dancing off the page...'

Sunday Times
'this remarkable diary...witty, honest providing riveting detail
about daily events.'

Customer Reviews

read and learn
I really liked this book.

It's the published diaries of a girl who was 19 when the Second World War began. It must be fairly unique of its type because apparently members of the forces weren't supposed to record their experiences during war time so the author kept her diary secretly and at the end of the war no one was interested in it because everyone was fed up with hearing about the war. Now it is a piece of social history and fascinating to read.

The book is pleasingly unaffected and informative, even down to what they ate (not very healthily by today's standards).

I read the last part of the book when I was travelling to work on the train and it really struck me how, despite the war and the difficulties of travel at the time, the author travelled widely using every conceivable method of transport available to her. Now, with all we have at our disposal we constrain ourselves by train timetables and whether we have the right model of car.

The book also illustrates the incredible social life people made for themselves, and the camaraderie of the war, despite the awful things which were taking place in the wider world.

There are quite a lot of footnotes explaining forces expressions and fashions of the time. I was a bit taken aback by the fact that I understood them all without needing to use the footnotes but I'm consoling myself that it was probably because my dad was in RAF during the war and he used a lot of them throughout his life. That's my excuse anyway.

Excellent book
This is a fantastic set of diaries of a WAAF during WW2. Although it does describe the goings-on of the war, it also gives us an insight into the young woman's daily life- her worries, hopes, joys, and loves.

A real treasure

Sand in my shoes
This has to be one of the most purile books I have ever tried to read. Most war time Waafs would be ashamed they were portrayed in the same mode as this silly main character. Not a credit to the Airforce and not funny.