Product Description

In June 1940 Britain expected enemy invasion. Despite Churchill's determination to fight on the beaches, many parents made desperate efforts to send their children abroad to safety. Thousands left for America, Canada, Australia and other distant countries.
In this revealing new book, Jessica Mann, herself a wartime evacuee, looks at the experiences of those who were sent away to a foreign land including their dangerous journeys across U-boat-ridden oceans, and asks how they coped with being away, and also how they found life back in the UK on their return. Drawing on extensive original research and memories of many former evacuees, including Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Williams, Jessica Mann builds up a moving portrait of a lost generation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #309463 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'Mann's book is a gut-wrenchingly moving but perfectly balanced account of a forgotten episode of British history, of parental love and childhood hurt, the brilliance of which comes from the lack of sentiment or judgment. Sometimes the facts are heartbreaking enough' -- Guardian 20060319 'packed with illuminating experiences' -- Mail on Sunday 20060319 'A gripping read' -- Seven 20060408

Literary Review, March 5, 2005
'this splendid account of...children in the Second World War provides us with a unique and valuable historical document'

Glasgow Herald
'Mann's book makes for a read that is illuminating and sobering, riveting and sad.'

Customer Reviews

A WW2 book unlike any other
Here is a tragic, tear jerking fascinating account of pitiful parents and children who were turned by fate and dreadful times into artificial orphans, with whom in spirit one travels on their journeys and comes to understand how differently people thought in those war years, and what a dreadful legacy they left behind. This book is almost too fair and balanced, but also fully researched and beautifully written, showing a forgotten detail of wartime history. the surviving evacuees and younger generations reading about them are lucky to have such a sensitive, unforgettable memorial.

Tears for a lost generation
This book made me cry. The idea of sending my own children away to strangers for years is so dreadful that I could hardly read on but though this is a well-researched history book it is written like a thriller (actually the author also writes thrillers) and I couldn't put it down. I though it was brilliant but tragic, and well worth recommending very highly.