A Woman Living in the Shadow of the Second World War

“These previously unpublished diaries of an English woman surviving the war at home provide a fascinating insight into society and life” (Firetrench).

Helena Hall’s daily diary of the war years, from 1940 to 1945, is one of the most vivid, detailed and evocative personal records of the Second World War as it was experienced by people living in an English village. In her journal she describes her everyday activities alongside momentous national and international events. The war overshadows her narrative. Each daily entry gives us an insight into the extraordinary impact of the conflict on local lives, and shows how much energy and commitment ordinary people put into the war effort.

This edited edition of her previously unpublished diary, written without embellishment or hindsight, shows how she heard about the war and how she reacted to it, and how it was reported and understood. It allows the reader today to connect directly with the wartime past and to see events clearly, as they were seen at the time.

“A handwritten account of what war was like and how it affected people in their everyday lives . . . Truthful and unvarnished. There’s fear and humour mixed up and the more you read the closer to Helena Hall you become.” —War History Online