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Product Description
The Tallahassee Democrat Review September 2001
'Still vibrant and helpful today...a poignant, honest, frightening, yet heartwarming record of one articulate woman's coping with war.'
Book Description
Vere Hodgson worked for a Notting Hill Gate charity during
the Second World War ; being sparky and unflappable, she was not going to
let Hitler make a difference to her life, but the beginning of the Blitz
did, which is why she began her published diaries on 25 June 1940: 'Last
night at about 1 a.m. we had the first air raid of the war on London. My
room is just opposite the police station, so I got the full benefit of the
sirens. It made me leap out of bed...'
the Second World War ; being sparky and unflappable, she was not going to
let Hitler make a difference to her life, but the beginning of the Blitz
did, which is why she began her published diaries on 25 June 1940: 'Last
night at about 1 a.m. we had the first air raid of the war on London. My
room is just opposite the police station, so I got the full benefit of the
sirens. It made me leap out of bed...'
The war continued for five more years, but Vere's comments on her work,
friends, what was happening to London and the news ('We hold our breath
over Crete', 'There is to be a new system of Warning') combine to make Few
Eggs and No Oranges unusually readable. It is a long - 600 page - book but
a deeply engrossing one. The TLS remarked: 'The diaries capture the sense
of living through great events and not being overwhelmed by them... they
display an extraordinary - though widespread - capacity for not giving
way in the face of horrors and difficulties.' 'A classic book that still
rings vibrant and helpful today... a heartwarming record of one articulate
woman's coping with the war,' wrote the Tallahassee Democratic Review.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ordinary people, extraordinary times,
By
This review is from: Few Eggs and No Oranges (Paperback)
Vere Hodgson's book is subtitled "A diary showing how unimportant people in London and Birmingham lived through the war years". This wonderful book is so much more than that. Hodgson's diary brought home to me more than anything else I've read about London in the Blitz just how difficult life was. London rarely seemed to have an uninterrupted night. Think how cranky you feel after one night's broken sleep and multiply this many times. Add the constant worry about family and friends in the services or living in areas prone to bombing, apart from the fact that you could never be sure if you were safe in your own house, and you have some idea of the life endured by Vere Hodgson and her circle. Hodgson felt it showed a lack of patriotism to complain too much and her good humour shines through, even when she must have sometimes felt like having a good grumble. Although her long diary (over 600 pp) sometimes seems to be a constant catalogue of bombing raids and worries over rations, it is always absorbing reading. She comments on all the war news, and her extravagant enthusiasm for Churchill makes me sorry for the cynicism with which we look at politicians today. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a picture of London during the Blitz through the eyes of an "unimportant" person.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A one-of-a-kind record of wartime London,
By
This review is from: Few Eggs and No Oranges (Paperback)
I was drawn to Ms. Hodgson's book, not only because of my interest in wartime Britain, but because she was a social worker, as I am. The book proved a marvellous record of daily life during the Blitz -- so "daily" in fact, that I'm sure many would find it boring and repetitive (STILL No Eggs and Few Oranges???), but I feel that this is what made it work. As I read the book, I began to feel a part of life in a London kept awake by nightly bombardment -- or fear of it. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to capture the flavor of this vanished time.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Personal Diary of WW2,
By Miss Mapp (Oxford, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Few Eggs and No Oranges (Paperback)
This diary was kept by Vere Hodgson during WW2 with a view to sending it to her cousin abroad, as a record of life in England during the War. I found it absolutely fascinating. Of course I knew most of the facts, but this book brings to life the everyday fears and problems suffered in particular by Londoners as their city was at times continuously under attack. Unlike any other book I have read, the outcome of the War was not known by Vere Hodgson as it was written as a diary, so at various times it seemed likely to her that the Germans might actually be the conquerors. The terror of the Blitz, then the V1 and V2 bombs, as well as the devastation of London, are described in detail. Vere Hodgson got on with her life bravely, as so many other Londoners did, under unimaginable strains, and she writes of her working day, work colleagues and family all coping to various degrees. She writes well and is unsentimental. I highly recommended this book.
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