- Mass Market Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (25 Jun 1987)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140092633
- ISBN-13: 978-0140092639
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 1.6 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,333,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
During the early years of the war, Henrietta, who lives in a small town on the Devon Coast, writes letters to a friend at the front about how things are going at home.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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10 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
The British Homefront at its finest (and funniest!)
18 Jun 2000
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Follow the adventures of Henrietta Brown as she and her neighbors keep the home fires burning in WWII Devon. This semi-autobiographical account gives one an idea of what day to day life must have been yet instills a subtle dry humor that keeps the reader coming back for more. Henrietta battles weeds and lumbago while digging for victory (complete with a hot water bottle tied to her back!)Husband Charles and demanding Perry the dog learn to live with rationing and Faith the divorcee shocks the ladies by learning to cook, but her secret recipe for marmalade isn't quite the success she had hoped!And will Henrietta go to prison when she shows a light during the blackout? You'll have to read it to see! My own copy of this book is falling apart and I've glued the pages back in many times. It definitely gets my 'book to take to a desert island' award.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
one of the most charming books i have ever read
19 Aug 2001
Format:Hardcover
Henrietta's war is one of the most charming, witty, books I have read. The gentle humour with which it recounts the first few years of the second world war from the perspective of an intelligent, educated, housewife living in a village in Devon, (England), is quite delightful. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys subtlety in their humour. A winner
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Hilarious Happenings on the Home Front
4 May 2010
Format:Paperback
Reason for Reading: I am reading all The Bloomsbury Group books.
Joyce Dennys who at the time was more known for her illustrations and aid work during WWI found her time more limited during WWII, being now taken up almost full-time as a mother and doctor's wife so she turned to writing, publishing a fictional letter from "Henrietta" to a dear "Childhood's Friend" on the war front about daily life back on the home front. The article proved so popular that Henrietta's letters became a regular feature in Sketch. The letters were first collected into book form in 1985.
Each letter is accompanied by one humorous illustration. The letters mostly deal with the local shenanigans going on around the village. The gossip, whose mad at who and why, the embarrassing things that happen to the writer plus the author also shows her concern for her reader "Robert", talks of the war occasionally, then gets back on track remembering her letters are supposed to make Robert forget the war and think of home.
Of course, the town is filled with eccentric characters such as the dominating Lady B. with a dog the size of a rat and the will of Hitler, the bossy though very efficient Mrs. Saversnack, the dreamy-headed flirtatious Faith and the shy absolutely smitten Composer who is madly in love with her. Then there is Henrietta herself who is a bit of a klutz and will get into the strangest situations or find herself watching one delightedly and her doctor husband who being the strong, silent type stays mainly in the background.
The book is whimsical and quaint. While concentrating on everyday life, enough information about daily living circumstances during the war such as rationing, air raid drills, committees, wardens, collecting tin and other such material for the army show just how much affect the war had on a tiny village in England even to this point where it has not been bombed. Especially when one considers that even while these letters are fictional, this is source material written at the very time the real events of those days were happening. Enjoyable, with some actual laugh out loud moments
Joyce Dennys who at the time was more known for her illustrations and aid work during WWI found her time more limited during WWII, being now taken up almost full-time as a mother and doctor's wife so she turned to writing, publishing a fictional letter from "Henrietta" to a dear "Childhood's Friend" on the war front about daily life back on the home front. The article proved so popular that Henrietta's letters became a regular feature in Sketch. The letters were first collected into book form in 1985.
Each letter is accompanied by one humorous illustration. The letters mostly deal with the local shenanigans going on around the village. The gossip, whose mad at who and why, the embarrassing things that happen to the writer plus the author also shows her concern for her reader "Robert", talks of the war occasionally, then gets back on track remembering her letters are supposed to make Robert forget the war and think of home.
Of course, the town is filled with eccentric characters such as the dominating Lady B. with a dog the size of a rat and the will of Hitler, the bossy though very efficient Mrs. Saversnack, the dreamy-headed flirtatious Faith and the shy absolutely smitten Composer who is madly in love with her. Then there is Henrietta herself who is a bit of a klutz and will get into the strangest situations or find herself watching one delightedly and her doctor husband who being the strong, silent type stays mainly in the background.
The book is whimsical and quaint. While concentrating on everyday life, enough information about daily living circumstances during the war such as rationing, air raid drills, committees, wardens, collecting tin and other such material for the army show just how much affect the war had on a tiny village in England even to this point where it has not been bombed. Especially when one considers that even while these letters are fictional, this is source material written at the very time the real events of those days were happening. Enjoyable, with some actual laugh out loud moments
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