The 1940s House [Hardcover]

World War II was dubbed "the people's war". In the words of Winston Churchill it was "a war of unknown warriors (in which) the whole of the warring nations are engaged, not only soldiers, but the entire population, men, women and children". From children to great-grandparents, everyone was expected to muck in and make do. How then would a modern-day family cope with the hardships and inconveniences forced upon people in Britain between 1939 and 1945? That was the idea behind the Channel 4 series The 1940s House. Having volunteered to swap home comforts for the home front, the Hymers were evacuated to a property of the period and exposed to the harsh realities of wartime living: a bygone world of powdered eggs, gas masks, ration books, blackouts and air raids.

"There were many occasions when I thought, 'I can't do this, too much is being expected of me'," wrote Lynn Hymer in her diary. "But then I'd stop and say, 'Hang on a minute, I am here for a wartime experience'. In the war the women didn't say they couldn't do it, they just got on with it".

Far from being a lightweight behind-the-scenes TV companion The 1940s House offers a serious insight into what day-to-day family life was really like during wartime. By featuring photographs from the Imperial War Museum and including correspondence of home-front veterans, historian and author Juliet Gardiner documents the reality along with the reconstruction. A beautifully produced book that pays tribute to the millions of ordinary people who lived through extraordinary times. --Christopher Kelly

We would not take kindly today to advice on how to put out an incendiary bomb in the hall, keep an eye out for enemy agents, eat prunes to keep "regular" and make do with mock bananas and whale meat. Such was household life in World War II. Much along the best-selling lines of The 1900 House, Channel 4 will recreate in a four-part series and the accompanying book what it was like for a family to experience the war, with all the controls exercised by the government over food rationing, the "dig for victory" appeal, mobilisation of women, even the propaganda for women to "stay lovely for him" despite make do and mend, clothing coupons and exhaustion. Books were in short supply. Sixty years on, amid a glut of titles, this one carries an appeal which extends beyond nostalgia, being a living piece of history, evocatively illustrated and concluding with an appendix on "how to research your house's war."

A Yorkshire family experience World War II by living in a semi-detached house in Kent and having a committee of historical experts, a nutritionist and veterans of the Home Front, controlling how they live. They can withdraw foods, requisition their car, and even limit how much bath water they use. The accompanying book is a diary of the family's experience, and also a comprehensive account of the Blitz years in Britain. It includes many firsthand accounts from people around the country. It is a fascinating account of a time in British history when the whole country was involved in the war effort, and people's lives were transformed by the Home Front.