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Just read 'war brides' a factual book about the lives of women who married aussies and found themselves in australia in the late 40's. Really interesting... just wondering whether anyone can send me in the right direction for some good fictional reads set in England in the 40's?
........ ah sorry not much help here but if your interested in a little bit of history at all i can share this little story with you from our Great-Uncle Leo who is 91 said when he came back home to here in Ballarat from up in Darwin (WW2) in the early 40's alot of American soldiers on leave who headed to Ballarat snapped up their GF's and married them and took back to The States. Yeh Uncle Leo in his words said " We were crook on them Yanks, as they had more materialistic things to seduce the Aussie gals with like candy, chocolates, & hosiery ... but not us poor Aussie lads " ... then he added " I'm darn glad i didn't have a GF home waiting for me cause i was having too much fun being single " ;)
"The Guernsey Literary & Potato Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer
Set in 1946 at the end of the war, but recounting the trials & hardships the population of Guernsey endured, with a light hearted love story, some poetry & book club all thrown in. A really enjoyable read. (Guernsey is just off England)
These are some other books I have enjoyed if you feel like branching out:
"The Wings of Night" - an Australian novel set around Perth, story about the aftermath of war on the women left behind & the returned soldiers. I liked this one, the women are real.
"The Forever War" - Joe Haldaman - if you're into science fiction as well, this one has it all. The author was a Vietnam Vet so the story is allegorical to the Vietman conflict, but not so that you can really tell. I loved this book. A young, brilliant physicist is drafted into a space war against an alien species. The battles take place at such long light distances away from Earth that by the time he can return to Earth, relativity has kicked in so for him only a couple of years has passed, but on Earth, his family are all aged beyong recognition.
I put a shout out for this a couple of years ago...Hmmm will try to find the thread.
Goodnight Mister Tom - ok so it's a YF book but still a good read.
You might find some good suggestions here: Library Thing
ETA - had a look for an old thread but couldn't find it - don't know if that's because it was archived or whether it's because it was on another forum LOL.