There are many books out there that give us a perspective of World War II from the point of view of those fighting on the front lines, in the resistance and from Whitehall, but there are very view that show us what living through this war was like from the viewpoint of the civilian at home. In 1937, the Mass Observation Project in England was founded by Charles Madge and Tom Harrisson. They wanted to record the views of ordinary British people, and recruited volunteers to observe British life, and diarists to record a day-to-day account of their lives. These archives now give a unique insight into the lives of British civilians who found themselves going through a period when their country was at war. Nella Last is one of these diarists and, far from giving the reader an uncomfortable feeling of reading something private, it opens up a world that few could have imagined existed during these austere times. The writer is an ordinary small town English housewife, and her diary covers the period of time from the outbreak of war in September 1939 through to August 1945, although she did keep contributing to the project until 1965. Housewife 49, refers to how she headed her first entry; her occupation – Housewife, her age – 49.

Nella and her Family lived in Barrow-in-Furness in the North of England, which at the time was a shipbuilding town. This meant that during the Barrow Blitz in April and May of 1941, it became a heavy target for German bombing. This was a period when families were separated, and sometimes coping with the loss of a family member. Cities were being bombed, and housewives such as Nella had to find new ingenious ways to keep their homes together. This remarkable account depicts clearly what it was like for ordinary families living through World War Two.

The diary itself plays two different roles in our understanding of what it was like to live in these times, as it clearly seen that she writes about two distinct areas of her life; Family, friends and the role of women which are the more personal side of the diaries and the other area which reveals Nella’s opinions of public events such as the early war years, and the Barrow Blitz I mentioned above.

Nella's diary is full of stories about her family, her marriage, her volunteer work and the difficulties of day to day life with blackout curtains, rationing and enemy bombers flying overhead. Gas for recreational use was cut off and they couldn't go anywhere except by bus, a task many of us would balk at today. Rationing became severe in the last years of the war, so they tried to grow things like onions and tomatoes that were not available at the grocery store they were registered with, and Nella actually tore up their lawn to keep hens so they would have more than the 1 egg per week that rationing would allow.

Air raids sirens were a nightly occurrence meaning the Family, at times, slept in their clothes so they could get to their shelter quickly if need be and sometimes they even went to bed in the shelter. Reading this diary brought back to mind when my Grandma would tell me about living in Leeds, Yorkshire during the war; the air raids, trying to raise three young children while her Husband was away and, when I asked her how she managed she would tell me it was their way of making sure the Germans didn’t win on the home front, they picked themselves up and kept on going.

The diary isn't all just hardship and grief, however, there are funny things such as happen in normal day to day life and Nella is very adept in conveying how much the value of laughter was cherished during these times. Something that will strike most readers of the diary is how the war and everyday life bled into each other as Nella writes about an air raid and marmalade in the same entry without a change in direction. The reader also sees how Nella grows from being the stereotypical Housewife of the day to being her own woman, something neither her Husband or sons were very keen on.

Apart from being an excellent historical record of the time, this diary serves to show us just how reliant on technology with have become as a society. We have moved away from the self-reliance needed to get us through hard times, and lost our compassion for others in need. It made me wonder how many people that read the diary would be able to successful grow their own food and cope with the constant stress and tension the nightly bombings brought with them.

I highly recommend not only Nella Last's War to everyone, but also the remaining two books of her diaries. Alone this is a learning experience, and a possible eye-opener for the more isolated of us out there but when combined with the other two books it becomes something everyone should read, and hopefully learn from.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/09/12/review-nella-lasts-war-the-second-world-wa...





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In 1937 the Mass Observation Project in Britain began to archive materials related to everyday life. Nella Last became one of 500 who participated in the writing project, maintaining a diary for 30 years! Her diaries cover three periods: WWII, post-war, and the 1950s.

Nella was 49 in 1939 and lived in Barrow-in-Furness in Lancashire with her husband and had two grown sons. The WWII diary begins on September 3 when she wrote "Well, we know the worst." England was at war and Nella became a faithful recoreder of the wartime life of an average homemaker. She joined the WVS (Women's Volunteer Service) and became very involved in it and the Red Cross. What I liked most about her diary is that she didn't just tell what she did, she recorded her thoughts as well. As the war goes on and Nella shoulders increasing responsibility for the projects she takes part in, we can see her become more independent and confident. She begins to be frank about her marriage and ponders why she hasn't stood up to her husband in the past. Often her thoughts wandered to the future and she speculated there would be many social changes after the war. It will be interesting to read Nelia's other books and see what she thought of those changes when they did indeed take place. ( )

I love this book, and its sequels. For some reason I don't quite understand, it just kills me. Well maybe not quite kills me, more the opposite, like maybe there is still some hope for the human race, as found in this dear faceless middle-aged ordinary WWII housewife in the north of England who somehow wrote it down, the whole dilemma of existence in a world gone mad. ( )

This is a lovely book. Nella's voice is authentic, passionate, and always in key. Her diary depicts her wartime life in compelling detail. I recently finished The Last Lion, and this was a remarkable counterpoint. It also moves me to reread the wartime Angela Thirkell Barsetshire novels, to see a fictional account of the same kind of experiences. For anyone interested in wartime Britain, this would be of interest. ( )

I have read a number of theses Mass Observation diaries over the years and I think this is one of the best. It is also the book on which Housewife 49, starring Victoria wood is based. You get a very complete insight into Nella's life during the war and it is marvellous to see her becoming stronger and stronger as the time goes on, emerging from the timid little housewife of the start of the war, to a strong determined woman, nearer the end. We get a peek into her not terribly happy marriage, and her love for her boys shine's through. She continued to write her diary for something like 30 years and I really feel it was her salvation, as she now had someone to talk to and pour out her innermost feelings to, who would not judge her or make her feel stupid or small. An excellent read. ( )