My Secret War Diary, by Flossie Albright

The diary format is not a new one but Marcia Williams manages to take it to another plane, so convincing is this personal account of The Second World War. The secret diary, itself a precious gift from Miss Joan up at the Big House, records the daily events, hopes and fears of Flossie Albright, nine years old at the outset of the war. She is left in charge of her baby brother Boo, her mother having died of pneumonia the previous year and her father having joined up. Uncle C is ostensibly there to look after her, but it’s clear that much falls on to the shoulders of this brave child. Her drawings, pasted-in letters, pressed flowers and treasures adorn the pages as we learn of the arrival of evacuees from London, the silent German boy with ‘teary eyes’, and the Land Girls. There is a wealth of detail about life at home, coping with rationing, gas masks, rare treats at Christmas, and the regular gatherings around the wireless in the kitchen up at the Big House. Interspersed with the homely events are references to the progress of the war, the evacuation from Dunkirk, the sight of planes towing gliders on the night of 5 June 1944 and then the Channel filled with ships the following morning. The account is by turns funny and moving and gives a very strong impression of the experience of war through a child’s eyes.