Last Letters Home

by TamasinDay-Lewis (Editor)

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.25

  'Exceptionally moving' Independent For many of those who lived through it, the Second World War was the most exciting, dynamic and frightening time of their lives. This wonderful collection of contemporaneous letters tells their stories from the battlefields of Europe to the bombed out back streets of London, from the conflict in the skies to the hardships of the home front. Last Letters Home doesn't show just one side of the war. By concentrating on different themes lovers, siblings, separation and reunification Tamasin Day-Lewis paints an unparalleled picture of the daily lives of men and women at war. Through letters and interviews, we learn the true story of the war, the story of lives transformed by loss, bombing, internment and the horror of battle. These are letters of hope and defiance; of love, loneliness and courage. They are an extraordinary testament to an extraordinary generation of men and women. It is difficult to think of a book which more completely describes the way people deal with and in some cases thrive on such adversity. Last Letters Home is an important and fascinating part of any understanding of the Second World War.

• Used

  hardcover
  

  $3.25

  Through the last letters they wrote and received, and through interviews, this book brings together memories, good and bad, and captures the spirit of the lives of soldiers and civilians, young and old, the ordinary person and the famous alike during World War II. The book features the everyday stories of lives transformed by separation, bombing, internment and the horror of battle. The letters kept hope alive, speaking of love, loyalty, loneliness and courage. They were often the last link between a mother, a lover, a wife or a child and the person who died before their delivery. The poignancy, the pointlessness and the arbitrary waste of life are contained here. The letters also reveal the quiet courage and strong emotions which enabled people to endure - and which has coloured their lives ever since.