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ONE
BOY`S WAR.
The
story opens at the declaration of war on Sunday, September 3, 1939 and
concludes on the day after victory in Europe, May 9, 1945. The setting is
the small area of southwest Hampshire between the New Forest and the sea
where the author grew up. The story is told as seen through the eyes of a
lad of ten whose maturing to early manhood is paralleled by the progress
of the war, at first no more than the novelty of mixing with city evacuees
but soon developing into a sinister threat to the placid country life of
earlier days.
The
atmosphere of the times is recreated by the author's first hand knowledge
and the background of the war in general is factual. However, the
locations, events and characters portrayed, although sometimes having
their roots in the truth, are fictitious.
The
dialects of that time are authentic, though contrasting sharply with the
Canadian and American accents of the cinema, brought to life during the
transatlantic "invasion".
The
plot centres on a small family and their neighbours in "The
Terrace" who, with the varying experiences of their own lives and
those of their friends and relatives in other places, provide a microcosm
of wartime Britain. There is gut-biting fear, hard relentless toil,
anxiety, loss and sacrifice; murder even -
yet despite the shortages of almost everything, a prosperity
hitherto unknown to the working people. It is a story of ordinary folk,
whose stolid acceptance of all that takes place is never without an
unassuming patriotism which most would have denied. Humour there is in
abundance, sometimes countered by black despair; and there is the euphoria
of D-Day, the thrill of young love and the excitement of powered flight.
Family
tensions are inevitable as changing circumstances erode the traditional
standards and morality. Ingrained attitudes come into conflict with
new realities, emotions overflow --- but the fibre of life is tough and
all is well in the end.
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