Love in the Blitz: The Long Lost letters of a Brilliant Young Woman to Her Beloved on the Front came about from a lucky buy at an auction. These fascinating letters from Eileen Alexander to the man she loves, Gershon Ellenbogen (sadly, Gershon’s letters to Eileen are lost) give an intimate view of life in London during World War II. I found Eileen’s insights into the response of Londoners to the Luftwaffe bombing of their city very moving.
When the war starts, Gershon is sent to Cairo to work for the British Military Intelligence in the Royal Air Force. Eileen leaves her studies at Girton College, Cambridge to work for the Air Ministry to assist in the war effort.
Young love might be the purest. Eileen’s passionate letters show her love and her loneliness for the man she will eventually spend most of her life with. If you’re interested in World War II from the ground level, Love in the Blitz reveals plenty of surprising details. If you’re looking for a real romance between two youngsters dealing with a world war that keeps them apart, Love in the Blitz will move you, too. GRADE: A
Table of Contents
Foreword Oswyn Murray vii
Historical Introduction David Crane xv
1 Drumnadrochit, summer 1939 3
September 1939-April 1940 17
2 ‘No time to sit on brood’ 19
May-September 1940 55
3 My Young Fellow 59
September-December 1940 97
4 Blitz 101
January-March 1941 143
5 Intentions 145
March-September 1941 165
6 A Rill Civil Servant 167
September-December 1941 199
7 Your Intended 201
January-May 1942 229
8 Separation 231
May-December 1942 243
9 Limbo 245
January 1943-March 1944 315
10 The Long Wait 317
April 1944-March 1946 447
11 Twin Compasses 449
Postscript 465
Dramatis Personae 467
Illustration Credits 473
Thanks for this very moving story!
I had to look up more on the people involved, found this on Gershon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gershon_Ellenbogen
At least this couple was lucky, one of the few Jewish ones in those ugly horrible times.
Wolf, I found LOVE IN THE BLITZ both informative and moving. We think things are Bad today, but the time of the Blitz was horrific.
This sounds good. Too bad his letters to her were lost. Would have been great to read both.
Patti, I agree. A couple set of letters would have been enlightening. But, at least we have these emotional, insightful, and loving letters.
Sounds great. I’ve read a lot of collections of letters, as well as books on the Blitz. Also read Mollie Panter-Downes LONDON WAR NOTES, written for The New Yorker.
You keep writing about interesting books that make my list of books longer!
OK, downloaded the library book. Just what I needed, right?
Jeff, you can never have too many books!
Jeff, that’s why Patti Abbott calls me George the Tempter!
No comment on the book, but an unrelated PSA My paper had a small mention of the stimulus If you didn’t get a check or card (one of my friends got the card) by the 15th, you will have to claim it for a refund on your taxes for 2020
Maggie, I’ve read that too. The 15th seems to be a firm deadline for this round of stimulus. But more Stimulus Payments will be coming from the Biden Administration.
We got ours last week.
The publisher Persephone Books in London has released a number of books like this, both fiction and nonfiction. Primarily they do books by women writers which were once popular but are now forgotten. Their two biggest successes have been the rediscovery of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and one of the quintessential “women’s fiction” writers, Dorothy Whipple — many of their readers love her, and Persephone has to reprint the books constantly; others read one and are done.
But they do a lot of books about life during wartime in Britain — both wars. I recommend looking at their catalog online, which is enjoyable reading even if you don’t intend to buy anything. (As a British small press, their books probably won’t be in American libraries.)
As it happens, I just today started reading their edition of a Frances Hodgson Burnett novel I’d never heard of, The Shuttle — about the transatlantic traffic in American heiresses looking for marriage to titled Englishmen.
Jeff, thanks for the tip on Persephone Books of London! I’ll check out their online catalog.
True. The Mollie Panter-Downes collection of wartime short stories GOOD EVENING, MRS, CRAVEN was a Persephone Book. I also read and very much enjoyed MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY (by Winifred Watson). The movie adaptation was very enjoyable and a pretty faithful version.