Henrietta's War

Synopsis: Spirited Henrietta wishes she was the kind of doctor's wife who knew exactly how to deal with the daily upheavals of war. But then, everyone in her close-knit Devonshire village seems to find different ways to cope: there's the indomitable Lady B, who writes to Hitler every night to tell him precisely what she thinks of him; the terrifyingly efficient Mrs Savernack, who relishes the opportunity to sit on umpteen committees and boss everyone around; flighty, flirtatious Faith who is utterly preoccupied with the latest hats and flashing her shapely legs; and then there's Charles, Henrietta's hard-working husband who manages to sleep through a bomb landing in their neighbour's garden. With life turned upside down under the shadow of war, Henrietta chronicles the dramas, squabbles and loyal friendships that unfold in her affectionate letters to her 'dear childhood friend' Robert. Warm, witty and perfectly observed, Henrietta's War brings to life a sparkling community of determined troupers who pull together to fight the good fight with patriotic fervour and good humour. Henrietta'sWar is part of The Bloomsbury Group, a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.

Review: These were originally a set of articles written by Joyce and published in Sketch magazine during the Second World War. Joyce found them again when she was spring cleaning in the 1980's (it's enough to make you want to don your rubber gloves and get cracking .. except I'm pretty sure I haven't got any unpublished manuscripts hidden away.) She sent them off to a publisher and this book, along with the follow up, 'Henrietta Sees it Through' is the result.

Henrietta is very capable and although she is quite self deprecating and writes with a view to playing down her efforts you get the feeling that she's the sort of woman you could rely on in a crisis. She writes these letters to Robert ('her Childhoods Friend') in order to cheer him up at the front.
The object is not to talk about what's going on with him (indeed we are only given the barest of information about where Robert is and what he's doing) but to tell Robert all about life back at home. She's a doctors wife and has two grown up children. They live down in Devon where everything is fairly peaceful and Henrietta feels quite ashamed to be in such a safe area but she says they have a belligerent community to make up for it.

'Mrs Savernack, that woman of action, took out a gun licence. If she can't get meat at the butcher's, she will go out and shoot it. The rabbits which for years gambolled happily in the fields at the back of the Savernacks' house have received a rude awakening, and Mrs Savernack, flushed with success, has begun to turn her thoughts to bigger game. Farmer Barnes, wisely perhaps, has moved his cows to another field. But the one who is really enjoying the meat rationing is Mrs Whinebite. Not that it actually makes any difference to her, for she and the unhappy Julius have been vegetarians of the most violent order for years, but it gives her a chance to show off in the way vegetarians are so fond of doing. She wanders about the countryside, singing folk songs, with her hair coming down and her hands full of the most revolting fungi'

Henrietta would like to be able to prove herself a bit more but this is what the war must have felt like for thousands of British citizens, women especially. Although they were very involved in helping the war effort, digging for victory, taking in evacuees, sewing hot water bottle covers and knitting themselves into a knot and such like, and they also felt the hardships bought on by rationing and the blackout etc, they had no experiences of bombing or air raids (and though acutely aware of this the ladies of the village get a little fed up when the evacuated 'London Lady' keeps belittling their efforts and basically telling them that they've been having a cushy time of it.) Wherever they live though, the one thing they all fear is invasion .. Mrs B hopes to ward off an attack by lining up all the useless old women on the beach each with a large stone ... 'we might do some damage' ... when told that the only time she was observed throwing a stone it went over her shoulder, she says she will stand with her back to the Germans.

It's a very easy read, I rationed it a bit to make it last longer but it's something that you can polish off in no time. It's quite reminiscent of Mollie Panter-Downes's short stories, very humorous and gossipy in tone and with some lovely little illustrations. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the other Bloomsbury books I've read, it wasn't as unusual as they were .. but it's just the sort of read to cheer you up on a dull day.