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As Green as Grass: Growing Up Before, During & After the Second World War
After waving goodbye to the rocks, cliffs and sands of the north Cornish coast, Emma Smith (born Elspeth Hallsmith) and her family are uprooted to the Devonshire village of Crapstone, on the outskirts of Dartmoor. Emma's father, a decorated hero of the First World War, has suffered a terrible breakdown and - in between weekly visits to the hospital and sibling rivalries with her very pretty elder sister Pam - Emma has to get used to a very new kind of family life.
When the Second World War breaks out in 1939, Emma is training as a secretary. The gas masks they are issued with make people wearing them look inhuman, like creatures in a nightmare. Her budding philosopher brother, Jim, joins up with the RAF and rebellious Pam enlists with the women's branch. Unable to believe she is making any difference to the war effort - and still trying to understand why German fascism has its own name, Nazism - Emma chooses instead to work on the canal boats, where she must learn to deal with hard manual labour, a sinking boat and buckets instead of toilets.
When the war finally ends Emma's newfound adventurous spirit takes her all over the to literary London where she meets Laurie Lee and begins to forge her own writing career; to India to film a love story during the Darjeeling tea harvest; to the coast of France to work in a boarding house where she falls helplessly in love with a boy; and to Paris where she is photographed by Robert Doisneau and sees a then-unknown Edith Piaf on stage.
Relating her experiences before, during and after the Second World War, As Green as Grass is a remarkable coming-of-age memoir. Endlessly engaging and capturing English life in all its charm, it tells the story of an unusual young woman maturing against a backdrop of enormous social change and a life shaped by fortuitous opportunity.
When the Second World War breaks out in 1939, Emma is training as a secretary. The gas masks they are issued with make people wearing them look inhuman, like creatures in a nightmare. Her budding philosopher brother, Jim, joins up with the RAF and rebellious Pam enlists with the women's branch. Unable to believe she is making any difference to the war effort - and still trying to understand why German fascism has its own name, Nazism - Emma chooses instead to work on the canal boats, where she must learn to deal with hard manual labour, a sinking boat and buckets instead of toilets.
When the war finally ends Emma's newfound adventurous spirit takes her all over the to literary London where she meets Laurie Lee and begins to forge her own writing career; to India to film a love story during the Darjeeling tea harvest; to the coast of France to work in a boarding house where she falls helplessly in love with a boy; and to Paris where she is photographed by Robert Doisneau and sees a then-unknown Edith Piaf on stage.
Relating her experiences before, during and after the Second World War, As Green as Grass is a remarkable coming-of-age memoir. Endlessly engaging and capturing English life in all its charm, it tells the story of an unusual young woman maturing against a backdrop of enormous social change and a life shaped by fortuitous opportunity.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 31, 2019
I liked this second volume of autobiography by Emma Smith far more than the first one. Partly it's because her life, naturally enough, widened and grew more interesting as she grew up. The second world war also shapes the narrative in a way that makes the book feel a bit more meaningful. .
Besides all that though, I feel that in The Great Western Beach: A Memoir of a Cornish Childhood Between the Wars Emma included pretty much every single memory she had from birth to age 12. In this volume (which can be read on its own --she summarizes when necessary) she seems to be including only the more interesting threads. The part I liked best was the two years spent on canal boats during the war. Having loved Maidens' Trip, it was interesting to get the behind the scenes version, as it were.
Besides all that though, I feel that in The Great Western Beach: A Memoir of a Cornish Childhood Between the Wars Emma included pretty much every single memory she had from birth to age 12. In this volume (which can be read on its own --she summarizes when necessary) she seems to be including only the more interesting threads. The part I liked best was the two years spent on canal boats during the war. Having loved Maidens' Trip, it was interesting to get the behind the scenes version, as it were.
March 5, 2019
I had read two of Emma Smith's books - one written for adults (The Far Cry) and the other for children (No Way of Telling) - prior to picking up one of her memoirs. Whilst As Green As Grass: Growing Up Before, During and After the Second World War (2013) is not chronologically the first of her autobiographical works, it highly interested me, and was also available in my local library.
Elspeth Hallsmith, as Emma Smith was born, moves with her family from Newquay in Cornwall to a Devonshire village named Crapstone. Soon afterwards, her father suffers a nervous breakdown, and the family are left to deal with the far-reaching consequences. There is also the outbreak of the Second World War to contend with, and Smith's crisis that she has no idea how to help the war effort. Her elder sister joins the WAAF, and her brother enlists with the RAF after a period of flirting with pacifism. At this point, Smith is only sixteen years old. She goes to secretarial college, which 'equips her for a job with MI5', but which she finds stuffy and dull. She 'yearns for fresh air and joins the crew of a canal boat carrying much-needed cargoes on Britain's waterways.' After the war ends, and her freedom is returned to her, Smith travels to India, moves to Chelsea in London, falls in and out of love, and writes, of course.
Smith has used a structure of short vignettes, which follow particular episodes in her life - for instance, travelling to London to be a bridesmaid; making a best friend at school; horseriding; playing sports; dancing classes; being left behind when her sister grows up and begins to study at art college; her father's bad temper and fits of rage; and the longing which she often has to be alone. When her family move to Devon, Smith describes her delight at being able to attend a 'proper school' with her sister, which comes with a uniform requirement: 'And the fictitious girls in such Angela Brazil novels as I succeeded in borrowing from Boots' Lending Library - they too wore gymslips on the illustrations I pored over, and now I shall be able to feel I am the same as those heroines.'
Of her father's breakdown, she reflects: 'Almost the worst part of the anguish is the sense of there being nobody I can share it with. I don't know how much the Twins are troubled, or indeed if they are troubled at all, by the blight that has fallen on our family. I don't know what either of them is thinking. Pam has become uncommunicative, barely exchanging a sentence with me; Jim has deserted to the group of his cheerful friends... and Harvey - Harvey is only six. I put my arms around him, hugging him tightly for comfort - my comfort, not his. He wriggles free.'
In Smith's fiction, I have been struck by her narrative voice, and I imagined that I would be here too. Whilst some of her writing is certainly lovely, and sometimes revealing, other parts are comparatively simplistic. There was no real consistency here. I did feel at times as though Smith was holding back somewhat. There was a sense of unexpected detachment in As Green As Grass, and it did not always feel as though there was sufficient explanation as to the many characters which flit in and out of its pages.
I also found it a little strange that Smith had largely employed the present tense with which to set out her memories. Whilst As Green As Grass is certainly readable, and Smith's voice is warm and engaging, I must admit that I was a little put off by the use of present tense, which made the whole seem imagined and exaggerated rather than truthful. Had Smith approached this memoir from the perspective of herself as an adult looking back, I'm almost certain that I would have enjoyed it more.
Smith's work is highly praised, but does not appear to be widely read, which is a real shame. Whilst there were elements of As Green As Grass that I wasn't overly keen on, I found it interesting overall. However, I must say that As Green As Grass was not quite the book which I had hoped it would be, and I was made to feel a little uncomfortable by some of the antiquated and racist language which she uses - 'native-born Indians', for example.
Whilst As Green As Grass is by no means amongst the best war memoirs which I have read, I did enjoy the recollections of Smith's childhood and teenage years. The parts on the canal boat, which I expected to really enjoy and get a lot out of, were quite repetitive. To date, I have enjoyed her fiction more, but I'm still relatively keen to pick up another of her memoirs; I am particularly intrigued by her recollections of her Cornish childhood in Great Western Beach.
Elspeth Hallsmith, as Emma Smith was born, moves with her family from Newquay in Cornwall to a Devonshire village named Crapstone. Soon afterwards, her father suffers a nervous breakdown, and the family are left to deal with the far-reaching consequences. There is also the outbreak of the Second World War to contend with, and Smith's crisis that she has no idea how to help the war effort. Her elder sister joins the WAAF, and her brother enlists with the RAF after a period of flirting with pacifism. At this point, Smith is only sixteen years old. She goes to secretarial college, which 'equips her for a job with MI5', but which she finds stuffy and dull. She 'yearns for fresh air and joins the crew of a canal boat carrying much-needed cargoes on Britain's waterways.' After the war ends, and her freedom is returned to her, Smith travels to India, moves to Chelsea in London, falls in and out of love, and writes, of course.
Smith has used a structure of short vignettes, which follow particular episodes in her life - for instance, travelling to London to be a bridesmaid; making a best friend at school; horseriding; playing sports; dancing classes; being left behind when her sister grows up and begins to study at art college; her father's bad temper and fits of rage; and the longing which she often has to be alone. When her family move to Devon, Smith describes her delight at being able to attend a 'proper school' with her sister, which comes with a uniform requirement: 'And the fictitious girls in such Angela Brazil novels as I succeeded in borrowing from Boots' Lending Library - they too wore gymslips on the illustrations I pored over, and now I shall be able to feel I am the same as those heroines.'
Of her father's breakdown, she reflects: 'Almost the worst part of the anguish is the sense of there being nobody I can share it with. I don't know how much the Twins are troubled, or indeed if they are troubled at all, by the blight that has fallen on our family. I don't know what either of them is thinking. Pam has become uncommunicative, barely exchanging a sentence with me; Jim has deserted to the group of his cheerful friends... and Harvey - Harvey is only six. I put my arms around him, hugging him tightly for comfort - my comfort, not his. He wriggles free.'
In Smith's fiction, I have been struck by her narrative voice, and I imagined that I would be here too. Whilst some of her writing is certainly lovely, and sometimes revealing, other parts are comparatively simplistic. There was no real consistency here. I did feel at times as though Smith was holding back somewhat. There was a sense of unexpected detachment in As Green As Grass, and it did not always feel as though there was sufficient explanation as to the many characters which flit in and out of its pages.
I also found it a little strange that Smith had largely employed the present tense with which to set out her memories. Whilst As Green As Grass is certainly readable, and Smith's voice is warm and engaging, I must admit that I was a little put off by the use of present tense, which made the whole seem imagined and exaggerated rather than truthful. Had Smith approached this memoir from the perspective of herself as an adult looking back, I'm almost certain that I would have enjoyed it more.
Smith's work is highly praised, but does not appear to be widely read, which is a real shame. Whilst there were elements of As Green As Grass that I wasn't overly keen on, I found it interesting overall. However, I must say that As Green As Grass was not quite the book which I had hoped it would be, and I was made to feel a little uncomfortable by some of the antiquated and racist language which she uses - 'native-born Indians', for example.
Whilst As Green As Grass is by no means amongst the best war memoirs which I have read, I did enjoy the recollections of Smith's childhood and teenage years. The parts on the canal boat, which I expected to really enjoy and get a lot out of, were quite repetitive. To date, I have enjoyed her fiction more, but I'm still relatively keen to pick up another of her memoirs; I am particularly intrigued by her recollections of her Cornish childhood in Great Western Beach.
May 12, 2014
I am so grateful to someone unbeknowst @ the University of Iowa library for purchasing this book - when I saw the reviews in the English press I thought it was a book I might like to try, but scarcely @ £18 + 9 postage for a memoir by someone I'd never heard of. And then I found a copy on our new acquisitions shelf & I've been utterly and totally bowled over by Emma Smith's account of her teens & 20s in pre-war, war-time & post-war England. She displays maturity & ingenuousness in a manner that in the old days seemed typical of English girls & she establishes an intimacy with the reader so you feel you know her. The only negative thing I can say about this book is that I so regret that time & fate kept me & the author from meeting in real life. If I'd encountered her when I was in my 20s & she in her 40s maybe we could have been life-long friends. But thank you Emma for letting me get to know you so belatedly through this book. It is a treasure.
April 19, 2022
Easy to read. Irritating. Interesting in parts. Written like a story, especially at the beginning when she is young. - It sounds like a children’s story. That said I finished it and have ordered the previous one from library as I hope I prefer it more as about an area I know a little better.
This is from another world, not just in dates but in class. She falls into jobs/experiences and houses that someone just happens to know about/own. This does happen, of course, but not in this way.
Anyway I read it as a book club book and may not have carried on unless it was book club. That said, after the initial few pages it was a light read and her earlier book may interest me more.
This is from another world, not just in dates but in class. She falls into jobs/experiences and houses that someone just happens to know about/own. This does happen, of course, but not in this way.
Anyway I read it as a book club book and may not have carried on unless it was book club. That said, after the initial few pages it was a light read and her earlier book may interest me more.
October 9, 2017
Very good book! Easy read, clear witty charm throughout, you get a very good insight into Emma's character and personality! I love how you grow up with her, a very unique genuine storyline, would recommend worth a read!
June 20, 2024
A book that is going to stay with me for a long time! Emma tells her stories of life before during and after the war and it is so unlike anything I’ve ever heard or read before! I do hope that it might inspire a movie or to show!
September 13, 2024
A light read but I couldn’t really get into it. I feel my life was more interesting than hers. Just not for me although it did give an interesting angle on the war years that it didn’t affect everybody.
May 19, 2018
A strong 3, almost a 4. Lovely grammar. I wish she’d spent longer on the more interesting aspects of her story e.g., her father’s madness.
December 19, 2018
I love this author’s earlier memoir, THE GREAT WESTERN BEACH, and I found this one just as engaging. She has a sure voice and a wonderful recall of the time during before and after World War II.
July 19, 2022
What an adventurous lady she was and a great writer. Thoroughly enjoyed reading about Emma Smith life before, during and after WW2 particularly her adventures in India.
November 25, 2016
It was OK - as usual with posh people, it doesn't really tell you enough to be interesting.
September 18, 2013
Great writing, rattles along but could have been lots longer, she's led a fascinating life. There were a couple of factual errors which must have been editing mistakes so maybe it was overzealously edited. ('sectioned' which is our contemporary term rather than 'certified' which was used till pretty recently for being forcibly taken into mental health institution). And it is like a grandparent giving an age appropriate account to a young child, there are many unanswered questions for the reader. Very authentic voice and a fun read, I just didn't get any sense of emotional involvement.
January 13, 2015
Two thirds of this was an absolute delight, Emma Smith's plucky optimistic teenage voice is a bit like reading a real-life Autumn TermMarlow. The first person present tense did start to grate however, and given that this wasn't actually written by a guileless ingenue but rather by a 90yo looking back, the condescending depictions of Limehouse bargemen and 'native-born' Indians is a bit uncomfortable.
April 9, 2016
Easy, enjoyable read
May 17, 2016
Fascinating
A look into the world of a young woman in the 30s and 40s. Made more fascinating for me as that woman is a similar age as my late mother and father. An enjoyable read.
A look into the world of a young woman in the 30s and 40s. Made more fascinating for me as that woman is a similar age as my late mother and father. An enjoyable read.
October 9, 2017
an enjoyable read
July 21, 2016
A wonderfully interesting memoir about the author's experiences growing up before, during and after the second world war. Written with honest insight and a cheeky sense of humour.
Read
April 28, 2017I wanted to read this book because it described the years in which my own mother would have been a similar age. The book was charming and a delightful read. Made me hungry for the west country where I myself spent part of my teenage years. So treat yourself to a cream tea and tuck in to a delicious read.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews