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London War Notes, 1939-1945
"This is a firsthand account of the British civilian experience of World War II, written as it was happening. The entries are spaced about every 2 weeks, from September 3, 1939 until May 12, 1945".
378 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
21 people are currently reading
725 people want to read
About the author
Mollie Panter-Downes
20 books55 followersMary Patricia "Mollie" Panter-Downes was a novelist and newspaper columnist for The New Yorker. Aged sixteen, she wrote The Shoreless Sea which became a bestseller; eight editions were published in 1923 and 1924, and the book was serialised in The Daily Mirror. Her second novel The Chase was published in 1925.
After her marriage to Aubrey Robinson in 1927, the couple moved to Surrey, and in 1938 Panter-Downes began writing for the New Yorker, first a series of short stories, and from September 1939, a column entitled Letter from London, which she wrote until 1984. The collected columns were later published as Letters from England (1940) and London War Notes (1972).
After visiting Ootacamund, in India, she wrote about the town, known to all as Ooty, in her New Yorker columns. This material was later published as Ooty preserved.
Mollie Panter-Downes died in Compton, Surrey, aged 90.
Selected works:
- The Shoreless Sea (1923)
- The Chase (1925)
- My Husband Simon (1931)
- One Fine Day (1947)
- Minnie's Room (Short stories collected between 1947–1965) Republished by Persephone Books in 2002.
- Good Evening, Mrs Craven (short stories collected between 1938–1944) Republished by Persephone Books in 1999.
- Ooty preserved: a Victorian hill station (1967).
After her marriage to Aubrey Robinson in 1927, the couple moved to Surrey, and in 1938 Panter-Downes began writing for the New Yorker, first a series of short stories, and from September 1939, a column entitled Letter from London, which she wrote until 1984. The collected columns were later published as Letters from England (1940) and London War Notes (1972).
After visiting Ootacamund, in India, she wrote about the town, known to all as Ooty, in her New Yorker columns. This material was later published as Ooty preserved.
Mollie Panter-Downes died in Compton, Surrey, aged 90.
Selected works:
- The Shoreless Sea (1923)
- The Chase (1925)
- My Husband Simon (1931)
- One Fine Day (1947)
- Minnie's Room (Short stories collected between 1947–1965) Republished by Persephone Books in 2002.
- Good Evening, Mrs Craven (short stories collected between 1938–1944) Republished by Persephone Books in 1999.
- Ooty preserved: a Victorian hill station (1967).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
April 17, 2023
4.5 Stars
August 6, 2016
I struggled with this at first, and took some 6 weeks to read it, which must be a record for me with a Persephone book. Although partly caused by books for challenges taking preference, it was a lot to do with the impersonal tone of the book, which is a collection of fortnightly articles written for the New York Times by Englishwoman Mollie Panter-Downes. Her short stories such as Good Evening, Mrs Craven are wonderful, but these articles are so obviously propagandist in the first couple of years (trying to get Americans to support the British in the war, either directly or indirectly) that it is tiresome to read. Still, it's always interesting to read actual day-by-day accounts, and to realise how seriously the British were expecting an invasion after northern France was occupied in 1940.
From the beginning of 1942, it gets much chattier and easier to read, as she drops the propaganda which is no longer necessary. Then the surprises are more about how people foresaw things long before they happened - D-Day was expected from about a year before it happened, and was called D-Day a couple of months before. Even then, it was another year until VE day. Knowing the outcome as we do, it's easy to forget how unpredictable it was in real time.
From the beginning of 1942, it gets much chattier and easier to read, as she drops the propaganda which is no longer necessary. Then the surprises are more about how people foresaw things long before they happened - D-Day was expected from about a year before it happened, and was called D-Day a couple of months before. Even then, it was another year until VE day. Knowing the outcome as we do, it's easy to forget how unpredictable it was in real time.
July 10, 2025
A fascinating look at the day to day lives of Londoners living through the war.
July 8, 2025
I’ve been wanting to read this for years and what better year than the 80th anniversary of V-E Day? This collection of essays that Mollie Panter-Downes wrote for The New Yorker all through WWII is incredibly valuable for its fortnightly updates about the war as it was actually happening. If I was writing a novel, I would turn to this as a primary source immediately. Of course there were lots of details about an average Londoner’s view of the war news and the government’s steps or missteps. I found these political and military details less interesting than the details about rationing, changes brought on by the war like the blackout, etc., and the fluctuation in the intensity of the war as it was experienced on the home front. But really it was all worthwhile reading. Mollie moves so well between wry British humor about the absurdities of war and wartime living/communication/travel, etc. and communicating the real somber news of the war to an American audience. Now I want to read her collection of short stories set during the war as well as re-read her supremely lovely short novel, One Fine Day, which Virago has recently republished with a gorgeous cover.
September 5, 2018
I love primary sources and I've been wanting to try a book from Persephone, so London War Notes was just the thing. Panter-Downes lived in and around London during World War II and wrote weekly articles for The New Yorker, describing the state and mood of the city. This 459 page book is an edited collection of those pieces. I'm not big on military tactics or strategy but real, lived experiences on the home front are exactly my thing.
Panter-Downes paints a vivid picture of what London was like from the first rumbles of war, through the Blitz, up to VE Day. Her attention to detail serves well, and single sentence scenes bring the war to life.
There were so many things I hadn't even heard about. Blackout deaths, where vehicles would strike and kill pedestrians on the dark streets. Double summer time, a two hour version of daylight savings, was put into effect to try and conserve energy. And at one point newspapers were forbidden from printing weather reports, as it was feared it'd give the enemy an advantage.
The detail is paired with humor to make each entry pleasantly readable, despite the circumstances.
And when she aims at your heartstrings, she hits.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend London War Notes to someone with little interest, but if you're curious about the lived home front experience it's a great place to start.
Panter-Downes paints a vivid picture of what London was like from the first rumbles of war, through the Blitz, up to VE Day. Her attention to detail serves well, and single sentence scenes bring the war to life.
It has always been a strange and startling sight to see middle-aged Kensington matrons in fur coats standing grimly in line waiting for six pennyworth of gumdrops, as though it were Biblical manna.
There were so many things I hadn't even heard about. Blackout deaths, where vehicles would strike and kill pedestrians on the dark streets. Double summer time, a two hour version of daylight savings, was put into effect to try and conserve energy. And at one point newspapers were forbidden from printing weather reports, as it was feared it'd give the enemy an advantage.
The detail is paired with humor to make each entry pleasantly readable, despite the circumstances.
The Christmas dinner isn't going to be so particularly festive, either, from all accounts. Turkeys are difficult to find, though it's rumored that tinned ones will be available - a bleak prospect for those who can't work up any suitably seasonable emotions at the thought of getting out the yuletide can-opener.
And when she aims at your heartstrings, she hits.
Old men and women call to find out if they can be evacuated to safe areas and the bureaus try to find billets for them, but it isn't easy. "Old and infirm people take a good deal of looking after and people grow tired of them" is the official explanation - a full-length tragedy in seventeen words.
Once more London finds itself a blitz city. A city officially enters that class when people ring up their friends the day after a noisy night to find out if they're still there.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend London War Notes to someone with little interest, but if you're curious about the lived home front experience it's a great place to start.
December 31, 2024
This collection of "Letters from London," originally published from 1939 to to 1945 in The New Yorker magazine wasn't quite what I was expecting. I was hoping for a series of vignettes about things heard and seen on the London streets, about individual people the war correspondent encountered. Instead, most entries start with something along the lines of (flipping through the book at random) "The first public reaction to the news of the joining of the Libya battle seemed to be one of unqualified relief." (Nov. 30th 1941). The tone tends to be dry and impersonal, and we hear a lot about "the public" in general. Also Panter-Downes assumes that her readers know about the events she's referencing, as no doubt her original readers did, but me not so much. I read the first edition from 1973, and there's no introduction telling us about the author and how she gathered her material for the letters, and the barest bones of commentary. Perhaps the Persephone edition gives more context.
All this said, I came away from this book reminded of how splendidly the British behaved during the war (something that perhaps contributes to why so much recently published historical fiction is set in that era). I tried to consider what would happen if my neighborhood in Queens were experiencing what Londoners did (the bombardments, the deprivations, the regulations) and sadly concluded that as a whole, we would be appalling -- I can so easily imagine the selfishness, the uncooperativeness, the spread of false information. It really doesn't bear thinking about! Maybe there's something to be said for considering "the public" rather than individuals, but still, I'd rather read about the latter.
All this said, I came away from this book reminded of how splendidly the British behaved during the war (something that perhaps contributes to why so much recently published historical fiction is set in that era). I tried to consider what would happen if my neighborhood in Queens were experiencing what Londoners did (the bombardments, the deprivations, the regulations) and sadly concluded that as a whole, we would be appalling -- I can so easily imagine the selfishness, the uncooperativeness, the spread of false information. It really doesn't bear thinking about! Maybe there's something to be said for considering "the public" rather than individuals, but still, I'd rather read about the latter.
August 3, 2024
In 1939, at the beginning of WWII, Mollie Panter-Downes, a young and successful novelist at the time, began a weekly column in the New Yorker magazine, called "Letter from London." Her column was so popular that the New Yorker kept her on until 1984 (45 years!). This book is the complete columns from September 1939 to the end of the war in May 1945. Densely packed with details about daily life in London, it gives a different view of the war than most Americans grew up with. For us, the war started in December 1941, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Then we what, swooped in and single-handedly saved Europe? That's not how it the British saw it. They'd been fighting the war for over two years before we had any active troops there. They'd watched one ally after another fall to Germany. They'd been bombed, suffered much more extreme rationing than we ever did, and then still stuck to it until the end. They appreciated our help, along with Canada's, but they didn't feel that we were their saviors. In fact, the book doesn't even focus much on the entrance of the US into the war.
What interested me most about the book were the details of every day life. I think it was brilliant of the New Yorker to choose a woman for the column, as she was very tuned in to what the war meant not just for soldiers, but for women and children.
Some quotes:
"All over the country, the declaration of war has brought a new lease of life to retired officers, who suddenly find themselves the commanders of battalions of willing ladies who have emerged from the herbaceous borders to answer the call of duty. Morris 10s, their windshields plastered with notices that they are engaged on business of the ARP or WVS (both volunteer services), rock down quiet country lanes propelled by firm-lipped spinsters who yesterday could hardly have said 'boo!' to an aster." (Sept 1939)
"How to accustom children to a war which at any moment may come right into the nursery is something that exercises everybody. The juvenile genius for accepting new conditions has already, however, reconciled many a family to a father unaccountably vanished and a mother who in a tone of determined gaiety proposes a game of Mickey Mouse in one of these amusing new mask things. The most comforting reaction so far reported was the remark of the little girl who countered parental whimsy with a stern, "It's all right, Mummie. I know what it is. It's a gas mask, and we put in on when they bomb us." (Sept 1939)
"The fall of Paris [June 14th] was the culmination of a tragic week for the British people...On Monday, June 17th--the tragic day on which Britain lost the ally with whom she had expected to fight to the bitter end--London was as quiet as a village...People stood about reading the papers; when a man finished one, he would hand it over to anybody who hadn't been lucky enough to get a copy, and walk soberly away...There was little discussion of events, because they were too bad for that...Few people remembered that Tuesday was the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, another occasion when disaster trod very close on the heels of this country, and when it seemed impossible that [we] could stand up to the assault of the greatest military machine in the world, let by the greatest commander. 'Hard pounding, this, gentlemen,' said Wellington to his staff at one stage of that battle. 'Let's see who will pound the longest.' ...The determination to keep pounding the longest is the only thing that people have been able to see clearly in the past dark and bewildering week." (June 1940)
"Incidentally, the announcements of air raid deaths are beginning to appear in the obituary columns of the morning papers. No mention is made of the cause of death, but the conventional phrase 'very suddenly' is always used. Thousands of men, women, and children are scheduled to die very suddenly, without any particular notice being taken of them in the obituary columns...All that is best in the good life of civilized effort appears to be slowly and painfully keeling over in the chaos of man's inhumanity to man." (Sept 1940)
"It is realized that at best, the coming winter is likely to feature among its cold attractions more intensive bombing, new food shortages, and cold. The last will probably not be at all funny, owing to the critical coal shortage...the threatened winter milk cut has stirred up a lot of criticism too...Eggs are rationed at one a week to a person...Vegetables are plentiful; Londoners dug so manfully for victory this spring that scarlet runners in every back yard seem to be trying to strangle the house, and for the time being there is a greater danger of being hit by a marrow falling off the roof of an air-raid shelter than of being struck by a bomb." (August 1941)
And this was all before we entered the war.
I admit I skimmed some of the military details, but I did learn a lot about what was happening in Asia. I guess I'd never really taken in what it meant for Britain to have all those extensions of the British empire fall. Not that I support Britain's imperialism or the Victorian view of it's empire, but many people in England had family and friends there and worried about what was happening to them. And in the days before the internet, there was little information to be had.
What interested me most about the book were the details of every day life. I think it was brilliant of the New Yorker to choose a woman for the column, as she was very tuned in to what the war meant not just for soldiers, but for women and children.
Some quotes:
"All over the country, the declaration of war has brought a new lease of life to retired officers, who suddenly find themselves the commanders of battalions of willing ladies who have emerged from the herbaceous borders to answer the call of duty. Morris 10s, their windshields plastered with notices that they are engaged on business of the ARP or WVS (both volunteer services), rock down quiet country lanes propelled by firm-lipped spinsters who yesterday could hardly have said 'boo!' to an aster." (Sept 1939)
"How to accustom children to a war which at any moment may come right into the nursery is something that exercises everybody. The juvenile genius for accepting new conditions has already, however, reconciled many a family to a father unaccountably vanished and a mother who in a tone of determined gaiety proposes a game of Mickey Mouse in one of these amusing new mask things. The most comforting reaction so far reported was the remark of the little girl who countered parental whimsy with a stern, "It's all right, Mummie. I know what it is. It's a gas mask, and we put in on when they bomb us." (Sept 1939)
"The fall of Paris [June 14th] was the culmination of a tragic week for the British people...On Monday, June 17th--the tragic day on which Britain lost the ally with whom she had expected to fight to the bitter end--London was as quiet as a village...People stood about reading the papers; when a man finished one, he would hand it over to anybody who hadn't been lucky enough to get a copy, and walk soberly away...There was little discussion of events, because they were too bad for that...Few people remembered that Tuesday was the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, another occasion when disaster trod very close on the heels of this country, and when it seemed impossible that [we] could stand up to the assault of the greatest military machine in the world, let by the greatest commander. 'Hard pounding, this, gentlemen,' said Wellington to his staff at one stage of that battle. 'Let's see who will pound the longest.' ...The determination to keep pounding the longest is the only thing that people have been able to see clearly in the past dark and bewildering week." (June 1940)
"Incidentally, the announcements of air raid deaths are beginning to appear in the obituary columns of the morning papers. No mention is made of the cause of death, but the conventional phrase 'very suddenly' is always used. Thousands of men, women, and children are scheduled to die very suddenly, without any particular notice being taken of them in the obituary columns...All that is best in the good life of civilized effort appears to be slowly and painfully keeling over in the chaos of man's inhumanity to man." (Sept 1940)
"It is realized that at best, the coming winter is likely to feature among its cold attractions more intensive bombing, new food shortages, and cold. The last will probably not be at all funny, owing to the critical coal shortage...the threatened winter milk cut has stirred up a lot of criticism too...Eggs are rationed at one a week to a person...Vegetables are plentiful; Londoners dug so manfully for victory this spring that scarlet runners in every back yard seem to be trying to strangle the house, and for the time being there is a greater danger of being hit by a marrow falling off the roof of an air-raid shelter than of being struck by a bomb." (August 1941)
And this was all before we entered the war.
I admit I skimmed some of the military details, but I did learn a lot about what was happening in Asia. I guess I'd never really taken in what it meant for Britain to have all those extensions of the British empire fall. Not that I support Britain's imperialism or the Victorian view of it's empire, but many people in England had family and friends there and worried about what was happening to them. And in the days before the internet, there was little information to be had.
April 21, 2019
Brilliant, of course. Almost too eerie to read while the world teeters into Fascism all over again. Could only take it in small doses.
December 6, 2009
Amazing read ... history in the making in London during WWII. I love reading history as witnessed by a person as it happens without anyone going back afterwards and interpreting it for me. Highly recomended to any history-buff.
March 11, 2025
As the outbreak of war became inevitable, Harold Ross, editor of The New Yorker found himself in a quandary. His star Paris and London correspondent was trapped on the wrong side of the Atlantic so he took a risk on a young British author who, only in her early thirties, seemed to have the best part of her career behind her. His gamble paid off handsomely and Mollie Panter-Downes became one of his magazine’s stalwarts, contributing over 850 pieces in a career stretching all the way to 1984. Her short stories for the New Yorker are exquisite and a selection of them is available in two volumes also published by Persephone; her novel, One Fine Day, is one of the best to come out of the war. But she made her name with the 153 letters from the home front that Ross published in every issue of the New Yorker during the war. They run all the way from the declaration of war on 3 September 1939 to VE Day and form a remarkable commentary on Londoners’ day to day experience of the war. They are astute, pithy and surprisingly honest in their reporting of the difficulties being faced on the home front. This is no Mrs Miniver propaganda exercise: we hear of cheery spirits, making do and mending, anger and disgust at Nazi war crimes, but also of everyday grumbles, strikes, privations, officious bureaucracy, responses to mass bombing casualties and (in the middle years of the war) complaints about Churchill’s leadership. There’s also much to be said about hopes for the years of reconstruction that will follow the war, and anyone reading Mollie Panter-Downes’ letters won’t have been entirely surprised by the Labour landslide in the election of 1945.
January 24, 2024
Fascinating first-hand account of London during WW2. It was very readable and showed a totally different side of the war– mainly the civilian side of life in London and England during that period. It is a dense read and I’ve read one letter per day roughly over a 6-7 week period.
Mollie Panter-Downs wrote for the New Yorker and this book is her fortnightly articles from London. She is clearly flattering the Americans in the first couple of years (while waiting for them to join the war) and this adds to its interest.
Mollie Panter-Downs wrote for the New Yorker and this book is her fortnightly articles from London. She is clearly flattering the Americans in the first couple of years (while waiting for them to join the war) and this adds to its interest.
July 2, 2010
I enjoyed this book because it was interesting to get a different perspective on the events of WWII. She really focused on the daily grind of London, and it was a big contrast to what was going on in the US at the time. It's also the first WWII book that I've read that barely mentions the Eastern front, and makes almost no mention of Japan.
The only thing that bothered me was that you knew nothing about the author. She didn't tell you her job, age, how she got assigned to send these dispatches to the New Yorker, etc. I don't know if that would have changed the flow of the book, but I at least hoped for some kind of endnote telling me more about her and what happened to her after the war.
If you're interested in WWII history, this is a good book to read.
The only thing that bothered me was that you knew nothing about the author. She didn't tell you her job, age, how she got assigned to send these dispatches to the New Yorker, etc. I don't know if that would have changed the flow of the book, but I at least hoped for some kind of endnote telling me more about her and what happened to her after the war.
If you're interested in WWII history, this is a good book to read.
May 30, 2017
An excellent first-hand description of London life throughout WWII. Well-written, insightful and humorous, this account covers the political questions and media coverage as well as being an account of the progress of the war. It needs to be read in the context of a view of life from a monied, educated point of view, and that it was intended for consumption by the American media.
August 29, 2014
Fascinating first hand account of London during "The War". Excellent for research but also quite readable for anyone with an interest in the period. Really want my own copy now.
January 14, 2017
I'd give it 20 stars if I could.
did-not-finish
December 3, 2024I have tried only a few of those essays. I could see they were interesting glimpses of everyday life in London at the time of the IIWW. I think it is a must-read for everyone interested in the topic.
Yet, I am just not in the mood. I will put it for another time.
Yet, I am just not in the mood. I will put it for another time.
April 6, 2012
This was a dense read, but that makes sense since these were pieces written and published over the course of the war. It was totally worth the effort though because homefront life during WWII us definitely one of my interests. The entries are really interesting and good. The humor and struggle of day to day life amid bombs, rationing, and the many other trials of wartime life makes for a interesting read. I don't think anyone who lacks some sort of background knowledge of the war would pick up this book but I will say that while there are some things explained there seems to be an assumption that the reader would know a bit coming in.
This is a really great book for anyone who has an interest in learning more about what it was like to live in London at that point in time.
This is a really great book for anyone who has an interest in learning more about what it was like to live in London at that point in time.
April 23, 2022
Beautifully Written Observations of British Home Front Life in World War II
Mollie Panter-Downes is a beautiful writer. Born in 1906, she published a bestselling novel at age 17, and between 1938 and 1984 she wrote 852 pieces for The New Yorker magazine, many under the title, “Letter from London.” This book is a collection of those “Letters,” written between Sept. 3, 1939, two days after Germany invaded Poland, and May 12, 1945, five days after Victory in Europe.
In addition to being beautifully written, these letters enable the reader to understand what life was like for those on the British home front during the war. With the benefit of looking back, we now know how the war unfolded over nearly five years — which, obviously, those living through those many months of the war could not have known.
During the opening weeks of the war, Panter-Downes describes with tartness and tongue-in-cheek humor a civilian response that seems amateurish, especially when we know the tens of thousands of civilian casualties that lie ahead due to the Blitz and the German rockets that landed indiscriminately in the closing months of the war. Constraints in the availability of luxury foodstuffs at the beginning of the war will, we know, soon lead to serious food rationing. The destruction of British landmarks and modest homes alike are yet to come. And the fate of men fighting around the world will be a source of worry for those on the home front, although the author does not dwell much on these anxieties.
To provide an example of Panter-Downes writing, here is her Letter from London dated June 17, 1940, about the news of the fall of France to the Nazis:
“London was as quiet as a village. You could have heard a pin drop in the curious, watchful hush. At places where normally there is a noisy bustle of comings and going, such as the big railway stations, there was the same extraordinary preoccupied silence. People stood about reading the papers; when a man finished one, he would hand it over to anybody who hadn’t been lucky enough to get a copy, and walk soberly away.
“For once the cheerful cockney comeback of the average Londoner simply wasn’t there. The boy who sold you the fateful paper did it in silence; the bus conductor punched your ticket in silence. The public seemed to react to the staggering news like people in a dream, who go through the most fantastic actions without a sound. There was little discussion of events, because they were too bad for that.”
This is not to say that Panter-Downes is reporting as an average citizen, for she is clearly a member of the upper middle-class elite. Britain at the time was still a deeply stratified society. Although she is not a member of the aristocracy, she is comfortable in the presence of that class in pre-war Britain. Thus some observations of the conflict are those made from Knightsbridge, a wealthy neighborhood of central London, including, “It’s a tough outlook for the debs of 1940.” By contrast, her descriptions of the life of East Enders who bore the brunt of the Blitz fall back on stereotypes as she had little contact with this class of people.
For American readers, it is revealing that much of Panter-Downes’ sympathy is for the Russians who, once Hitler invaded, are bearing the brunt of combat. In several entries the author laments the delay in coming to Russia’s relief through opening a second front in Europe. While there is appreciation that America has joined as an ally, late American entry in World War I and the isolationist sentiment early in this war are the source of residual resentment. In fact, only in late 1942, with the invasion of North Africa, are U.S. soldiers engaged for the first time in combat. Perhaps because British character is on full display for the first two years of the war, when the nation stood alone, these dispatches have a poignancy that later letters do not.
Overall Panter-Downes provides a wonderful portrait of what it was like to live in London through the war and provokes the reader to consider how he or she might have felt if subjected to the same experience. Every writer has a perspective, and we have a clear understanding of the class to which she belongs. The quality of her descriptions make this collection of “Letters from London” a pleasure to read.
Mollie Panter-Downes is a beautiful writer. Born in 1906, she published a bestselling novel at age 17, and between 1938 and 1984 she wrote 852 pieces for The New Yorker magazine, many under the title, “Letter from London.” This book is a collection of those “Letters,” written between Sept. 3, 1939, two days after Germany invaded Poland, and May 12, 1945, five days after Victory in Europe.
In addition to being beautifully written, these letters enable the reader to understand what life was like for those on the British home front during the war. With the benefit of looking back, we now know how the war unfolded over nearly five years — which, obviously, those living through those many months of the war could not have known.
During the opening weeks of the war, Panter-Downes describes with tartness and tongue-in-cheek humor a civilian response that seems amateurish, especially when we know the tens of thousands of civilian casualties that lie ahead due to the Blitz and the German rockets that landed indiscriminately in the closing months of the war. Constraints in the availability of luxury foodstuffs at the beginning of the war will, we know, soon lead to serious food rationing. The destruction of British landmarks and modest homes alike are yet to come. And the fate of men fighting around the world will be a source of worry for those on the home front, although the author does not dwell much on these anxieties.
To provide an example of Panter-Downes writing, here is her Letter from London dated June 17, 1940, about the news of the fall of France to the Nazis:
“London was as quiet as a village. You could have heard a pin drop in the curious, watchful hush. At places where normally there is a noisy bustle of comings and going, such as the big railway stations, there was the same extraordinary preoccupied silence. People stood about reading the papers; when a man finished one, he would hand it over to anybody who hadn’t been lucky enough to get a copy, and walk soberly away.
“For once the cheerful cockney comeback of the average Londoner simply wasn’t there. The boy who sold you the fateful paper did it in silence; the bus conductor punched your ticket in silence. The public seemed to react to the staggering news like people in a dream, who go through the most fantastic actions without a sound. There was little discussion of events, because they were too bad for that.”
This is not to say that Panter-Downes is reporting as an average citizen, for she is clearly a member of the upper middle-class elite. Britain at the time was still a deeply stratified society. Although she is not a member of the aristocracy, she is comfortable in the presence of that class in pre-war Britain. Thus some observations of the conflict are those made from Knightsbridge, a wealthy neighborhood of central London, including, “It’s a tough outlook for the debs of 1940.” By contrast, her descriptions of the life of East Enders who bore the brunt of the Blitz fall back on stereotypes as she had little contact with this class of people.
For American readers, it is revealing that much of Panter-Downes’ sympathy is for the Russians who, once Hitler invaded, are bearing the brunt of combat. In several entries the author laments the delay in coming to Russia’s relief through opening a second front in Europe. While there is appreciation that America has joined as an ally, late American entry in World War I and the isolationist sentiment early in this war are the source of residual resentment. In fact, only in late 1942, with the invasion of North Africa, are U.S. soldiers engaged for the first time in combat. Perhaps because British character is on full display for the first two years of the war, when the nation stood alone, these dispatches have a poignancy that later letters do not.
Overall Panter-Downes provides a wonderful portrait of what it was like to live in London through the war and provokes the reader to consider how he or she might have felt if subjected to the same experience. Every writer has a perspective, and we have a clear understanding of the class to which she belongs. The quality of her descriptions make this collection of “Letters from London” a pleasure to read.
December 15, 2018
This is the book I had been looking for but didn't know existed. A series of letters from London about the war as experienced by the common man/woman sent once a fortnight to the New Yorker to be published. For six years Britain was at war with Germany and for a good portion of that feared imminent invasion. These letters were written without the benefit of hindsight and is packed full of delightful details that isn't important now or forgotten. It is more admirable, for all that it's toned down comparative to today's storytelling/myth-building, as you get a real sense of the weariness as the war ground on endlessly and and the building horror as destruction and death was met more and more casually as it got more familiar. This was an epoch that totally changed the culture of Britain and you can see it in these pages.
February 7, 2020
Mollie Panter-Downes, short story writer and novelist, was also a correspondent. She wrote a weekly column from the UK for The New Yorker throughout most of World War II--from September 1939 to VE Day. She thereby played an important role in preparing an influential segment of the American public to reject neutrality and support Britain. For her impact during the critical period prior to U.S. entrance into the war and in the difficult years thereafter, for her unique Home Front themes, for her instinctive recognition that the best propaganda is no propaganda, for her unerring selection of the most telling detail, and for the overall quality of her writing, she should be recognized as one of the great English language journalists of her time.
September 3, 2015
Credited with helping turning the tide in the US, these 'letters' to the New Yorker from MPD gave the ordinary Brit's view of the War. Not just life on the Home Front but its response to 'the news' - good, bad and indifferent, politics, rationing, the movement of children, women and works of art, the blackout, bombing, the country at war as it happened so to speak. It gave the Americans a bird's eye view of life on this little island as it fought the foe and fought alongside the friend and fed as many as it could too.
Makes you damn proud I have to say without even trying.
Toast
Makes you damn proud I have to say without even trying.
Toast
November 5, 2019
This book was a fantastic read. It deepened my understanding and conception of the civilian side of what happened during WWII in Britain more than anything I could have heard in a class lecture. I learned a lot about the important dates and scale of the war as well as how difficult it often was for people back home; there are so many tangible and psychological aspects of everyday life in peacetime that we take for granted! And the writing is amazing too; Mollie Panter-Downes is rather witty and exceptionally talented at writing in a way that is both impactful and succinct. Highly recommended!
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November 5, 2014Woman from London that wrote articles about about daily life during WWII for the New Yorker magazine. You can visualize exactly what she is writing about -- air raid drills, rationing, people's everyday lives, what they thought about being in a war, what they thought about the USA, France, Italy, etc. It's quite a good read. Plus she manages to let one know the views both good and bad about the other countries/people.
February 17, 2016
I love Panter-Downes fiction and while I enjoyed these essays I do prefer her fiction voice. These London dispatches are just a little too fanciful in style to have gripped me and made me feel like I lived in War Time London.
I still enjoyed the book, it is a real dip in and out volume but for a real feel on how London was during the war I recommend the reprints of Mass Observation diaries.
I still enjoyed the book, it is a real dip in and out volume but for a real feel on how London was during the war I recommend the reprints of Mass Observation diaries.
August 9, 2016
Having read Nella Last's diaries of life in Barrow-in-Furness, I was au fait with the shortages and almost knew enough history to get the references, but I hadn't been aware of the frustration of the populace with how long (in _years_) it took to get the invasion of Normandy going.
February 10, 2010
I very much enjoyed this. They were short pieces published during the war that showed how the social fabric (class system) was totally changing.
February 6, 2016
Really interesting to read these pieces, even if it often took a while due to having to look up the background to events/people/dates on Wikipedia.
October 22, 2017
An interesting, if restrictive reportage of the London middle classes during the Second World War.
November 8, 2017
more of a dip-in than straight-through book, I felt
April 25, 2018
A thoroughly interesting and entertaining read.
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