Mrs Miles's Diary: the Wartime Journal of a Housewife on the Home Front

by Constance Miles

Title: Mrs Miles's Diary <>Binding: Paperback <>Author: S V Partington <>Publisher: SIMON & SCHUSTER

Genres: History, World War II, Memoir, Nonfiction, War, Diary, British Literature

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2013

Reviews

[Caroline]

This is part of The War Diaries series, produced in association with the Imperial War Museum. It's the sort of thing I usually enjoy a lot. The diary was kept during the Second World War.

Unfortunately the author, who was also a journalist, didn't really contextualise enough, either with the friends she mentioned or with the various war initiatives she described - she was probably writing the diary for her own immediate satisfaction, with no plans to get it published later on - so why should she? But I found it very bitty. Her writings were backed up by copious footnotes in tiny type, (written by the person who edited the book), which regrettably is also something I dislike, and after a few pages I gave up squinting in an effort to read them. It would have been good if they could have been done in larger type, but perhaps that goes against publishing protocols.

The book did give us glimpses of things like the fear and worry that everyone was feeling, the challenges of taking on evacuee children, and the punitive restrictions of foot rationing - but it was just too disjointed, and the characters described were not fleshed out enough to be people that mattered to me.

I read about half the book and was left thinking what a pity it was that she hadn't written a memoir based on her diary. To learn about the experiences of an intelligent woman living in a Surrey village during the war is just the sort of social commentary that I find interesting.

I haven't awarded the book a rating because I never read the footnotes. I may well have had a different experience if I done so.

[❀⊱RoryReads⊰❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fascinating Mass Observation diary.

[Maura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fabulous. A "regular housewife"'s diary (ok, she was a journalist, so she can actually write well) of what life was like during a decent chunk of WWII (1939-1943, with a chunk of 1941 missing due to paper rationing). She talks about dealing with rationing and evacuated children and worrying about her sons and her friends' sons and the bombing raids and delayed mail and just a whole lot of day to day details that are fascinating. A tiny bit more context would be great, but on the whole the footnotes that connect her thoughts to actual battles going on at the time are REALLY helpful. So glad I picked this up at the gift store of the Imperial War Museum; very much recommended.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Constance Miles (1882-1962) was a British writer and homemaker who kept a private journal and scrapbook of news clippings during much of World War II while she lived in the countryside surrounding London with her husband Elystan, a retired Royal Artillery officer and veteran of the Great War (what we now call World War I). She was in her late 50s when war broke out in 1939, with two sons in their 30s whose safety kept her understandably preoccupied. Her elder son Harry (b. 1912) was medically disqualified from serving after developing ankylosing spondylitis and spent the war in what was then the British-controlled Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), while her younger son Basil (b. 1914) had just qualified to be a physician and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in North Africa, where he sustained serious injuries during the Second Battle of El Alamein but thankfully recovered. Miles' diary was published posthumously in 2013 as part of a series of first-hand accounts of life during wartime published by Simon and Schuster in association with the Imperial War Museums; other titles in this collection include A Prayer for Gallipoli: The Great War Diaries of Chaplain Kenneth Best, A Nurse at the Front: The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton, and D-Day to Victory: The Diaries of a British Tank Commander.

Miles' diary is slice-of-life style; she discusses news headlines she hears, how her neighbors are faring, her most recent news from her sons, what she and her husband had for breakfast, etc. The entries range from a few sentences to a few paragraphs, with copious footnotes inserted by the book's editor to clarify or correct what Miles wrote, as often the news she was privy to wasn't the complete story. This was an interesting first-hand account on what it was like to live through the war in London -- particularly the impacts of the Blitz and economic rationing -- though it also felt piecemeal and missing the broader perspectives (an inherent flaw in a single person's account).

My statistics:
Book 370 for 2025
Book 2296 cumulatively

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constance (Connie) Miles was 57 years old at the outbreak of the Second World War. Living in Shere, Surrey with her husband Elystan (Robin), Connie was a housewife and a professional journalist. Connie started her journal just before the outbreak of the war in 1939 and wrote what life was like for women on the Home Front.

There are many Mass Observation diaries written during this time (although Connie’s diaries were not specifically part of the MO project) and I liked the fact that it was written by someone who was slightly older when war broke out. There are some entries where I had to smile, where Connie comments that some of her friends had lost their housekeepers so how would their housework be done. She also comments that she’s depressed about certain countries falling under German occupation and in the next breath she’s having tea and cake in London. Being fairly well off, it was interesting to read a diary from this fortunate perspective, rather than someone like Nella Last for example.

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this subject. I wish that Connie had gone on to complete her diaries past 1943. But in her own words ‘I guess that I have done enough and said enough to show what war days were in 1939, 40, 41, 42 and 43’.

[Helen C · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the outbreak of the Second World War Constance Miles was living with her husband in the pretty Surrey village of Shere. A prolific correspondent with a keen interest in current affairs, Constance kept a war journal from 1939 to 1943, recording in vivid detail what life was like for women on the Home Front. She writes of the impact of evacuees, of food shortages and the creative uses of what food there was, and the fears of the local populace, who wonder how they will cope. She tells of refugees from central Europe billeted in village houses and, later in the war, of the influx of American servicemen. She travels frequently to London, mourning the destruction of familiar landmarks and recording the devastation of the Blitz, but still finds time for tea in the Strand.

[Ev · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I was expecting and more. Very interesting insight and made much easier to read by the locality of the book!

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the sub title says ‘The wartime journal of a housewife on the home front’ is exactly what it is. Good read, probably helped by knowing where most of the places are that are referred to. Enjoyable, thanks for taking the time to write your journal Mrs Miles and thanks for editing it well S.V. Partington.

[Agnesxnitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this diary written by an older lady (Mrs Miles was in her late 50s when she started writing these accounts) of her experiences during the Second World War. With two grown up sons serving, one then medically retired and then risking his life travelling to Africa, Mrs Miles was already an established writer and educated woman who made no bones about her opinions of politicians on both sides, the increasingly frustrating complexities of life in a country at war and the everyday life of queueing for basic foodstuffs and pitched verbal battles with the local Home Guard who have their eye on the Miles' property as a guard post in case of the constantly anticipated invasion.
A very different account from Nella Last, of 'Housewife, 49' fame, but very interesting in a different way.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could not warm to Mrs Miles until the last third of the book. This one suffered by comparison with many Mass Observation diaries, particularly Nella Last. Miles is said to be a "well-known" writer of her day--so well known that I could find no trace of her work online. Apparently she was a writer of girls' boarding-school books, but not one turned up, unlike many of her peers (Angela Brazil and Eleanor Brent-Dyer, to name only two, are still available via Gutenberg, FadedPage and other online reading sources). She also penned newspaper columns, particularly as a critic, though I couldn't find out of what. As far as the diary goes, I found it unengaging and distant until her son, an army doctor, is seriously wounded.

Miles was only a little older than Mrs Last when war broke out, and like Nella, she has two grown sons, one of whom joins up (after having his uniform tailored to fit!) while the other is declared unfit and heads for Rhodesia instead. She repeatedly "wishes" she and her husband could do more war work--and yet when the opportunities are offered, she is "aghast" and hopes she can get out of it! They are very well off compared to the Lasts, she shops at Harrods and has things delivered. Mrs Miles is no one's household manager; one minute they're having roast beef and the next she's dining on bread and milk so hubby can eat three herrings. They have a cook and housemaid, and when the callups for young women come, she gets hubby to pull strings so they can keep at least one of them. They dine out with people like General Montgomery, members of the nobility etc. Her husband says he is willing to do his bit--"if something suitable can be found." Suitable apparently means that he can do it from home, when he feels like it, as when asked if he can travel, he writes on the form: "Yes, if the details are satisfactory!!" (How does one define "satisfactory" in wartime? I wonder what the authorities thought of that!) Connie dithers and swithers and ends up helping out at a feeding canteen for evacuated children ("Impulsively, I consented") --for which she sits at the door and takes the money/tickets, and criticises all and sundry from her chair while other women her age and older wait tables, carry plates, ride herd on the kids, and wash up. She doesn't see fit to write much about her war work except when she moans about it. When the Home Guard wants to requisition the "flat" they rent out (the ground floor of their house), she is "perplexed" and most unwilling to cooperate!

Nella Last wrote as a medium of self-expression, and did it extremely well. Apparently Mrs Miles didn't bother unless she knew she was being paid for the inches, though as I can't find any of her work (not a scrap!) I can't really judge. Going by this, I am unimpressed. For such a well-travelled and educated woman, I expected a great deal more. As we say in Spanish, "Nada entre dos platos."
Two and a half stars.

Also, the footnotes on the ebook are misnumbered. When you return to the text you are taken to the point where the following note to the one you tapped on appears.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The war years in England as portrayed by a housewife. There are two parts; the first part is from the years 1939 to 1941 and Part 2 is from December 1941 to 1943. Realistically and honestly written from the author's perspective, she records her own thoughts and those of her family and neighbors as they navigate food shortages, bombings, and take in refugees.

"Went up to London for the first time in many months.. the desolation at the back of the great cathedral is truly frightful... it frightened me, as I stood looking across the great space full of ruins. A solitary tower, a tiny bit of a house with a curtain at the ghostly window, then -nothing as far as the eye could see."

[Lori Hooten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting look at the every day life of a lady in England during the days of WWII. It really broke some of my assumptions about how life was in very surprising ways. It showed real life, real emotion, real action, real friendship. It was a joy to read. It wasn't a page turner but it was very educational, broadening my understanding of how the war impacted regular families in the south-eastern part of England. From watching the bombers heading to and from London, to helping in community kitchens, to continuing to travel through the war and visit the theater or restaurants, it is one I will recommend to others who want to truly know about life during the war.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a lot of British home front war diaries and this one is a bit different from the rest. Most of them are concerned with their own little corner of the world with only occasionally mentioning other countries, battles, politics etc., but this author mentions everything! I learned so much from this book about what people were actually thinking at the time about what was going on in the world.

[Tiffany Johnstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Fascinating read. Especially about the trials of living in the Second World War and having to make do with the limited resources you have. Having to cope with the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen from one day to the next.

[Lorna Dykstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to read if you're interested in how the British middle class lived through WW2. It can get a bit confusing at times as the author casually makes reference to this or that person that she is familiar with but which the reader knows nothing about, so the editor's footnotes really help.

[Linda Noseworthy]

Very easy read. For those who don't like reading in journal format, this isnt for you. I enjoyed the journal format. It was short and concise and gave you the overall outlook of what was going on during world war 2 and touched on the lives of all involved.

[JOHN MCLOUGHLIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant slice of dark times.

I could almost feel this lady's emotions. Her highs and her desperate times. A real insight into lives of very ordinary people in such a horrific era for the world.

[Lisa Heal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing.

This is a fantastic read. I'd recommend it to everyone. A really good book. Is a really good book. A great read.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn’t really get on with it. Think it’s because of the diary lay out of the book.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting look at the home front in England during WWII.

[Jody · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed walking in the footsteps of a woman living through WWII in rural England and experiencing all the uncertainty, fear, hardship, and strength that characterized those years.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great look at what war was like for people on the home fronts.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs Miles wrote informatively about her life and communities life during the war years of 1939 to 1943. Their difficulties in finding food, all the bombs, the fright of planes flying so close to their home, the sadness of the realisation of the number of deaths. She writes of fears for loved ones overseas and the media coverage that often increased the fears in hearts and minds.
Reading these books about what went on at home during the war years has always interested me, I enjoyed reading this one.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from the fact that there are loads of typos in this edition( but so what - only cost me $3) it was a great little holiday read. I don't think I realised how little information was given to the general population, or how shambolic the Homeguard organisation was. It certainly does evoke the kinds of concerns and heartaches that everyday Britons lived with during those long years. So brave.

[Sally Kilpatrick]

If you're looking for a firsthand account of what Great Britain was like during the early years of World War II, then this book is for you. Sometimes I got a little bogged down in Connie's friends and family, but her account really brought home the apprehension and deprivation as well as the resilience of the British.

[Lynda Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating diary - well written

[Donna Boultwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled to get in to this book, mainly because of the diary writing style. But I did enjoy it. It's astonishing what they lived through.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of what WWII was like for those in England, the shortages, the terror, the courage and the ability to carry on in the face of overwhelming odds