Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes

by Mollie Panter-Downes

For fifty years Mollie Panter-Downes' name was associated with "The New Yorker", for which she wrote a regular 'Letter from London', book reviews and over thirty short stories; of the twenty-one in "Good Evening, Mrs Craven", written between 1939 and 1944, only two had ever been reprinted - these very English stories have, until now, been unavailable to English readers.Exploring most aspects of English domestic life during the war, they are about separation, sewing parties, fear, evacuees sent to the country, obsession with food, the social revolutions of wartime. In the "Daily Mail" Angela Huth called "Good Evening, Mrs Craven" 'my especial find' and Ruth Gorb in the "Ham & High" contrasted the humour of some of the stories with the desolation of others: 'The mistress, unlike the wife, has to worry and mourn in secret for her man; a middle-aged spinster finds herself alone again when the camaraderie of the air-raids is over...'

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, World War II, Historical Fiction, War, British Literature

203 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1999

About the author

Mary 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).

Reviews

[[ J o ] · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, beautiful, wonderful, superbly written, dry, witty, sad and melancholy collection of short stories written from the perspective of those left behind during World War Two: housewives, mothers and sisters, girlfriends and mistresses, men too old or important to be thrown away in the trenches...

"Adrian's mother welcomed them as though this were just an ordinary visit, with nothing particular about it."

The main thing to note with these stories is that they are unashamedly about the British middle-class household, tucked away in big country houses that usually are only reserved for hot, summer days away from London. And "unashamedly" they definitely are, and they wouldn't work any other way. They are witty in a way you couldn't be with the working-class, because there would only be despair and melancholy, without any opportunity to laugh at the imbecilic upper classes whose only worry is the Chippendale underneath their covers.

And the stories are so real as to be almost non-fiction, which in a way they are, much like when you tell a story that really happened but change the name of the person, and where it took place, to save their embarrassment.

They dwell on the mundane, with only hints of the war, and that is where the magic arrives. It's all very well to read the poetry of those serving to get the horror of the minute, but the war lasted for years and not every minute was core-shaking terror. It was mundane and boring, sometimes almost normal, like before the war. For some-and many in these stories-it was a mere inconvenience. It wasn't war, it was just something happening somewhere else.

"Oh, you British, you British!"

Yet, these stories were considered "too English" for the English, but not for any anglophile living in America, where these stories were published. They speak of a world far, far away from the war in truth: of cosy homes and nighttime revelries, where only a dropped bomb can untie the social lives of the upper classes, and even then it is just a minor inconvenience, not a terrible, terrible act of war.

Mollie Panter-Downes wrote for The New Yorker for most of her life, with some virtually unknown novels splattered here and there. First and foremost, she was a journalist, which in the world of books, fiction and non-fiction, and even short stories, they are a different species altogether.

Following are mini reviews of each story.

'Letter from London: 3 September 1939': A bit of non-fiction to begin with, this is the first letter Mollie wrote for The New Yorker, and it paints an incredible and evocative picture of the Second World War from the point of view of a normal, middle-class woman observing London and those living there.

'Date With Romance, (14 October 1939)', 3 Stars: A great start to the collection, with a lovely and very short story of an older woman meeting a past flame with what begins as nervous excitement about what to wear, and ends with joyous triumph that she looks good, whereas he...

Written so well and so very evocative of the time. Too short to really comment on other aspects, but it definitely did enough to keep me reading Mollie's work.

'Meeting At the Pringles', (6 January 1940)', 3 Stars: A group of women who have had nothing to do except be wives and mothers indoors all their lives, relish the opportunity to be more when the war breaks out.

Again, well-written and evocative, but I'm not quite feeling the feeling for these yet. They enjoyable and such amazing social history, but as writing they don't have that... Certain Thing. You know what I mean. Still very enjoyable.

"A room never looks like home without flowers, don't you agree, dear?"

'Mrs. Ramsay's War (27 January 1940)', 4 Stars: A countryside woman takes in distant relations to save them from the bombing, whom-along with half their possessions and yapping canines-take it upon themselves to make Mrs. Ramsay's home feel more like a home (their home).

Definitely starting to get The Feels (though one feels the need to stress these are not the same The Feels as most users on here tend to get when Hot Broody Man and Headstrong Main Sassy Bitch Queen get it on /finally/) with this story.

The humour was so dry and witty and you could feel the loathing from every word; I loved it.

"A cup of tea does so pull one together, don't you think?"

'In Clover (13 April 1940)', 3 Stars: A middle-class woman kindly takes a pregnant Londoner and her children during the worst of the Blitz, obviously vying for Sainthood.

A very good look at the differences of Country and Town, Middle and Working Class during WWII. I have to say it doesn't seem like much has changed in 70 years, because I defy you to find a single English person that doesn't think a good cup of tea will solve everything, even desolate, despondent, poor and filthy Londoners. Even them.

'It's the Real Thing This Time (15 June 1940)', 5 Stars: A too-old soldier tends his cabbages with his sister, but longs for the battles of his youth.

This one really pulled at me for a variety of reasons. It wasn't just women who were left at home during the war, it was those who had previously fought for King and Country but were now denied the chance because their knees weren't quite as lubricated as they once were.

This speaks of so many different levels of social and political change in one simple short story. There is the warrior, who to our modern minds is a baffling creature, almost savage and not what we want our people to be, but they were fighters and it was their job-or even their duty-and the portrayal of one man's devolvement from cavalry officer to air-raid warden is unbelievably saddening. This one really got me.

'This Flower, Safety (6 July 1940)', 3 Stars: One old woman's journey to be as safe as possible, never mind the Chippendale and Silver.

I found this one more cute than anything. Mollie's stories are unapologetically middle-class and I really enjoy that (working-class represent) and this seems to sum up the futile nature of the middle-class hoard of decorative possessions and the human nature to survive, coupled with the fact that a war anywhere in the world impacts the whole world eventually.

'As the Fruitful Vine (31 August 1940)', 4 Stars: A young woman's family and friends are all a little too neutral about the fact that she is expecting a baby, right slap-bang in the middle of the war.

This is a great story showing that, yes the war is terrible and the bombs are dropping and good and bad people alike are being killed needlessly, but Life Still Goes On Regardless, as indeed it must.

'Lunch With Mr. Biddle (7 December 1940)', 3 Stars: Dinner parties must go on, and High Society will not tolerate boisterous conversation or the air-raid siren, as Mr. Biddle finds out.

A delightfully quick, witty and rather tongue-in-cheek story of the higher echelons of English society and how they deal with the war (or indeed, don't deal). Not as amusing as others, nor particularly characterful, but certainly that delectable Social History that lives longer than any ideal that was fought for.

'Battle of the Greeks (8 March 1941)', 3 Stars: The Red Cross sewing party meet to make pyjamas for the Greeks after their triumph over Mussolini and the conversation inevitably turns to war...

I found this more cute than anything else, which probably isn't the correct term but that's how it feels to read.

Middle-class women bickering, a great knowledge of the war and excellent writing is all I can really say about this.

'Fin de Siècle (12 July 1941)', 3 Stars: A bohemian, pacifist couple finally cave in to The War and begin joining in-and enjoying it-much to their own surprise.

As before, written superbly and with such subtle vision that its calm portrayal of how much the war-any war-can affect even the most bloody minded and philosophical.

'Literary Scandal at the Sewing Party (6 September 1941)', 3 Stars: More drama at the Red Cross sewing party, oh my.

As before, middle-class drama, the differences of generations and the subtle suggestion that women should and can do more than sew and make babies.

"Adrian's mother welcomed them as though this were just an ordinary visit, with nothing particular about it."

'Goodbye, My Love (13 December 1941)', 3 Stars: A mother worries for her children and their previous, precisesafety in the US, now that they are at war with Japan.

This one is much of a muchness with a lot of the others, with repeated ideals and metaphors.

Still excellently written, but doesn't have quite the spark as some of the others possess.

'Combined Operations (29 August 1942)', 3 Stars: Less about war, more about what it can do to people away from the fighting and the bombing...

Written really well and so excellently observered, you cannot read this one without the corners of your mouth twitching upward.

The War is barely to be seen here, which is a big a statement as if it had been. Life continues-especially, as we've learnt, for the middle classes-and even the most mundane, the most trivial, the most middle-class, irrelevant, utter nonsense can still prevail, and that is either spectacularly astute or frighteningly awakening.

'Good Evening, Mrs Craven (5 December 1941)', 3 Stars: Sadly, I found this tale of a soldier and his mistress a little boring, but also very saddening. It had its moments certainly, like any story in this collection, but this one felt flat.

'The Hunger of Miss Burton (16th January 1943)', 3 Stars: A quiet school teacher must endure the pangs of hunger during rationing, but can't recognise that they are also the pangs of love.

Trying hard not to define this one as "cute and quick", though it speaks of more than that. It felt a little already done, maybe in these stories, and the metaphor felt flat and dull.

'It's the Reaction (24 July 1943)', 4 Stars: A quick delve in to the lonely life of a woman living alone surrounded by noisy flats.

So sad and melancholy, the odd juxtaposition of the terrible nature of bombing with the joy of comraderie it brings. An excellent foray in to the other side of "coming together" for the war effort.

'Cut Down the Trees (4 September 1943)', 4 Stars: Canadian soldiers overtake a grand English country house, much to the dismay of the maid, but to the general delight of the old lady who owns it.

This is a wonderful story of social change, how things were and how things changed dramatically in English households after WWII. It condenses all social strata in to a few sentences and rolls over it with the inevitable power of change, where a world in which the upper classes dine under chandeliers with maids and butlers to help is to disappear almost entirely.

A smart look at something that hadn't changed completely but would almost as soon as the war ended. Panter-Downes can smell out every essence of the upper classes, their plights and their ways with the utmost detail.

'Year of Decision (29 April 1944)', 4 Stars: A man with a brain and steady job, sitting at his desk doing his own bit for the war effort... But it still isn't quite enough for him.

"What did you do in the Great War of Decision, Daddy? Stood at the sink, my boy, and got the sticky cereal unglued from your spoon."

An excellent look in to the male Psyche during war, a little in contrast with the forgotten major in the previous story 'It's the Real Thing This Time' yet still almost parodying the desire to be in the thick of the war, a left-over relic of the Empire, of the way fighting used to be for thousands of years.

Why be safe at home with those you love when you can be killed in action, parachuting from a moving plane 20,000 feet in the air? What kind of story would that be?

'The Danger (8 July 1944)', 3 Stars: Finally, Mrs. Dudley had her quiet house back as the Rudds make their way back to London: she had Done Her Bit. But was that really enough?

This story is a nice tongue-in-cheek look at the (hopefully not just but sadly probably) British way of Forced Sociability. Be nice, not because you want to, but because it is expected of you. This is why we're so passive aggressive, because we can't say no. Grin and Bear It, Keep Calm and Carry On: though truly the social divide brings most of the problems, especially during the war when the upper classes want to keep the parties going and the lower classes just want food and shelter.

Quite mesmerising and none of these stories would work if not from the P.O.V. of the middle-class housewife, tucked between their hydrangeas and silver spoons.

'The Waste of It All (16 December 1944)', 5 Stars: A wife left at home with not much to do fills up her home with friends or, when they run out, a young mother who was the victim of billeted soldiers with too much drink in them.

Incredibly apt to end on, a slight despondency in the manner of writing. Dry and witty in some cases, melancholy and a bitter spirit in others. It feels as if all the themes, ideas and metaphors of all the previous stories have been wrapped up neatly inside the thin, papery text of this final story.

'Letter From London (11 June 1944)' The final letter, detailing the sullen Tuesday that was D-day, fades the war from view. It isn't over but it might as well be.

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I literally devoured this book. It was wonderful. Mollie Panter-Downes has never been a name that registered with me, but after reading this heartwarming, funny, and romantic collection of wartime stories I am all set to search out her other writing. This is the second time recently that I have fallen in love with an author (the first being Jean Rhys) and it surprises me that Mollie P-D isn't more widely acknowledged. Her work shows every possible emotion that a woman during wartime could feel, along with every possible way a woman tried to cope. Although it's fiction it feels real, and is sure the author drew on her own experiences for much of the book. She has a wonderfully witty and gentle way of writing that makes everything still seem so relevant today.

[JimZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not all that impressed with the stories in the beginning of this 21-story collection. And then boom boom boom one 5-star story after another. All in all, a very enjoyable read, including the preface and afterword by Gregory Lestage who knew a whole lot about the author.

She wrote for The New Yorker and was one of their most prolific writers. She had 852 contributions to the magazine from the late 1930s (1938 to be exact) to 1987. That’s about 17 articles a year!!! 😮

These 21 stories were never published together as a collection prior to 1999…Mollie Panter-Downes had died in 1997.

What’s interesting about these stories is that they were written in “real time”. They were written while WWII was going on…from the very beginning to near its end. So, when Mollie penned her first story in 1939, she had no idea whatsoever of what the 21st story would be about. The stories are not about battles in the war. It’s what happened back at home…most of the main protagonists in the stories are women. This is from the preface by Lestage:
• They are brief, dramatic – and comic – testimonials to the ordinary English women who did not fight in the war, but lived through it as acutely as any solider…It is necessary to remember that more British civilians were killed than soldiers between 1939 and 1941. Therefore, one must read them as war stories. Not simply as stories written during the period, 1939-1944. In this sense, they make an important claim within war literature: that wartime experience is not a male franchise… Each story is a war relic: fragments of domestic life, of social detail, of feelings peculiar to, or enhanced by, war. Collectively, the stories provide a museum piece which is evocative through its emphasis on the personal and particular, the memorabilia of gas masks, evacuees, rationed chocolate, and air-raid sirens.

Here are the titles of the short stories, what issue of The New Yorker they were published in, and the ratings I gave them – and you can see my level of enthusiasm jump and remain elevated for most of the book. And every now and then my incisive comments that I jotted down after I was done with a story. 😊
Letter from London – 3 September 1939
1) Date with Romance – 3 September 1939 – 3 stars
2) Meeting at the Pringles – 14 October 1939 – 2 stars
3) Mrs. Ramsay’s War – 27 January 1940 – 4 stars
4) In Clover – 13 April 1940 – 3 stars [Mrs. Fletcher very rich and 24 years old. Takes in Mrs. Clark and her brood. They are very poor. And small and act like poor uneducated people.]
5) It’s the Real Thing This Time – 15 June 1940 – 3 stars
6) This Flower, Safety – 6 July 1940 – 4 stars [Some people seem far removed from the war. All they cared about was their own skin.]
7) As the Fruitful Vine – 31 August 1940 – 5 stars
8) Lunch with Mr. Biddle – 7 December 1940 – 4 stars [All he cares about is himself, his happiness, and he likes how he arranges soirees, little get-togethers. But let’s not talk about the war. Some people (from these stories) seem so removed from the war.]
9) Battle of the Greeks – 8 March 1941 – 2 stars
10) Fin de Siècle – 12 July 1941 – 3 stars
11) Literary Scandal at the Sewing Party – 6 September 1941 – 3.5 stars
12) Goodbye, My Love – 12 December 1941 – 5 stars
13) War Among Strangers – 17 January 1942 – 5 stars [Another poignant story. Mother’s kids are in San Diego, because she sent them there to be safe from the war but Japan has just bombed Pearl Harbor and she fears Japan will bomb California.]
14) Combined Operations – 29 August 1942 – 5 stars
15) Good Evening, Mrs. Craven – 5 December 1942 – 5 stars [Mrs. Craven isn’t Mrs. Craven at all. She’s Mr. Craven’s mistress and has been for years. He is away at war, and she does not know whether he is dead or alive. She resorts to calling his wife to find out whether he is alive. She decides near end of story to finally break it off from him but then changes her mind. Very poignant.]
16) The Hunger of Miss Burton – 16 January 1943 – 5 stars [Hunger, a story about hunger. All Miss Burton thinks about is food, no time or desire to think about sex.]
17) It’s the Reaction – 24 July 1943 – 5 stars [A very lonely woman, Miss Birch. During the Blitz everyone in the apartment complex spent the night together in the hallway (as a sort of air raid shelter) and she misses the camaraderie that developed during that time. Now everybody keeps to themselves and when she tries to be friendly to a formerly nice neighbor he rebuffs her.]
18) Cut Down the Trees – 4 September 1943 – 5 stars
19) Year of Decision – 29 April 1944 – 4 stars
20) The Danger – 8 July 1944 – 4.5 stars [Mrs. Dudley tells a potential boarder that she and her husband cannot stay in their home. She just had a loser family leave her house, they had been there for 4 years. I really couldn’t blame her.]
21) The Waste of it All – 16 December 1944 – 3 stars
Letter from London: 11 June 1944

NOTES:
The author was best known for her long-running column in The New Yorker, Letter from London running from 1939 to 1984.
There are two other books by Mollie Panter-Downes published by Persephone Books (that I will have to get my hands on):
• London War Notes (wartime letters written for The New Yorker) Republished in 2014 by Persephone Books
• Minnie's Room (Short stories collected between 1947–1965) Republished in 2002 by Persephone Books (from Wikipedia: The last short story in Minnie's Room, called "The Empty Place" and written in 1965, has a character called Harry Potter.)

Reviews (uniformly very positive):
• https://vipulagupta.medium.com/good-e...
• https://fromfirstpagetolast.com/2021/...
• https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2018...
• https://theselittlewords.com/2016/08/...
• https://savidgereads.wordpress.com/20...

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mollie Panter-Downes was the London Correspondent for the New York Times during WWI, writing “Letters from London,” from 1939-1945. Normally, I am not fond of short stories, but I loved these. There are twenty one stories in this collection and they deal with war from the point of view of those on the Home Front – mostly women.

These are stories of people making do, staying calm and carrying on – or trying to. Women on committees, women dealing with evacuees, or unwanted guests. There are also the ways in which war changed people. In one story, a young artist joins up, and his wife finds that his attitude towards the war changes from ironic to keen; another husband with a desk job longs for a more exciting role. There is a wife coping with her husband going away to war; a mistress who knows she will not even have the comfort of knowing if anything happens to her married lover, loneliness, isolation and hunger – all addressed with humour and humanity.

This really is a wonderful collection and I am delighted that I discovered it and know that I want to read more by Mollie-Panter-Downes. If you like this, you might enjoy, “Henrietta’s War,” by Joyce Dennys and “These Wonderful Rumours!” by May Smith.

[Nigeyb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories

Each is beautifully written and all contain fascinating little details of the lives and experiences of an assortment of (mainly) women back in England, whilst loved ones are absent, involved in various aspects of the war effort during World War Two.

For 50 years Mollie Panter-Downes' name was associated with The New Yorker, for which she wrote a regular Letter from London, book reviews and over 30 short stories.

Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes contains 21 of these stories.

The wonderful Persephone Books must be congratulated for bringing these stories back into print. Whilst the subject matter might not appear that riveting - sewing parties, evacuees, class tensions, separation, adaption of life during wartime etc - I can categorically assure you that they are filled with insight, drama, sadness, and humour.

5/5

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this collection of short stories.
Mollie Panter-Downes was the London correspondent for the New Yorker for many years. Here, Persephone Books have collected the stories written and published during WW2, about the people left behind. Everyday struggles with evacuees, coping without servants (imagine the horror), and worrying about loved ones.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved these WWII stories by Mollie Panter-Downes who was the New Yorker's London correspondent for the duration of the war (and well beyond). There are twenty-one stories here, originally published from 1940-1944, collected for the first time in this lovely paperback edition (three cheers for Persephone).

Like Panter-Downes' journalistic work from this time, her fiction deals with the home-front. All of the stories are shaped by the war, but there is no graphic description of it. One character is too old to fight. Another has a desk job that is too important; others do their part by sewing or sheltering evacuees. Above all they wait and learn to do without -- without luxuries, of course. Also, without husbands or lovers (or even news of them), and in some cases without quite enough food. The stories are on the surface uneventful but full of the looming presence of war -- they are set in quiet moments, in between bombs, as it were. When the Blitz is mentioned, it is always in a retrospective matter of fact way. It gives the book a slightly evasive quality -- if these stories were paintings, the War would be the negative space. Panter-Downes is looking at it askance.

Normally I am maddened by short stories that end ambiguously as most of these pieces do, but somehow here I didn't mind. My biggest frustration was that, with maybe two or three exceptions, I finished each story feeling that a novel I was enjoying had been snatched away from me before I could finish.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first experience reading Mollie Panter-Downes writing. She blew me away. She reads journalistically though layers it with perfect subtle details that nudges it into fiction. If that makes sense? She gives subtle descriptions of her characters' emotions which conveys so much left unsaid but is still being said. It is wartime after all and everyone is carrying on. Carrying on while clinging to various rituals that keep them from falling apart. Whether it be that familiar dining in a restaurant where years long trysts have occurred, a maid despairing at her mistress's abandonment of dressing for dinner and taking it in the kitchen, a gentleman taking his dinner at the club so as not to go home and be reminded he isn't in the active military, a retired military man past the age of service still having his guns ready for unsuspecting paratroopers... and I could go on and on. Each story in this book is full of characters living their lives in an extraordinary time.

I'm not normally a short story person. In fact, I was reminded of why when I was enjoying Panter-Downes' stories so much I ended up disappointed at the end because I wasn't ready for some to end! However, her lovely and impactful writing kept me reading and readily forgiving when each story came to a close. She has a way of capturing the snippets of life which would normally pass by and pushes pause on that scene in order to show its' depth. Just incredibly well done.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first paragraph of the first story in this collection:

Mrs. Ramsay dressed for her lunch with Gerald Spalding in a mood of fine old nostalgia, well crusted on the top and five years in the wood. It took her some time to decide what to wear. After a good deal of thought she chose the navy alpaca suit with a crisp lingerie blouse, for that made her look very trim and she remembered Gerald had once said she seemed to go around protected by invisible cellophane. Mrs. Ramsay felt that it would be tragic for Gerald to sit in Malaya for five years thinking about a woman in London who looked as though she were protected by invisible cellophane and then be faced with someone limp as a wilted lettuce in crumpled chiffon. The hat was a bit of a problem. Used to women skulking about under double terais, Gerald would possibly shy back in alarm from an old love glimmering at him like a submerged oyster through layers of chenille fishnet or making an Ophelia-like entrance under a haystack of pansies. There was nothing in Mrs. Ramsay’s cupboard that seemed to hit the note, so she went out early for her lunch date and picked up en route a quiet, lady-like little number with a touch of near-widowish melancholy in the veil. She also dropped in for a manicure. Gerald had always been rather foolish about her hands, she remembered.

[Doug H · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. The title story is particularly good but they all are good. Just don’t read them all at once or they might bleed together a bit. For an even more solid 5 star “psychological” reading experience, please try my favorite novel of 2018 by the same author: “One Fine Day”. Those scenes with the gypsy.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've ordered from Persephone books in London (http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/inde... it won't be the last. They reprint "neglected classics" by 20th century women (and a few men)like this one by Mollie Panter-Downs who was the New Yorker's London correspondent during the war. Her "Letters from London" were published from 1939 - 1945. The New Yorker also published a series of 21 short stories which were also written during the war years. This beautifully bound book from Persephone Books contains all 21 of those stories in chronological order, beginning and ending with two of her letters from London (the first dated September 3, 1939 and the last one dated June 11, 1944.) The stories in this collection all capture aspects of the ordinary lives of British people from a wide variety of occupations and social positions as they get on with the harsh realities of living during wartime. Although there's a definite element of heartbreak in some of the stories, none of the characters are sentimentalized. In fact what comes across most strongly isn't necessarily the heartbreak of war as much as the circumstances people found themselves facing in the course of simply getting themselves through the difficult business of living their ordinary lives in the midst of extraordinarily chaotic times . A further note about Persephone books: They always include a preface and afterward with additional information about the author, her life and her work. And the books are beautifully and elegantly presented in between endpapers that reproduce graphic designs of the period. In this case they were taken from a textile design for a printed dress fabric of the 40's, called "coupons."

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books about World War II are usually about soldiers, battles, campaigns, politics, or political leaders. These short stories by Mollie Panter-Downes focus on the war's effect on life in England viewed through the lives of ordinary British citizens--primarily women. The stories highlight the camaraderie that was forged during the air-raids which gave many lonely people a sense of community, the rationing and food shortages, and the difficulties associated with evacuations for both the host families and the evacuees. Mollie Panter-Downes was the New Yorker's London correspondent and she wrote these short stories during the war. The strength of Panter-Downes' writing is that she is able to evoke World War II--the fear, the bravery, the anxiety, and the overwhelming desire to keep life as normal as possible--without any actual descriptions of combat.

[Laurie Notaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect short stories, written precisely and wonderfully. Some are humorous, some are slightly wicked, some are stark. Life during wartime on the home front. Fantastic collection by a writer who deserves to be rediscovered.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delicious read for me. The stories got better and were so real. That's the way it was, folks.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mollie Panter-Downes portrays a kind of heroism defined by and for upper-middle-class English women. Stoicism, kindliness, reliability, and humour prove themselves on the fields of the domestic and personal. Responding to crisis, her characters make desperate, but quiet and steady, efforts to maintain equilibrium - and to be seen doing so.

~ from the Preface to this collection of Mollie Panter-Downes short stories, originally published in The New Yorker between the years of 1939-1944.

These are Homefront stories. In every single one of them, the war (World War II) looms large, and yet it is also the backdrop to women (and they are mostly women) getting on with their lives. The stories are strung together in chronological order, just as they were written. As Gregory Lestage points out in the Preface, they ring with the authenticity of a voice who was there, but that voice is unmistabkeably upper-middle-class English.

One of the big themes is how the war affected the traditional class structure of British society. In many cases, different classes are thrown together in a way that would have been impossible before the war: for instance, in the intimacy of huddling together in the Underground during the Blitz, or from being evacuated from the cities to the countryside. In the story 'It's The Reaction' - for me, one of the most poignant in the collection - a middle-aged Miss Birch finds herself missing the intimacy she had had with her neighbours when London was being bombed every night. As the residents in her building revert to their former habits of aloof privacy, she misses that brief period of camaraderie. But in the story 'The Danger', Mrs. Dudley feels nothing but relief when she is finally able to expel the London evacuees who had lived with her for four long years. A long period of intimacy had done nothing to make the city Rudds and the country Dudleys feel kindlier to one another.

Although Panter-Downes does show English women adapting bravely and stoically to the privations and difficulties of war, she doesn't gloss over the irritations, pettiness and rather 'small' human behaviour that punctuates daily life. In a way, the one really illuminates the other. One of the funniest stories about different types having to rub up together is 'Battle of the Greeks' - when a village sewing circle meets up at Mrs. Ramsay's house. Most of the group is disgruntled when they discover that they are sewing pyjamas for Greek soldiers. Their myriad (and mostly negative) feelings about Greeks are absurdly mixed in with British winceyette and a confusion about how, exactly, they are performing patriotic and dutiful acts. Dutiful, however, is exactly what they mean to be.

Mrs Twistle coughed gently again and remarked with implacable softness that the Greeks were very marvellous, no doubt, but in her opinion it was a pity that England had to have foreign allies monkeying about with her war.

It took me a few stories to get into Panter-Downes rhythm and to appreciate her more subtle points of insight and humour. She was describing the 'Homefront' as it gradually developed, and undoubtedly many of its constituents were far more likely to be fearful and selfish than brave and virtuous. She is realistic in the same way that her contemporary Elizabeth Taylor is realistic - sharp-eyed and not overly sentimental. Some of the stories seem superficial and others were even a bit dull, but each one builds up an increasingly more comprehensive portrait of how 'ordinary people' were carrying on during the war. She shapes specific experiences in her characters' lives, but you never get the sense that she mythologises them.

[JacquiWine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4. 5 Stars

Mollie Panter-Downes was The New Yorker’s England correspondent for the duration of the Second World War and well beyond. During the war years, she produced a significant output for the journal, comprising a series of fortnightly ‘Letters from London’ and twenty-one short stories (roughly one every three months). Luckily for us, these insightful stories have been collected together in this beautiful edition from Persephone Books, initially issued in 1999.

In essence, these are stories of ordinary British people – mostly women – trying to cope with the day-to-day realities of life on the Home Front. While the war alters the lives of all the characters we encounter here, the battleground itself is elsewhere – off-camera so to speak. Instead, we see women trying to accommodate evacuees from the city, making pyjamas for soldiers overseas, or doing their best to maintain some degree of normality around the home in the face of constrained resources.

To read my review, please click here:

https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2018...

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Panter-Downes was an English writer who wrote for The New Yorker for many years (46, in fact): Letters from London, book reviews, Reporter at Large pieces, and short stories, including these 21 stories which Persephone has collected for the first time. They're simply small slices of life in wartime Britain, of different characters in different situations. Some are humorous, some are melancholy; all are sharp and vivid, small gems of observation.

[Emily May · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure if my expectations were just too high after reading other Persephone short story collections (The Persephone Book of Short Stories, The Closed Door and Other Stories, Every Good Deed and Other Stories) or if I've just read too many war-themed books lately (Doreen, There Were No Windows, Saplings), but I don't understand why this book is so popular among Persephone readers. I found the stories in the first half lifeless and uninteresting, and while the second half improved, I still wasn't all that impressed.

To be fair, maybe I am just not that well-suited to super short stories. Even in the aforementioned collections, my favourites tended to be those that were much longer than the rest, almost novellas. Panter-Downes' stories were all very short, so maybe that didn't help.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book because I loved the packaging - a small square paperback with cover flaps showing a detail of the painting A Queue at the Fish Shop (Persephone Publishing knows how to make an attractive little book!). It was the perfect picture to use for a book of tiny slices of life in England during war time. These stories are truly gems. While I always knew that women and children evacuated London for the country during the bombings I haven't read that much about what every day life must have been like - both from the point of view of the evacuee and, even more interesting and at times entertaining, the point of view of the hostess. These stories depict people dealing with life as it marched on during wartime. I particularly enjoyed the recurring stories of the sewing circle ladies debating sewing pajamas for the Greeks. Every story was insightful, some humorous, others heart breaking but all of them pitch perfect.

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with the words in Introduction (of my copy) that those stories are full of an intense awareness of human loneliness.

Some of them I felt deeper, some less. Really precious were for example "Good evening, Mrs Craven", "It's the Reaction" and "Goodbye, My Love".

It was a queer feeling, exhausted but peaceful, as though her temperature had fallen for the first time after days of high fever. The end of something had been reached, the limit of some capacity for suffering.

Unfortunately, there were also some that weren't as moving or interesting as others. Partially, probably, because I knew such stories from e.g. Angela Thirkell's books.

Nonetheless, without a doubt, they were worth my time.

Going back to Walter's house had been like visiting a cemetery where there were no tidy tombstones recording beginnings and endings but only question marks over the graves.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now tied with The Redemption of Galen Pike for my favorite collection of short stories ever. The stories are written in a very specific style (not something that would be probably be considered "modern") but the writing is amazing and they evoke an incredible sense of time and mood. Even though many of them are dark, they were still like comfort food to me because I disappeared into their worlds and left my own behind for a bit.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delicious surprise. I don't know what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't these perfect, bittersweet, often witty slices slices of the home front during WWII. I found myself envious of any reader of the New Yorker in the 1940s who got to read these or Panter-Downes' Letter from London when they first appeared in the magazine. So far with the Persephone titles, I am 10 for 10.

[Jeslyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's clear that I give 5 stars far too often, but since goodreads doesn't let me give any "in-betweens", I'm hitting the '5' button again. At the very least it's an indication of the great satisfaction - JOY - of books that are as good or better than expected, and how often I've lucked out in finding them...

Again, kudos to Persephone Books for resurrecting such wonderful writing - often their books are formerly out-of-print novels, but in the case of Good Evening, Mrs. Craven, Persephone has worked with the estate of Mollie Painter-Downes to publish this collection of her New Yorker short stories from 1939 - 1944. It is bookended by two of her Letters From London, another extensive series she wrote for the New Yorker during the same period and well beyond.

These stories are absolute gems, slice-of-life insights into the upending of life during wartime. We've read countless heroic stories of war bringing out the best in people, and of course infamous reporting of it bringing out the worst, but Painter-Downes prefers to focus on the "middling" experiences and show us what can be found off the battlefield, in between the air raids, away from the dramatic and woven into the mundane. There is a peculiar brand of heroism to be found here, elbow to elbow with pettiness, endurance, and frustration - actions and reactions that remind us why human beings are so very fascinating.

The stories are laced with humor as often as melancholy, but don't overdose on either mood, making neither sport nor martyr of the subjects, which I really appreciated.

A note on the Preface and Afterword: so often I gloss over these in other books, as they come off sounding like notes from a class I would never sign up for...but without exception this publisher has provided fantastic insight in the "pre's and post's" of their books.

[the_wistful_reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes

These twenty-one stories appeared in The New Yorker between October 1939 and  December 1944.  She was a very prolific writer and wrote 852 pieces for the magazine between from 1938 to 1987!
"Wartime was a period of intense and varied creativity for her. She was in her prime and bristling with the writer's powers of perception.  She was looking outward when the British populace and its writers, out of necessity, were focused inwards."

This had been on my shelf for a long time and I decided there was no time like the present. A partly gentle and amusing read showing snippets of British women's lives during the war, with serious undertones of frustration, anger and loneliness.

"He put the paper down, and began to worry about the hot-water boiler, which hadn't looked too good when he stoked it up before bolting breakfast and dashing for the train. Janet, who had a cold, hadn't looked too good either. One or both of them, he felt, would have given up by the time he got home that night. He picked up the paper again, but the boiler kept on getting between him and the Russians, progress in Italy, poor old Travers plummeting down into some peasant's little bit of vineyard instead of going on, year after undistinguished year, getting in and out of bed with his big, jolly wife."

I really enjoyed this collection and recommend it to others who like writing from this period. 4 🌟

[We Are All Mad Here · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you really hate short stories... you should read this anyway.

I myself am not a terrific fan of short stories - I read Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories last year and figured that would do me until 2025 or so. Then I got this surprise in the mail (a gift from my husband, chosen by the lovely people at Persephone Books based on my previous purchases), and now I want to immediately read Minnie's Room: The Peacetime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes.

These stories were just so good. In each of them is a picture of the effects of WWII on the English who were at least a few, and in some cases, quite a few steps removed from the actual fighting. For example, the "Mrs. Craven" of the title, who is not a Mrs. at all but a mistress, and who worries that she'd never hear of it, should Mr. Craven be injured or worse, killed. As with nearly every Persephone I've read so far, I'm amazed that this book and its author are not more widely known.

This is the 8th book that Persephone published, and, coincidentally, the 8th that I've read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 21 short stories written during WWII in Great Britain focus mostly on the domestic side of the war instead of the battle front, often with a note of humor and always with delightfully acute prose. Stories focus on the interplay of personalities in committee meetings, mixed feelings about long-term guests and evacuees, partings and separations from loved ones, challenges of pregnancy in wartime, and, in general, wartime realities that are not quite what the characters were expecting.

“Both he and his sister were fervent gardeners. Little Mrs Trent, whose husband was in France and who often felt lonely, knew she could find them working on most fine days, the Major busy among the vegetables, Miss Marriott tying up the clematis and wearing a dress so flowery that many foiled bees buzzed angrily round her for a moment before going on to the less deceiving columbines." It's The Real Thing This Time

“'Ow, Druids!' Mrs. Peters exclaimed scornfully, as though she had always suspected them of being a slovenly lot of creatures who wouldn't think of mopping up afterwards. 'All I can say is give me twenty minutes at Stonehenge with a good, stiff brush and some Vim, and I'll get the place so you wouldn't object to eating your dinner off it.'" Literary Scandal at the Sewing Party

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in The New Yorker between 1939 and 1944, this collection of short stories views the war from the perspective of ordinary middle class English people, mainly women, who cannot participate directly but are nonetheless affected by the conflict, and often in unexpected ways. Mollie Panter-Downes writes with perception and warmth, bringing to life the sewing group bickering as they sew pyjamas for servicemen, the schoolteacher suffering constant pangs of hunger, the mistress waiting for news of her lover while understanding that she may never know his fate.

The stories are beautifully constructed and carefully observed. They show a world which is changing forever, and how this feels to the people caught up in change. Social distinctions are breaking down, and some characters look forward with hope, while others are nostalgic for what is lost.

These are all little gems that deserve being rediscovered. My favourites were It's the Reaction a stunningly convincing and poignant portrait of loneliness, and As the Fruitful Vine but every one of them was evocative and thought-provoking in some way.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, I realised that aside from Chamberlain and THAT piece of paper and that ubiquitous slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On”, I don’t know much about Wartime Britain. Thankfully, I found this amazing collection of short stories in the Persephone catalogue. This is exactly what I was in the mood for – these quiet stories set in the home front, stories about the everyday people, those left behind and how war had changed people’s daily lives. These stories are very reminiscent of the same stories my grandmother, who lived through the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during WWII, would tell us – about food rationing during the war, falling asleep to the click of the Japanese soldiers’ boots as they patrol up and down the streets after curfew or our favourite story about making a pillow out of bills to stash away their money to keep the Japanese from getting their hands on them. My grandmother also had this sense of wistfulness for that time before the War, that utopia that she referred to as “peacetime.” This is what I loved about this collection by Mollie Panter Downes – its simplicity, its subtlety, its lack of poetic drama, its sense of honesty in depicting the everyday lives in Wartime Britain. The subtle and quiet voice of all 21 stories is very much in keeping with the Persephone book.

There are 7 stories that stood out for me. These stories captured the many different lives and perspectives of the British society and those barely perceptible cracks that steer the ordinary person’s life during the war. In “It’s the Real Thing This Time”, we witness a WWI veteran face aging and a false sense of importance. In “This Flower, Safety”, a member of the English gentry tries to escape the war but realizes that war doesn’t discriminate and catches up with everyone. “As the Fruitful Vine”, a young wife of a British soldier who was sent to the front faces the uncertainties of pregnancy and raising a family, war and married life alone. You only learn to value something the moment you lose it and that’s evident in “The Hunger of Ms. Burton”, we get a glimpse of a life of food rationing and Ms. Burton’s relationship with food, where her hunger never leaves and fantasizing about food was constant. The title story, “Good Evening, Mrs. Craven”, explores the complicated relationship of a mistress with her soldier-lover. What is a mistress’ place in her lover’s life – a question made more urgent by a lover going off to the front. Finally, “It’s the Reaction” which is my favourite about a lonely spinster who found companionship and developed friendships with her neighbors through their shared experience of air raids during the Blitz. She tries to re-capture these after the Blitz but soon realise that these friendships were fleeting and goes back to a lonely and empty life.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this quiet book of WW2 short stories taking place in the UK. Panter-Downes writes exquisitely and descriptively, nailing a person or situation precisely and wryly. Often with unexpected humor that makes me re-read, thinking, "Did she just say that?!". Some of my favorites:

"At Gerald's club, the hall porter informed Mrs Ramsay, in discreet confidential tones which made her feel like a naughty Ouida lady visiting a man's chambers, that Mr Spalding had not yet arrived. The porter then came out from his dog kennel and smuggled her into a room full of imitation Chippendale furniture and genuine Sheraton members uneasily entertaining female period pieces to a glass of sherry."

The log fire was hissing in its interesting original way and an angry hiss of plumbing told the exact whereabouts of Nannie Hunter and her charge.

"'You have taken such a load off my mind, Helen darling.' she had said, ringing off, and on Tuesday the load had arrived as advertised, in a hired Daimler which bulged with Mrs Parmenter, Camilla on Nannie's knee, several rolls of bedding, the parlourmaid, two Pekinese, and a quanitity of luggage."

"All autumn, Mrs Parmenter had run out between the showers and picked the asters, saying brightly that an old woman must be allowed to do something around the house. Opposition would hardly have been hysterical if she had offered to make the beds, but her tastes appeared to be floral."

"The baby, sitting impassively in its mother's arms, wore a dirty red knitted cap in which it oddly resembled a wizened old sans-culotte, a mummified Marat with a snotty nose."

It had been part of the agreement, when the Rudds arrived, that Mrs. Rudd, besides keepng their own quarters clean, should assist about the house. Both these clauses, Mrs. Dudley had speedily discovered, were mere light-hearted figures of speech, for Mrs. Rudd was a slut.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the Battle of Britain and the Blitz has been boiled down into sentimentalized, romanticized jam with large chunks of Edward R. Murrow, and Queen Elizabeth's "I can look the East End in the face,"and Saint Paul's stark against the smoke of fires from bombs, then Molly Panter-Downes stories certainly are part of that jam as well; they should be a better known part, but all but two of these stories had never appeared anywhere outside their initial publication in The New Yorker in the 1940s. This is propaganda, like Mrs. Miniver or Casablanca, but charming, often funny, occasionally poignant and sad propaganda. War is hell; but in these stories the hell is heartache for a missing lover, or the petty annoyances of strange evacuees living in your house in the country for four years. What I particularly liked about this book is the "on the ground" feel of the stories; these pining wives and mistresses, old ladies knitting and old servants aghast at Canadian soldiers all seemed so real. Panter-Downes wasn't writing these stories from memories stored up years later; she was writing them as the war happened around her. There aren't casualties and mayhem and bloody bombs; there is very real people facing the war in various and sundry ways. It's not a period piece though; the stories still have the power of resonance even today.