The Home Front Hopscotch and Heartache while Daddy was at War

by Margaret Dennis Owen

Margaret Dennis was seven years old in 1941 when her father, Lieutenant Victor Dennis, was sent with the Winnipeg Grenadiers to defend Hong Kong against the Japanese Army. The battle of Hong Kong was a fiasco and on Christmas Day 1941, the Canadians surrendered. They spent the next four years in a prisoner-of-war camp.

The Home Front is the story of his loved ones at home. Told through the eyes of young Margaret, it portrays her mother, Lucy, and younger brother and sister during the four long years their father was away. With poignancy and humour, the author offers a colourful picture of Canadian life during the dark days of World War II.

Margaret Dennis Owen is a Winnipeg writer and a retired school teacher. She has been writing since 1972 and has published many articles. The Home Front is her first book. Margaret has degrees in Arts and Education from the University of Manitoba, and received her MA in English Literature in 2008. She has been married to her husband Bill for fifty-two years. Together they have three children and seven grandchildren.

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2011