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To All the Living
In January 1941 Griselda Green arrives at Blimpton, a place ‘so far from anywhere as to be, for all practical purposes, nowhere.’
Monica Felton’s 1945 novel gives a lively account of the experiences of a group of men and women working in a munitions factory during the Second World War. Wide-ranging in the themes it touches on, including class, sexism, socialism, fear of communism, workers’ rights, anti-semitism, and xenophobia, the novel gives a vivid portrayal of factory life and details the challenges, triumphs and tragedies of a diverse list of characters. Adding another crucial female voice to the Wartime Classics series, To All the Living provides a fascinating insight into a vital aspect of Britain’s home front.
Monica Felton’s 1945 novel gives a lively account of the experiences of a group of men and women working in a munitions factory during the Second World War. Wide-ranging in the themes it touches on, including class, sexism, socialism, fear of communism, workers’ rights, anti-semitism, and xenophobia, the novel gives a vivid portrayal of factory life and details the challenges, triumphs and tragedies of a diverse list of characters. Adding another crucial female voice to the Wartime Classics series, To All the Living provides a fascinating insight into a vital aspect of Britain’s home front.
403 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 6, 2025
A really interesting novel set in a munitions factory during WW2.
There was a huge cast of characters in this one and in the beginning I struggled to work out who was who, but they slowly began to emerge as individuals. The main focus is the mysterious Griselda Green, she is clearly not from the same class as the majority of the women who have signed up to work there, but she refuses to reveal her background. Then there is Dan Morgan, a decent man who is really trying to improve conditions in the place, but coming up against incompetence and red tape.
The author had experience working in a munitions factory herself, so it was nice to get an idea of what it was like. I had been vaguely aware that it was both tedious and dangerous, but knew nothing of the details. I will certainly re-read this at some point.
There was a huge cast of characters in this one and in the beginning I struggled to work out who was who, but they slowly began to emerge as individuals. The main focus is the mysterious Griselda Green, she is clearly not from the same class as the majority of the women who have signed up to work there, but she refuses to reveal her background. Then there is Dan Morgan, a decent man who is really trying to improve conditions in the place, but coming up against incompetence and red tape.
The author had experience working in a munitions factory herself, so it was nice to get an idea of what it was like. I had been vaguely aware that it was both tedious and dangerous, but knew nothing of the details. I will certainly re-read this at some point.
October 8, 2021
To All the Living, drawing on the author’s own wartime experiences at the Ministry of Supply, is the latest in the series which is aimed at bringing previously out of print novels about the Second World War back into the hands of readers.
To All the Living is packed full of detail about the minutiae of the daily organisation of the Blimpton munitions factory although there is less detail about the actual work the women carry out. Blimpton itself is a sprawling complex whose various buildings, some partially underground, are described as ‘looking like mounds of earth with a door cut in, like huge communal graves newly thrown up and not yet ready for the stone-mason’. Prophetic, as it turns out.
The book has a large cast of characters, some of whom are brought to life by Monica Felton’s observant and often unsparing pen pictures, such as Miss Creed, Chief Women Labour Officer, ‘a large faded blonde who might have been described as overblown had it not been so obvious that she had never flowered’. Or Senior Labour Manager, Captain Knowles, who ‘had a special way of laughing; a way that seemed to imply that anyone who thought his observation intended to be funny would be convicted of weak judgment and frivolous outlook’.
A satirical edge is introduced through the naming of some of the characters. For example, Lord Outrage, the Minister for Weapons Production, or Otway Dolphin, a Public Relations Officer for a factory whose operations must remain a secret. Or the aforementioned Captain Knowles’ proud boast about having been previously employed by a company named EELS (which we learn stands for Empire Exploitations Ltd.) I also enjoyed the author’s humorous descriptions and pointed asides that draw attention to the pomposity of various characters and the meaningless bureaucracy that absorbs so much of the management’s time.
The book’s cast of characters reflect the mass of people from all classes and backgrounds who found themselves working together at munitions factories like the fictional Blimpton during World War Two. Although having a common purpose, not everything at Blimpton is harmonious.
One of the issues Monica Felton explores in the book is the shortage of labour, especially of women workers. This is hardly surprising given the workers are often billeted in less than ideal accommodation, the work is potentially dangerous and frequently monotonous in nature. As one character remarks, ‘This isn’t a holiday camp’. The petty rules and restrictions, and the remote location of the factory add to the difficulties. This is exemplified by the experiences of new recruit, Griselda Green, who arrives at Blimpton Halt railway station to find there seems to be no transport laid on to reach the factory.
It has to be said the management of the factory, especially Mr Brown the factory’s Superintendent, don’t come out too well being depicted as ineffective, overly bureaucratic and averse to change. The exception is Assistant Superintendent Dan Morgan, whose efforts to improve efficiency and conditions for the workers are met with a lack of enthusiasm, even resistance. He comes across as a lone voice of reason, for instance when other members of the factory management seek to blame their failure to reach output targets on the poor quality of labour. He protests, ‘People are what you make them. The finest people on earth can’t travel twelve miles to work every day when there isn’t any transport’.
I’m afraid I must beg to differ with Alan Jeffreys in his introduction to the book in which he argues that To All the Living is more readable than other similar books such as Inez Holden’s Night Shift and There’s No Story There (both published by Handheld Press). Having read both of those books, I found them preferable to To All the Living which at 412 pages (not 312 pages as stated on the IWM’s online shop) requires quite an investment of time. Having said that, there are occasional passages of evocative description in which the writing really came alive for me, such as the following depicting those coming off the afternoon shift.
‘The spring evenings were clear and sharp, like winter. When the night-shift workers entered the factory, at a quarter to ten, a thin rim of dusk still hung around the sky, but when the afternoon-shift left, half an hour later, it was dark. Torches flashed on and off down the clean-ways. The shifting-houses were crowded… They jostled and shouted, flinging off their uniforms, hastily fastening the belts and buttons, the hooks and zippers of their own clothes, and then rushed out to reclaim their contraband at the entrance to the Danger Areas and to scramble to the buses that would take them to the Main Gates of the factory. Outside the gates the rush was intensified… Voices rose and fell, monosyllabic, tired; in the dark they seemed to come from nowhere; they were like the voices of England, all gathered together in one place: lively cockney voices, breaking into shrillness; the slow cold tones of the midlands, flat and unaccented; the singing voices of Wales, and the chipped, rough accents of Lancashire; soft, blurred country voices from twenty counties mingled into the chatter, the laughter, the sudden brief screams of townspeople lost in the darkness, homeless, fierce in their desire for rest and warmth and comfort.’
Although I may have enjoyed other books in the Wartime Classics series more, To All the Living certainly provides an insight into an often overlooked part of the war effort and highlights how much of a contribution to that effort was made by women.
To All the Living is packed full of detail about the minutiae of the daily organisation of the Blimpton munitions factory although there is less detail about the actual work the women carry out. Blimpton itself is a sprawling complex whose various buildings, some partially underground, are described as ‘looking like mounds of earth with a door cut in, like huge communal graves newly thrown up and not yet ready for the stone-mason’. Prophetic, as it turns out.
The book has a large cast of characters, some of whom are brought to life by Monica Felton’s observant and often unsparing pen pictures, such as Miss Creed, Chief Women Labour Officer, ‘a large faded blonde who might have been described as overblown had it not been so obvious that she had never flowered’. Or Senior Labour Manager, Captain Knowles, who ‘had a special way of laughing; a way that seemed to imply that anyone who thought his observation intended to be funny would be convicted of weak judgment and frivolous outlook’.
A satirical edge is introduced through the naming of some of the characters. For example, Lord Outrage, the Minister for Weapons Production, or Otway Dolphin, a Public Relations Officer for a factory whose operations must remain a secret. Or the aforementioned Captain Knowles’ proud boast about having been previously employed by a company named EELS (which we learn stands for Empire Exploitations Ltd.) I also enjoyed the author’s humorous descriptions and pointed asides that draw attention to the pomposity of various characters and the meaningless bureaucracy that absorbs so much of the management’s time.
The book’s cast of characters reflect the mass of people from all classes and backgrounds who found themselves working together at munitions factories like the fictional Blimpton during World War Two. Although having a common purpose, not everything at Blimpton is harmonious.
One of the issues Monica Felton explores in the book is the shortage of labour, especially of women workers. This is hardly surprising given the workers are often billeted in less than ideal accommodation, the work is potentially dangerous and frequently monotonous in nature. As one character remarks, ‘This isn’t a holiday camp’. The petty rules and restrictions, and the remote location of the factory add to the difficulties. This is exemplified by the experiences of new recruit, Griselda Green, who arrives at Blimpton Halt railway station to find there seems to be no transport laid on to reach the factory.
It has to be said the management of the factory, especially Mr Brown the factory’s Superintendent, don’t come out too well being depicted as ineffective, overly bureaucratic and averse to change. The exception is Assistant Superintendent Dan Morgan, whose efforts to improve efficiency and conditions for the workers are met with a lack of enthusiasm, even resistance. He comes across as a lone voice of reason, for instance when other members of the factory management seek to blame their failure to reach output targets on the poor quality of labour. He protests, ‘People are what you make them. The finest people on earth can’t travel twelve miles to work every day when there isn’t any transport’.
I’m afraid I must beg to differ with Alan Jeffreys in his introduction to the book in which he argues that To All the Living is more readable than other similar books such as Inez Holden’s Night Shift and There’s No Story There (both published by Handheld Press). Having read both of those books, I found them preferable to To All the Living which at 412 pages (not 312 pages as stated on the IWM’s online shop) requires quite an investment of time. Having said that, there are occasional passages of evocative description in which the writing really came alive for me, such as the following depicting those coming off the afternoon shift.
‘The spring evenings were clear and sharp, like winter. When the night-shift workers entered the factory, at a quarter to ten, a thin rim of dusk still hung around the sky, but when the afternoon-shift left, half an hour later, it was dark. Torches flashed on and off down the clean-ways. The shifting-houses were crowded… They jostled and shouted, flinging off their uniforms, hastily fastening the belts and buttons, the hooks and zippers of their own clothes, and then rushed out to reclaim their contraband at the entrance to the Danger Areas and to scramble to the buses that would take them to the Main Gates of the factory. Outside the gates the rush was intensified… Voices rose and fell, monosyllabic, tired; in the dark they seemed to come from nowhere; they were like the voices of England, all gathered together in one place: lively cockney voices, breaking into shrillness; the slow cold tones of the midlands, flat and unaccented; the singing voices of Wales, and the chipped, rough accents of Lancashire; soft, blurred country voices from twenty counties mingled into the chatter, the laughter, the sudden brief screams of townspeople lost in the darkness, homeless, fierce in their desire for rest and warmth and comfort.’
Although I may have enjoyed other books in the Wartime Classics series more, To All the Living certainly provides an insight into an often overlooked part of the war effort and highlights how much of a contribution to that effort was made by women.
December 31, 2021
Griselda Green becomes the face of munition factory workers, especially the women. The fragile balance of power, being the cog in the wheel of destruction and the crossing of boundaries when it comes to relationships, and whether the ideology contradicts and dampens said relationships.
Felton was a Jane Fonda of her era. A woman with an ideology, which was in direct contradiction to what the majority considered to be patriotic, hence the accusations of being a traitor to her country and people. A woman synonymous with fighting the injustice she perceives by the US and the complicit British.
I think it's fair to say that her own experiences during the war, which is probably what started her drive towards her political, economic and social ideologies. The injustices, the underlying sense of betrayal and abuse of power by the top echelon - the system seeped in the archaic rules of the patriarchy. All this and more is reflected in this story.
It also captures a part of wartime that is usually glossed over as the focus tends to be on action at the front, destruction and spydom, despite the fact the munition factories and workers were part of the integral structure of the war fight. I can't repeat enough how much I love the fact the Imperial War Museum is bringing all these important books back to the forefront of people's minds.
Felton was a Jane Fonda of her era. A woman with an ideology, which was in direct contradiction to what the majority considered to be patriotic, hence the accusations of being a traitor to her country and people. A woman synonymous with fighting the injustice she perceives by the US and the complicit British.
I think it's fair to say that her own experiences during the war, which is probably what started her drive towards her political, economic and social ideologies. The injustices, the underlying sense of betrayal and abuse of power by the top echelon - the system seeped in the archaic rules of the patriarchy. All this and more is reflected in this story.
It also captures a part of wartime that is usually glossed over as the focus tends to be on action at the front, destruction and spydom, despite the fact the munition factories and workers were part of the integral structure of the war fight. I can't repeat enough how much I love the fact the Imperial War Museum is bringing all these important books back to the forefront of people's minds.
October 1, 2021
To All The Living is the newest addition to the fascinating Wartime Classics series from the Imperial War Museums, which introduces forgotten novels from WWII to a modern audience. The women writers of the era have been especially overlooked, so it is great to see that this one is written by the female author Monica Felton.
In Felton's book we get a glimpse of the lives of the men and women working in a sprawling munitions factory in the remote fictional town of Blimpton, in 1941. Her examination of their experience supporting the war effort on the home front is comprehensive, covering a swathe of themes on both personal and political fronts, that combine bureaucracy, ideology, the practical difficulties of managing and staffing such an enterprise, and some very intimate dramas from a substantial cast of characters from all walks of life. This makes the novel somewhat sweeping and as rambling as the very nature of the munitions factory itself, and there is more than enough to hold the attention of anyone intrigued by the nitty gritty of life during wartime.
There is so much detail here about how the factories supplying the mechanics of war operated. This was repetitive and tiring work, for which the workers were paid very little, and Felton shows exactly why such factories found it hard to recruit and retain the staff they needed to run a smooth operation - it also shines a light on exactly why the decision was taken in December 1941 to conscript women to contribute to the war effort.
For all the intriguing factual information Felton lays out here, it is the human element of the book that is the most compelling. She delves deep into the lives of the ordinary people who find themselves rubbing shoulders with those that they would otherwise never have met, and engaging in the kind of work that would have been completely alien to them in peace time. The contrast in education, class, political views and social conventions among our cast of players is really brought to the fore as so many people from all over the British Isles are thrown together in Blimpton, uniting some of them with a sense of community and kindness, and driving others apart with simmering tensions and seemingly unavoidable clashes. Blimpton becomes a microcosm for the world at large, and discrimination and fear guide the actions of more than a few of its residents. Much of this is very telling about Felton's own wartime experiences, her ideological leanings, and her views of social mobility.
This is a book that focusses on both men and women, but for me it is the women who are the most interesting in this novel. In particular, you get a real sense of the sadness of those parted from their loved ones, and the grief of the women who have lost husbands or sweethearts and have found themselves torn away from the future they envisioned. Their pressing need to find a way to support themselves is poignantly tangible, and it is desperation that has brought many of them to Blimpton. There is plenty of gritty reality in these pages, and an atmosphere that reflects the despondency of a country beset with shortages and little in the way of good news, but there is also friendship, camaraderie, romance, humour, and a real sense of bloody-minded determination too.
I think it is fair to say that this is a book that takes a little while to get your head around as the style is very much of its time, the themes are diverse, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of (helpfully there is a list of characters at the beginning for you to refer to if needed). There are also references to more than a few political events and faces that would have been familiar to readers when this book was published, but are not well known to audiences today, which sometimes means Felton's more sardonic allusions get a bit lost - especially the in-jokes between characters.
However, this is a story that it is really worth the effort, as I found myself becoming rather fond of some of the characters and very invested in their lives, and the wealth of social history packed into the telling of their stories is incredible. This is a story of the home front as you have never seen it before, and it will make you think about aspects of the Second World War in whole new way.
In Felton's book we get a glimpse of the lives of the men and women working in a sprawling munitions factory in the remote fictional town of Blimpton, in 1941. Her examination of their experience supporting the war effort on the home front is comprehensive, covering a swathe of themes on both personal and political fronts, that combine bureaucracy, ideology, the practical difficulties of managing and staffing such an enterprise, and some very intimate dramas from a substantial cast of characters from all walks of life. This makes the novel somewhat sweeping and as rambling as the very nature of the munitions factory itself, and there is more than enough to hold the attention of anyone intrigued by the nitty gritty of life during wartime.
There is so much detail here about how the factories supplying the mechanics of war operated. This was repetitive and tiring work, for which the workers were paid very little, and Felton shows exactly why such factories found it hard to recruit and retain the staff they needed to run a smooth operation - it also shines a light on exactly why the decision was taken in December 1941 to conscript women to contribute to the war effort.
For all the intriguing factual information Felton lays out here, it is the human element of the book that is the most compelling. She delves deep into the lives of the ordinary people who find themselves rubbing shoulders with those that they would otherwise never have met, and engaging in the kind of work that would have been completely alien to them in peace time. The contrast in education, class, political views and social conventions among our cast of players is really brought to the fore as so many people from all over the British Isles are thrown together in Blimpton, uniting some of them with a sense of community and kindness, and driving others apart with simmering tensions and seemingly unavoidable clashes. Blimpton becomes a microcosm for the world at large, and discrimination and fear guide the actions of more than a few of its residents. Much of this is very telling about Felton's own wartime experiences, her ideological leanings, and her views of social mobility.
This is a book that focusses on both men and women, but for me it is the women who are the most interesting in this novel. In particular, you get a real sense of the sadness of those parted from their loved ones, and the grief of the women who have lost husbands or sweethearts and have found themselves torn away from the future they envisioned. Their pressing need to find a way to support themselves is poignantly tangible, and it is desperation that has brought many of them to Blimpton. There is plenty of gritty reality in these pages, and an atmosphere that reflects the despondency of a country beset with shortages and little in the way of good news, but there is also friendship, camaraderie, romance, humour, and a real sense of bloody-minded determination too.
I think it is fair to say that this is a book that takes a little while to get your head around as the style is very much of its time, the themes are diverse, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of (helpfully there is a list of characters at the beginning for you to refer to if needed). There are also references to more than a few political events and faces that would have been familiar to readers when this book was published, but are not well known to audiences today, which sometimes means Felton's more sardonic allusions get a bit lost - especially the in-jokes between characters.
However, this is a story that it is really worth the effort, as I found myself becoming rather fond of some of the characters and very invested in their lives, and the wealth of social history packed into the telling of their stories is incredible. This is a story of the home front as you have never seen it before, and it will make you think about aspects of the Second World War in whole new way.
October 4, 2021
This is the latest in the series of excellent reprints from the Imperial War Museum. They have ‘rediscovered’ novels written about WW2, mostly by people who experienced the conflict either home or away. Previous books can be referenced by clicking this link.
MonicaAuthor Monica Felton (1906 – 1970) was certainly an unusual woman and, to borrow a modern phrase, somewhat to the left of Lenin. In 1951, she visited North Korea as part of the Women’s International Democratic Federation commission and outlined her impressions in the book That’s Why I Went (1954), adhering to an anti-war position. In the same year, she was awarded a dubious and deeply ironic honour – the International Stalin Prize “for peace between peoples”
We are, then, immediately into the dangerous territory of judging creative artists because of their politics, which never ends well, whether it involves the Nazis ‘cancelling’ Mahler because he was Jewish or more recent critics shying away from Wagner because he was anti-semitic and, allegedly, admired by senior figures in the Third Reich. The longer debate is for another time and another place, but it is an inescapable fact that many great creative people, if not downright bastards, were deeply unpleasant and misguided. To name but a few, I don’t think I would have wanted to list Caravaggio, Paul Gauguin, Evelyn Waugh, Eric Gill or Patricia Highsmith among my best friends, but I would be mortified not to be able to experience the art they made.
To All The Living
So, could Monica Felton write a good story, away from hymning the praises of KIm Il Sung and his murderous regime? To All The Living (1945) is a lengthy account of life in a British munitions factory during WW2, and is principally centred around Griselda Green, a well educated young woman who has decided to do her bit for the country. To quickly answer my own question, the answer is a simple, “Yes, she could.”
Another question could be, “Does she preach?“ That, to my mind, is the unforgivable sin of any novelist with strong political convictions. Writers such as Dickens and Hardy had an agenda, certainly, but they subtly inserted this between the lines of great story-telling. Felton is no Dickens or Hardy, but she casts a wry glance at the preposterous bureaucracy that ran through the British war effort like the veins in blue cheese. She highlights the endless paperwork, the countless minions who supervised the completion of the bumf, and the men and women – usually elevated from being section heads in the equivalent of a provincial department store – who ruled over the whole thing in a ruthlessly delineated hierarchy.
Amid the satire and exaggerated portraits of provincial ‘jobsworths’ there are darker moments, such as the descriptions of rampant misogyny, genuine poverty among the working classes, and the very real chance that the women who filled shells and crafted munitions – day in, day out – were in danger of being poisoned by the substances they handled. The determination of the factory managers to keep these problems hidden is chillingly described. These were rotten times for many people in Britain, but if Monica Felton believed that things were being done differently in North Korea or the USSR, then I am afraid she was sadly deluded.
The social observation and political polemic is shot through with several touches or romance, some tragedy, and the mystery of who Griselda Green really is. What is a poised, educated and well-spoken young woman doing among the down-to-earth working class girls filling shells and priming fuzes?
My only major criticism of this book is that it’s perhaps 100 pages too long. The many acerbic, perceptive and quotable passages – mostly Felton’s views on the more nonsensical aspects of British society – tend to fizz around like shooting stars in an otherwise dull grey sky.
Is it worth reading? Yes, of course, but you must be prepared for many pages of Ms Felton being on communist party message interspersed with passages of genuinely fine writing. To All The Living is published by the Imperial War Museum, and is out now.
MonicaAuthor Monica Felton (1906 – 1970) was certainly an unusual woman and, to borrow a modern phrase, somewhat to the left of Lenin. In 1951, she visited North Korea as part of the Women’s International Democratic Federation commission and outlined her impressions in the book That’s Why I Went (1954), adhering to an anti-war position. In the same year, she was awarded a dubious and deeply ironic honour – the International Stalin Prize “for peace between peoples”
We are, then, immediately into the dangerous territory of judging creative artists because of their politics, which never ends well, whether it involves the Nazis ‘cancelling’ Mahler because he was Jewish or more recent critics shying away from Wagner because he was anti-semitic and, allegedly, admired by senior figures in the Third Reich. The longer debate is for another time and another place, but it is an inescapable fact that many great creative people, if not downright bastards, were deeply unpleasant and misguided. To name but a few, I don’t think I would have wanted to list Caravaggio, Paul Gauguin, Evelyn Waugh, Eric Gill or Patricia Highsmith among my best friends, but I would be mortified not to be able to experience the art they made.
To All The Living
So, could Monica Felton write a good story, away from hymning the praises of KIm Il Sung and his murderous regime? To All The Living (1945) is a lengthy account of life in a British munitions factory during WW2, and is principally centred around Griselda Green, a well educated young woman who has decided to do her bit for the country. To quickly answer my own question, the answer is a simple, “Yes, she could.”
Another question could be, “Does she preach?“ That, to my mind, is the unforgivable sin of any novelist with strong political convictions. Writers such as Dickens and Hardy had an agenda, certainly, but they subtly inserted this between the lines of great story-telling. Felton is no Dickens or Hardy, but she casts a wry glance at the preposterous bureaucracy that ran through the British war effort like the veins in blue cheese. She highlights the endless paperwork, the countless minions who supervised the completion of the bumf, and the men and women – usually elevated from being section heads in the equivalent of a provincial department store – who ruled over the whole thing in a ruthlessly delineated hierarchy.
Amid the satire and exaggerated portraits of provincial ‘jobsworths’ there are darker moments, such as the descriptions of rampant misogyny, genuine poverty among the working classes, and the very real chance that the women who filled shells and crafted munitions – day in, day out – were in danger of being poisoned by the substances they handled. The determination of the factory managers to keep these problems hidden is chillingly described. These were rotten times for many people in Britain, but if Monica Felton believed that things were being done differently in North Korea or the USSR, then I am afraid she was sadly deluded.
The social observation and political polemic is shot through with several touches or romance, some tragedy, and the mystery of who Griselda Green really is. What is a poised, educated and well-spoken young woman doing among the down-to-earth working class girls filling shells and priming fuzes?
My only major criticism of this book is that it’s perhaps 100 pages too long. The many acerbic, perceptive and quotable passages – mostly Felton’s views on the more nonsensical aspects of British society – tend to fizz around like shooting stars in an otherwise dull grey sky.
Is it worth reading? Yes, of course, but you must be prepared for many pages of Ms Felton being on communist party message interspersed with passages of genuinely fine writing. To All The Living is published by the Imperial War Museum, and is out now.
September 10, 2022
I hadn’t heard of this novel until I was at one of the Imperial War Museum gift shops. The IWM has republished several novels written during and about WWII. I don’t get excited for combat stories but I do go for homefront stories. I would describe this one as “Swing Shift” (1984 Goldie Hawn film) if it were written by a socialist. There is melodrama but there is also a lot of ink spent on private industry vs public works, exploitation or lack of care for ‘unskilled’ labor, the demands of production, false by convenient equivalencies in business (running a factory that fills dolls with sawdust does not mean that one can successfully run a factory that puts explosives into bombs). As for the melodrama, we have the old questions of who will turn up pregnant and unmarried, which girl will the decent Welsh guy end up with, will the strict and unhelpful matron get her comeuppance, and how does grief affect one’s ability to perform.
I don’t feel quite so bad about how nothing really runs smoothly in 2022’s late-COVID world after reading about how slapdash everything was during WWII. There’s no organization as to how the female workers are to get from the station to their lodging upon their arrival in Blimpton. Lodging itself is disorganized and the guarding of it becomes catastrophic for a few characters. They realized that workers do better with 8 hour shifts rather than 12 hours, but that means the factory needs 50% more accommodations, food, transportation, etc. The girls handling the TNT are not observing proper hygiene because to fully wash up for meal break would mean getting leftover scraps; to wash properly upon leaving the factory would mean missing the bus back to town and having to walk many miles. We get scenes of pompous management dismissing these problems, and then we see our beloved girls struggling through them. It’s very persuasive agitprop and I loved every minute because it’s also melodrama.
There are also very beautiful passages about the weather and the countryside. Just beautiful writing for its own sake, lest you think from my description thus far that it’s all dogma. I did not read the actual book, I listened to the audiobook instead and I cannot recommend it enough. The reader, Madeleine Leslay, is not someone I’ve heard before, but she enriched the experience with all of the accents of different regions and classes. I highly recommend making a list of the characters as they are introduced. There’s enough to fill a BBC miniseries and I do wish someone would make a telefilm of this.
I don’t feel quite so bad about how nothing really runs smoothly in 2022’s late-COVID world after reading about how slapdash everything was during WWII. There’s no organization as to how the female workers are to get from the station to their lodging upon their arrival in Blimpton. Lodging itself is disorganized and the guarding of it becomes catastrophic for a few characters. They realized that workers do better with 8 hour shifts rather than 12 hours, but that means the factory needs 50% more accommodations, food, transportation, etc. The girls handling the TNT are not observing proper hygiene because to fully wash up for meal break would mean getting leftover scraps; to wash properly upon leaving the factory would mean missing the bus back to town and having to walk many miles. We get scenes of pompous management dismissing these problems, and then we see our beloved girls struggling through them. It’s very persuasive agitprop and I loved every minute because it’s also melodrama.
There are also very beautiful passages about the weather and the countryside. Just beautiful writing for its own sake, lest you think from my description thus far that it’s all dogma. I did not read the actual book, I listened to the audiobook instead and I cannot recommend it enough. The reader, Madeleine Leslay, is not someone I’ve heard before, but she enriched the experience with all of the accents of different regions and classes. I highly recommend making a list of the characters as they are introduced. There’s enough to fill a BBC miniseries and I do wish someone would make a telefilm of this.
October 9, 2021
In To All the Living, by Monica Felton, we follow the day-to-day experiences of several men and women working at the fictional Blimpton munitions factory, from those who run the factory, to those working in the shops, as well as medical officers, middle management, administrative staff and others.
The author herself worked in the Ministry of Supply during the War, and consequently, this novel is a fascinating corrective to popular images of munitions factories being efficient, well-oiled machines staffed by young women who were excited to live independently and earn some money.
At the top, leaders transferring their skills from other industries (because how can anyone have relevant experience when there hasn’t been a war for 20 years and new weapons are continually being developed anyway?) have to wing it while finding central government more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to funding, staffing and supplies.
As with any workplace, personalities and agendas clash, and there are farcical scenes where it becomes apparent the left hand has been acting independently of the right hand, and the managers scramble to respond to unexpected visits from the Minister, Lord Outrage’s unhelpful representative, Alfred Gunn. We see a lot of Assistant Superintendent Dan Morgan in particular, a character who is ultimately likeable and well-meaning, but struggles to be effective as a result of the obstacles mentioned above.
For the female workforce in the shops, meanwhile, the work - when the supplies actually turn up - is repetitive, dirty, dangerous, and poorly-paid, and life outside of the factory is little consolation. Women who live on the on-site hostel (once it’s actually built) can’t do much with their leisure time because Blimpton is so far from civilisation.
Meanwhile, those who live in the nearest town, Dustborough, face a lottery over whether or not they’ll be billeted in a nice household, and have to travel miles each way on notoriously unreliable staff buses. It is cheering, though, to see that the women don’t just put up with things, and to see characters such as Ma Venning and Norah McCall flourish and make a difference in their own ways.
The author’s gift for human observation means that although there are a lot of characters, the insightful, sometimes quirky way she describes them, and the glimpse we’re given of their inner thoughts, makes them instantly distinctive and recognisable whenever they reappear. As well as Dan Morgan, Ma Venning and Norah McCall, standout characters for me were shop workers Griselda Green and Doris Chandler, and assistant medical officer Ruth Aaron.
For the most part, the book trundles along through the workers’ day-to-day interactions and grievances, but every now and then, there’s a development that takes you aback, as something devastating happens to a character you’ve grown attached to - it is wartime, after all. This is a long novel, and at the end I felt like I would miss many of the characters and wanted to know what happened next for them.
To All the Living is an fascinating and realistic portrayal of life in a World War II munitions factory, featuring sharply-observed and well-described characters.
The author herself worked in the Ministry of Supply during the War, and consequently, this novel is a fascinating corrective to popular images of munitions factories being efficient, well-oiled machines staffed by young women who were excited to live independently and earn some money.
At the top, leaders transferring their skills from other industries (because how can anyone have relevant experience when there hasn’t been a war for 20 years and new weapons are continually being developed anyway?) have to wing it while finding central government more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to funding, staffing and supplies.
As with any workplace, personalities and agendas clash, and there are farcical scenes where it becomes apparent the left hand has been acting independently of the right hand, and the managers scramble to respond to unexpected visits from the Minister, Lord Outrage’s unhelpful representative, Alfred Gunn. We see a lot of Assistant Superintendent Dan Morgan in particular, a character who is ultimately likeable and well-meaning, but struggles to be effective as a result of the obstacles mentioned above.
For the female workforce in the shops, meanwhile, the work - when the supplies actually turn up - is repetitive, dirty, dangerous, and poorly-paid, and life outside of the factory is little consolation. Women who live on the on-site hostel (once it’s actually built) can’t do much with their leisure time because Blimpton is so far from civilisation.
Meanwhile, those who live in the nearest town, Dustborough, face a lottery over whether or not they’ll be billeted in a nice household, and have to travel miles each way on notoriously unreliable staff buses. It is cheering, though, to see that the women don’t just put up with things, and to see characters such as Ma Venning and Norah McCall flourish and make a difference in their own ways.
The author’s gift for human observation means that although there are a lot of characters, the insightful, sometimes quirky way she describes them, and the glimpse we’re given of their inner thoughts, makes them instantly distinctive and recognisable whenever they reappear. As well as Dan Morgan, Ma Venning and Norah McCall, standout characters for me were shop workers Griselda Green and Doris Chandler, and assistant medical officer Ruth Aaron.
For the most part, the book trundles along through the workers’ day-to-day interactions and grievances, but every now and then, there’s a development that takes you aback, as something devastating happens to a character you’ve grown attached to - it is wartime, after all. This is a long novel, and at the end I felt like I would miss many of the characters and wanted to know what happened next for them.
To All the Living is an fascinating and realistic portrayal of life in a World War II munitions factory, featuring sharply-observed and well-described characters.
October 4, 2021
This is a book of its time. First published in 1945, this novel published by the Imperial War Museums chronicles life in a wartime munitions factory. It is well written social history.Tiis novel is full of misogyny, anti- semitism, fear of communism etc. In fact the factory in which it is set, called Blimpton is so large it could be considered a small town and all the men and women who work there bring all their prejudices and fears with them. All who work there seem to have an axe to grind. The contradictions that are voiced in this novel raises questions in the reader's mind. Such finding no quandary in expressing anti-semitic views whilst making arms to fight an anti-semitic enemy. Also the higher echelons of the factory are dominated by the male of the species. Women's rights and thoughts seem to be dismissed out of hand. Women must know their place. Then again this was the viewpoint of the timescale that this book is set in. Some would indeed argue that not much has changed.There is so much detail here about how the factories supplying the mechanics of war operated. This was repetitive and tiring work, for which the workers were paid very little, and Felton shows exactly why such factories found it hard to recruit and retain the staff they needed to run a smooth operation - it also shines a light on exactly why the decision was taken in December 1941 to conscript women to contribute to the war effort.I think this book was an exceptional fictionalisation of a time in our history that makes it accessible to the general reader where a dry nonnarrative history would not appeal.This is my first taste of the books on offer from the Imperial War Museums and it was an enjoyable and educational read.I recommend this book highly to all readers interested in this period of historical fiction
February 4, 2025
This novel is about women and men working in a wartime munitions factory, Blimpton. It is set in 1941, a difficult and frightening time during WWWII, the year of the London Blitz, and a time when Germany has occupied much of Europe and is invading the Soviet Union. It was first published in 1945, at or just after the end of the war, and is one of a number of books from that time reissued in the Imperial War Museum's Wartime Classics series.
This is a story of friendships and feuds and of workplace politics, focussing on a few characters, some working on the factory floor, others in management and personnel type roles. There is a lot of dialogue - meetings, formal and informal discussions, chance encounters, social events, workplace problems, references to politicians. Managers and Labour Officers are struggling to recruit and retain enough workers to meet production targets crucial to the war effort, but suggestions on finding more people, on accommodation and transport and improving working and living conditions for the women workers, are frequently dismissed or blocked.
Monica Felton was a very politically engaged writer, a socialist and feminist with experience of working in the war effort and civil service and in Parliament during the war, and her political sympathies are reflected here, sometimes with humour, sometimes through frustration, sadness and even a workplace tragedy. Through the discussions, she often shows how management views and decisions are all too often informed by sexism and class prejudice, while some of the more sympathetic characters express concern about women's working and living conditions, suggest that improvements here would help the factory running and production.
To All the Living is quite slow paced but I really came to care about the more sympathetic characters, and I was really interested in the social history aspects of the novel.
This is a story of friendships and feuds and of workplace politics, focussing on a few characters, some working on the factory floor, others in management and personnel type roles. There is a lot of dialogue - meetings, formal and informal discussions, chance encounters, social events, workplace problems, references to politicians. Managers and Labour Officers are struggling to recruit and retain enough workers to meet production targets crucial to the war effort, but suggestions on finding more people, on accommodation and transport and improving working and living conditions for the women workers, are frequently dismissed or blocked.
Monica Felton was a very politically engaged writer, a socialist and feminist with experience of working in the war effort and civil service and in Parliament during the war, and her political sympathies are reflected here, sometimes with humour, sometimes through frustration, sadness and even a workplace tragedy. Through the discussions, she often shows how management views and decisions are all too often informed by sexism and class prejudice, while some of the more sympathetic characters express concern about women's working and living conditions, suggest that improvements here would help the factory running and production.
To All the Living is quite slow paced but I really came to care about the more sympathetic characters, and I was really interested in the social history aspects of the novel.
December 27, 2021
I jumped at the chance of reading and reviewing this book! The book portrays an amazing account of men and women through the life in a munitions factory. This book brought about many different emotions, it brought me to tears, made me smile and also made me hold the book close until I could read on. The book is very honest and at times was difficult to read because of this. This was a fascinating read and I would love to read more. The more I learn about WW2 the more I would like to learn (my grandparents were part of WW2) and this book certainly taught me a lot. “Green hands” is a book I would really love to read in the series as it’s about the land army which holds a very special place in my heart.
December 26, 2024
Really enjoyed this though I do love me a historical fiction. War!!!! Hard times!!! Brits!!!!
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