Kisses on a Postcard: A Tale of Wartime Childhood

by Terence Frisby

Carefully labelled, and each clutching little brown suitcases, Terry, aged seven, and his elder brother Jack, eleven, stand amid the throng of children which crowds the narrow platform at Welling station awaiting the steam engine which pulls them and their fellow evacuees across the country towards their unknown destination, and their new lives...

Genres: Memoir, Biography, Historical, World War II, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Playwright, actor and director Terence Frisby’s most famous play is There’s a Girl in My Soup, the West End’s longest running comedy. He and older brother Jack, aged seven and eleven respectively, were WWII evacuees, in the Cornish hamlet of Doublebois, where they lived with ‘Uncle Jack’, a former Welsh miner with good old-Labour views, and his warm-hearted wife ‘Auntie Rose’.

The brothers remained in Cornwall for three years, and fully entered the rural life there, whose outstanding personalities ranged from Miss Polmanor, a starchy Wesleyan Methodist, to Miss Polmanor’s charge Elsie, a highly sexualised teenager, who succeeded in getting herself impregnated by one of the many American GI’s billeted here throughout the course of the war.

As a kind of watermark permeating the whole living texture of this charming wartime memoir is the benign presence of Uncle Jack and Auntie Rose, two very warm-hearted, gentle and generous people, for whom Jack and Terry’s well-being is uppermost – one imagines not automatically the fate of child evacuees in wartime.

The story has previous incarnations as a play, Just Remember Two Things: It’s Not Fair and Don’t Be Late, and as a stage musical based on that play.

What critics and bloggers have said:

‘Terence Frisby has done something difficult: he has made good times and good people more fun to read about than any melodrama, in a book that leaves one feeling grateful and happy.’ Diana Athill

‘I will say it again, a lovely lovely lovely book.’ Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover

‘Frisby’s book is an antidote to those misery memoirs which crop up everywhere.’ ‘I predict a classic.’ Stuck in a Book

‘Perhaps the best sign of how enchanting this book was to me, I didn't want it to end.’ Banter Basement

Kisses on a Postcard is a real treasure; it's told with love and fondness and humour and I never normally read memoirs by men so it's been refreshing and illuminating to have a male point of view on childhood for once. It really is a wonderful book that shows the tenacity and generosity of the human spirit, and I highly recommend it. Book Snob

This is a lovely book. I felt lonely when I’d finished it…Auntie Rose and Uncle Jack finished me off. I needed a hanky…. What a lovely book. T Frisby and I worked together on Playschool long years ago…but it’s just the sort of book I LOVE so thanks… Phyllida Law

[Lynsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit jumbled, would have liked a bit more order to it, but the content itself is fascinating. A very authentic-feeling insight into life for an evacuee. The last 50 pages or so in particular are great, really wanted to know more about some of the people in Frisby's adopted village!

[Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a change - a cheerful, heart-warming, evocative childhood memoir. A true delight.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly uplifting book, made me LOL in places.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly delightful heart warming read. I now feel as if I really knew "Aunty Rose" and " Uncle Jack", Terence Frisby has recreated his childhood self, and the world he found himself living in so beautifully, that the voices of these wonderful people ring out. So often with wartime memoirs we read of hardship, struggle, over whelming tragedy. loss and sorrow, but here we have a story of how two London brothers were welcomed into the home of a welsh couple in a tiny Cornish village, and the wonderful life they found for themselves there and the lessons that life taught them. We see Jack and Terry wage a wintery war on the village kids, and see poor Terry become a little sweet on Elsie - who is older and much more knowledgable about certain things. Jack and Terry soon become a part of this tiny remote community, where the arrival of black American soldiers isn't met with prejudice so much as sheer amazement. Of course not everyone is as lovely as Jack and Rose their foster parents, another constant presence is Miss Polmanor poor Elsie's gaudian, a relgious zealot who is hard and unyeilding. A thouroughly good read.

[Dominic Frisby · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful books ever written. But then I would think that 'cos my dad wrote it. This is a story close to all of our hearts.

The stage version is even better.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A glimpse into another world, good and bad alike. I found this a fascinating insight into the world of an evacuee.

[Caro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most delightful little book I've read in a long time. A true story about 2 brothers who were evacuated from London to Cornwall during the war. With only my mother's bad experience to draw on, (bearing in mind my mum doesn't have a bad word to say about anyone, but hated the people she was evacuated to), this book is a wonderful view of the flip side. Jack and Terry loved their 'aunt Rose and uncle Jack'. It brought me to happy tears at the end.

[Tristan Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. It can never be understated what a transformative experience it was for evacuees. The last scene with Terry saying goodbye to his foster parents to go home for good was tear jerking knowing he had developed an amazing relationship with them, and learned so much in his three years there. Made me cry!

Bravo to Terry for writing this and to his son Dominic who has kept this story alive!

[Flora Parkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half. A very sweet and nicely written book. Doesn’t have a particularly thrilling plot, but is comforting to read. It’s nice to recognise lots of the places mentioned in the book (Cornwall towns) and to hear a positive wartime story.

[Thomas Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone from the same area as the author, I was particularly interested in reading his account of his evacuation to Cornwall. It's a truly lovely little book, highly heartwarming, gentle, and humorous.Recommended.

[Paul Pettet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartwarming weekend read of a childhood lived a long time ago in a different era.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful story of a lucky war time childhood.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable audio book, well narrated.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Endearing story of two boys in WW2. I also listened to the podcast. Recommend

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heatwarming memoir of WWII evacuation of two children in Britian. These two boys were lucky to end up with good foster evacuation parents.

[Karen Langlois · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy good read that was sad at times but heartwarming. Funny, moving, sensitive book!

[Kathy Maddocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

An evocative tale of 2 brothers evacuated to Cornwall. This non-fiction account takes us back to children's lives during WW2.

[Marc Maitland]

This is a short and nicely-written account of a schoolboy’s evacuation to Cornwall during World War II, but it is also more than that. It is an appreciation of a lost world, a childhood where scrumping for apples was about the height of bad behaviour likely to be encountered, where visits to railways were still filled with excitement, where children by and large were … children!



Many stories have been told by wartime evacuees, some charming, some harrowing. This is certainly in the former camp, and one cannot escape the overwhelmingly warm reception the author and his older brother received from the elderly couple who took them in, as London boys in a world very far-removed from that to which they were used. That the boys, in particular the author, took to his new environment like a duck to water was in large part due to the welcome received in “the Court”, a sort of communal courtyard off which a number of cottages sprang, and where outside toilets and unlocked back doors were commonplace.



The seedier side of wartime life, such as underage pregnancy, and other interesting facets of life in leafy Cornwall, such as the arrival of a large contingent of black American soldiers in the build-up to D-Day, children playing in deserted army camps and the death of a child killed by a passing army truck, all add spice to this otherwise sweet and comforting tale, which I can commend to anyone with an interest in wartime childhood in Cornwall!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this nostalgic read. It made me smile and cry a few times. One of my favourite parts is the bit with the elephant. Surely something similar happens in Chevalier's Burning Bright, or was it Water for Elephants by S. Gruen? If all remembered and recorded accurately the freedom to roam and risks those children took are breathtaking in comparison to today. All our sad little play parks and purpose built facilities where one of the main aims is for parents to be able to keep a close eye on their off-spring...(but poor, poor little Teddy Camberwell....)

[Melyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable book recounting a child's experience being evacuated from London during World War II. I have been fascinated by this time in history ever since I learned that someone I know was sent to the countryside during the war. I can't imagine having left home at age 7, or being a parent who had to send my child away. The book had a lot of fun chapters and I especially liked Auntie Rose and Uncle Jack.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this it was interesting to read a story that reflected some of what my own parents experienced themselves in the war years as they were both evacuated, unfortunately their's was not the good side. I find this particular period of history always fascinating and have read many books about different aspects of World War II but this was the first from a child's point of view and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Sad, touching and moments of laughter.

[Tim Corke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kisses on a postcard is a wonderful reminisce from the authors time as an evacuee in Cornwall. It's a beautiful story full of innocence and exploration that compares to the fictional Goodnight Mr Tom, one of my favourites.

The story has been well written and clearly brought back lots of memories for the author which have remained with him and shaped the direction of his life.

Definitely read this. It's a feel good story that will recharge your faith in good people.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book told from the perspective of a little boy who is sent off to the country with his brother to escape the bombing in London during WWII. The book details his adventures with other "vackies" and children who reside in Cornwall. He develops a very sweet affection for the couple who fostered he and his brother for three years. This is a quick but very good read.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely story it was read by the author too, so even better. I love the stories about the evacuees (I think that is how you spell it)in the 2nd world war, as Mister Tom is one of my favourite books. The main characters Jack and Terry are lovely boys and Rose and Jack who took them in were just as lovely. There was a couple of times where there was a lump in my throat.

[Mrs Child · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recalled many stories my own father told me of his evacuation during the war. He was sent from London to Wales. He did not have the same happy memories as the author does in this story. Interesting read and gives a very personal touch to war time history.

[Hilary Tesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book vividly conjures up the author's evacuee life with his brother and the affection felt for their hosts for three wartime years. The author admits to inaccuracies faulty memory may have caused but the book feels entirely authentic.

[Gabriela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book, I recommend it to those who like reading war time stories.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely happy story of evacuees during the war. Usually these memoirs are doom an gloom, so a pleasure to read one of happy days.