The Avenue Goes to War

The Avenue #2

by R.F. Delderfield

World War II becomes an undeniable reality for the families of the Avenue in master storyteller R. F. Delderfield’s gripping sequel to The Dreaming SuburbWith the world at war again, the inhabitants of the Avenue confront an uncertain future. Longtime Number Twenty resident Jim Carver once found fighting immoral, but when Luftwaffe bombs fall on his beloved Avenue he dedicates himself to the war effort. His eldest son Archie has come a long way from grocer’s errand boy to owner of a chain of successful shops. Now he has fallen into an illicit affair with a neighbor on the Avenue whose husband is away fighting in the war. Esther Frith lives a solitary life on the Avenue, seemingly oblivious to the dangers of falling bombs now that the ravages of war have struck her family. Across the road at Number Twenty-Two, reclusive Harold Godbeer hates what the war is doing to his country. The Avenue Goes to War , the second novel in the Avenue saga that begins with The Dreaming Suburb , is a spellbinding novel about the connections forged between people during wartime.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II, War, British Literature, Novels, Historical

628 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Ronald Frederick Delderfield was a popular English novelist and dramatist, many of whose works have been adapted for television and are still widely read.

Several of Delderfield's historical novels and series involve young men who return from war and lead lives in England that allow the author to portray the sweep of English history and delve deeply into social history from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[❀⊱RoryReads⊰❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has been recommended to me many times over the years. Unfortunately it turned out to be a disappointment. Why? I think it's partly the way it's told; almost all telling and very little showing, as though the author were reporting on the activities of an ant farm. The characters don't speak for themselves very much, and even less to one another. The women are particularly odd. Did R.F. Delderfield actually know any real women? Based on this book, I would say no. The women in this book are cold selfish creatures, childlike simpletons, or perfect self sacrificing saints who live only for others. The men are allowed to be more complicated; a mixture of good and bad traits is acceptable without turning them entirely contemptible.

Delderfield seemed to believe that all the suffering that occurred as result of World War II was terrible, but people would soon get over it. His patriotism and righteousness never waver. It's similar to the propaganda that was so prevalent during the war, rather than being a more realistic picture of the time. Perhaps I've read too many mass observation diaries and memoirs of the period to enjoy this type of uncomplicated, emotionally distant writing on the subject. This book is of its time and will certainly be of interest to people who want to read fiction about World War II written soon after it ended, but there are far better books out there.

[Des · Rating 4 out of 5]

After my reread “The Dreaming Suburb”, a book that I read almost 50 years ago, I just had to read the sequel, “The Suburb Goes To War”
Both books are really two parts of a longer book “The Avenue”
“The Suburb Goes To War” is excellent and R.F. Delderfield is an outstanding and acclaimed author. I loved welcoming his work back to my reading life.
This book explores the social history of the emerging suburbs of England now at the frontline of WWII bombing and wartime Britain.
The fiction is rich and engaging with a compelling storyline and plot.
The characters, introduced in “The Dreaming Suburb” are further developed and the fiction becomes more engaging.
As previously revealed, the work is less about any protagonist, but rather about the people and their essence as members of a new suburban population, albeit framed in the context of WWII.
R.F. Delderfield is a master in creating wonderful prose and presenting captivating reading.
The entire work is refreshingly modern.
The storyline is never predictable, and it kept me engaged until the end of both quite long books.
Each book moves along quickly and is worth the enjoyment and satisfaction of reading every word.
The reward was that there were two parts to this work, both of equal enjoyment, both exceptionally well-written and both highly recommended.

[Bre Teschendorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part two of "The Avenue"-- to be read after The Dreaming Suburb.
I really enjoy the second part more because learning about what the English suffered and how they persevered against Hitler is amazing. There are lots of long political rants that are tedious but either side of those rants are juicy paragraphs full of soap-opera like happenings, romance, death, betrayal and the like.
It's the kind of book that you wish you could just read forever--- I would love for it to just go on describing the characters lives for as long as I live! I have read it twice and finished it with regret both times. Such a delightful book.

[Infosifter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continuation of the stories told in The Dreaming Suburb, The book describes how the characters fared through World War II. The story of the blitz is often told in an aggressively patriotic style, but this is more realistic, those still a tribute to human resilience. There is adventure, tragedy, joy, and occasional comedy. I didn't feel overly attached to any of the characters because of the episodic style of the book, but definitely cared enough about them to want to know what would happen next.

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

The people from The Avenue suffer through war and band together for the war effort.

[Alayne Emmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just as good as the first one. It deals with the same group of characters in the years of the second world war. Sometimes sad, but, mostly this was a joy to read.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I like about reading physical copies of books is its actual physicality. In the days when I read hard copy books, I choose what to read from the weight of the book, the cover, the synopsis on the back of the book. Now I primarily choose books by their price. Are they on sale? Is the Amazon description of the book intriguing?

Of course I have forgotten that description by the time it comes to choosing a book from the list on my Kindle. And then the list is long. It's like going into a library. I have a list of books I want to read, but I've forgotten why I wanted to read them.

I also have no idea how long they are when I choose to buy a book. I imagine I could find that information, but that is besides the point.

I think I chose this book because of its subject matter, how a neighborhood in England deals with the strain of war. I did not know the book was published in 1958 by a R.F. Delderfield, a British author whose focus on social changes in England made him popular, and I did not know that this was the second in a series of two books.

I also did not realize that the estimated time of reading would be 8 hours and 21 minutes. (Yes, the Kindle will tell you how long it will take you, based on your pace of reading.)

The sequel aspect and the length of the book might have kept me from choosing this book, and I would have missed a fascinating journey into the London suburbs, the culture, synthesized with the stresses, sacrifices, and challenges of war, combined with keen observations of humanity.

As the book closes, Delderfield, speaking for Jim Carver, one of the key characters, observe, "It was not possible to learn about people from books and pamphlets, and therefore it surely followed that it was not possible to learn how to govern from these sources. To understand and evaluate democracy, one had to live in a place like this, and live here for a very long time. One had to see all the penny-plain democrats at their weddings and funerals; one had to watch how they behaved under fire, but most of all one had to understand and sympathise with their dreams."

That's the appeal of this book, I think. Delderfield invites readers to see the war from the perspectives of neighbors who have spent most of their lives living together on a single suburban street, established at the close of the first war to end all wars.

At first, I enjoyed the quirkiness of the characters, thinking of some of the British shows I enjoy so much (Dr. Who, Torchwood, Midsomer Murders, Doc Martin), and then I began to see the world and the war from their perspective, how each "behaved under fire" and I truly began to "sympathise with their dreams," even as I began to see how London and the world changed as a result of this war that I have read so much about but really don't understand.

Delderfield's character development and his commentaries are exquisite. Sometimes I hate when authors take me from one character and point of view to another, but in this case, I wanted to follow all the stories, and with the exception of a few minor characters, I followed easily. Not reading the first book didn't matter except in the first chapter when Delderfield introduced them all rather quickly, and I wondered if I should be taking notes. I might have, I think, but it's hard to go backward and then forward in a Kindle, something else I am not fond of.

The book guides readers from 1939 to 1947, from Dunkirk to the Blitz to the V-1 bombs, from London to Wales to Devon to France and Germany, so that we can see what the victory cost, in lives, in money, in hopes, in dreams. Such a very long war.

Our current war is longer, of course, having begun in 2002, or 2001, if you start it on 9/11, but it doesn't touch us all in the same way. We don't band together to work with each other. If anything, we are polarized, and does seem like the sense of decency on the Avenue are lost in our country, so far away.

If I had seen the book, if I had understood what I was signing up for, I would not have chosen this book, but I'm glad I did.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delderfield celebrates the courage and determination of the everyday Londoners of "the Avenue". Each of the four central families of his story have men of fighting age, though bandleader Ted Hartnell is old enough that he has to conduct his personal war against Hitler by joining the Merchant Marines. Esme, Sydney, and Berni and Boxer approach the war in their individual ways, three of whom disappear into Europe for long periods of time. At home, every member of the Avenue has a role to play - keeping the home fires burning is no piece of cake. Yet life goes on, with our community members supporting each other in homey ways. The greatest suspense for me is waiting for Esme and Elaine to see sense, and choose what's right for them instead of their long-term dreams. The solution to Elaine's search is for me the most rewarding thread in this favorite reread.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. As with the The Avenue, the first book in this two-part saga, I became engrossed in the stories about all the people who live on "The Avenue" from the end of WW1 through the end of WW2. Though not up there with his best novels, I still enjoyed this saga very much. Delderfield is an old-fashioned story teller of the highest order who knew how to create great plots, but also characters who come to life on the page and become part of your life while you read about them. I miss them already.

This was my last Delderfield novel. So sad. I may have to start rereading his books all over again.

[Susan Liston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waited so long to read this sequel that I had to reread the other book before I read it, but finally, it's done. I was worried that it was going to be emotionally draining. And he does indeed rather casually dispatch a handful of characters and injure a couple of others, but if they made it through to the end they got a nice happily-ever-after. Which was almost a little bit too corny. But then while it's not that old of a book it's definitely what I would call old-fashioned, so I did kind of expect that. (But if he had killed off more characters, I probably would have been mad, so go figure.)

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delderfield is one of my favorite authors. His historical novels about England are so fasinating to me

[Elinor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel continues the parallel stories of the fascinating cast of characters who live in a London suburb during the Second World War. It's a sequel to The Dreaming Suburb, the title of which reflected the lull between the two world wars. Beginning in 1939, the simple but stalwart folks who live on The Avenue rise to the occasion, experiencing bombing raids and personal demons with aplomb. My favourite character was Jim Carver, a First War veteran who suffers great personal loss and revises his political views during the six years of war. Written in 1958, while war was still fresh in everyone's minds, this novel isn't as dated as one might expect.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the people we met in The Dreaming Suburb continues as they struggle and persevere through WW2. As with the first book, I never wanted to put it down, and I didn't want it to end. Such beautifully written prose made the setting, the time, and the characters come to life, and although it was a difficult time in the past, I did not want to leave it.

[Robert Paterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going home to my roots

I read all of Delderfield as a teen in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Now in my 70’s I am rereading them. It’s a delightful experience as I return to the England that shaped me and that now has all but disappeared

[Joann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! Very long. (Together in one volume with the Dreaming Suburb 1,000!pages! I must admit I skimmed a bit)
Wonderful characters. Great portrait of England before and during WWII. So glad I found this.

[Steve Prentice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel. It continues the story of the numerous characters introduced in ‘The Dreaming Suburb’ such as the extensive Carver family and Edith, Becky and Elaine Frith. The novel explores the dreams, aspirations and challenges of these multiple characters during the whole of World War 2, whose commonality is that they all reside or resided at Manor Park Avenue, part of a suburb in South London.

What makes this really interesting is that, not only are the characters that Delderfield creates fascinating in their own right, but he ensures that they are sufficiently different in personality traits, their attitudes to the war and their personal circumstances that a whole heap of social activities and active adventures ensue. And the activities and adventures all take place against the backdrop of the war. So the characters experience the phoney war, the Battle of Britain, the London Blitz - as well as references to other British cities razed to the ground in 1940 by the Luftwaffe - the war at sea, the D Day invasion of France, the bombing of Germany and so on.

This makes it sound as if the book consists of a series of battles, but it is not (although there are a few, fairly brief descriptions of the fighting). The point of the book is to explore how the events of the war affect and interact with the individuals caught up in it through no fault of their own, and how their personalities and attitudes determine their behaviours as they strive to achieve their own personal goals, often under the worst of circumstances. And this is really well executed by the author because he conveys the realities of the period together with the uncertainties that people must have felt as the historic events of the war unfolded, really, REALLY well.

Delderfield is a first class writer and it is a shame that he is fading from the public’s literary consciousness.

[Joan Strater · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd book in a series of two

When I first read this book, I didn't realize it was the second book in the series. It is a very good story and can certainly stand alone. But curiosity got the best of me so I read the first book "The Dreaming Suburb", and then read "The Avenue Goes To War" again. All I can say is WOW what a story! The books follow the familes of the Avenue, the first book starting around 1920. Jim Carver returns from WWI and finds that his wife passed away the day before his arrival, a victim of the Spanish Flu. He is left to care for seven children, the youngest being infant twins. It also follows the lives of others on the Avenue, Miss Clegg who cares for her addled sister Becky and gives piano lessons and takes in boarders to make ends meet. The Firths that nobody know much about. And Eunice Fraser, a young war widow and her son Esme. The second book picks up again in 1938 during the rumblings of WWII. And continues following the lives of these characters. These two books are an extraordinary story. Both are very involved books covering many characters across decades. If you are a fan of WWI and WWII historical fiction, I would highly recommend both books,whether you read them in their proper order or not. 😉

[Warren McGoldrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful, though quirky book with incredible character development following a group of suburban London families through WWII. THE AUTHOR JUMPS between a myriad of disparate individuals and groups, spread far and wide by war but always being drawn back to the “AVENUE”. One develops a relationship with someone only to find oneself drawn back to the AVENUE to focus on someone else. One never gets tired or feels stale if it’s an in likable character because next chapter will be a great one.
I was very happy I read this book and would love to follow their exploits post 1947 but no luck with this one.
I do believe the same characters are portrayed in the first of the series taking place between the wars but I hesitate to concentrate on them since I know how they turn out. If that’s important to you I’d suggest reading THE AVENUE” first but I wonder if I liked more the WWII activity with which I’m familiar than the people themselves. For you to decide.

Warren from Rhode Island…Age 75 ( So you may know where my opinions come from),

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this trip into stubborn little England as it faces down the Blitz, but I would have given this (and The Dreaming Suburb) more stars if Delderfield had not missed several dramatic opportunities. Number one: Who really robbed Archie Carver of his (literally) barrels of money, and how? I kept waiting for Delderfield to reveal the mystery, and he never did. (So I guess we're supposed to take Archie's view of the thief's identity as gospel -- not something I'd normally do with Archie.) Number two: Why does a much-hinted-at showdown never occur between Elaine's fiancé, to whom she has told all those lies about her first husband's brutality, and that very first husband, whom we the reader (unlike Elaine) know is alive behind enemy lines in France? Sigh. A good saga could've been even better.

[Theresemarxyahoo Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read anything by R.F. Delderfield in many years but I remembered how much I had enjoyed his books. The Dreaming Avenue, based on the period between the world wars, and The Avenue Goes to War, centered on World War II, tell the story through the lives of several people who reside on the avenue, a suburb of London. As I read, I felt as though I was living on the avenue, too. Not only is Delderfield an accomplished craftsman, but also his books give us a glimpse of life during these times. Just ordinary people living in extraordinary times. One can always count of Delderfield to show slices of life in his stories. If you are a fan of the author or the period, these are truly wonderful to read.

[Charlie Prendeville · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got halfway through this because it’s nicely written and I was putting up with the unrealistic plot line for a bit . When the women with the speech impediment, who had always dreamed of marrying a man called Phillip , falls in love with a man called Phillip and saves his life in a bomb blast I just about carried on . When the man is then declared deaf from the blast and is therefore impervious to her speech impediment the book was closed and consigned to a small category of books I’ve had to give up midway through

[Andrée · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and read it in tandem with Betty's Wartime Diary (fact based)
The myriad characters and their interwoven lives in both books kept me hooked from beginning to end. I understand better now why my Mum, and others of the WW2 generation, were so scathing of our response to the Covid Pandemic. As she commented acerbically, it's not as if we're being bombed - or had rationing....
Both books are ultimately upbeat and full of love - of every variety.
I now plan to read RFD's other books

[Ron Wroblewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part two that began with "The Dreaming Suburb", a British suburb starting from just before WWI and continuing to 1947. I love these multi-generational British novelists that put you right in the situation and has you rooting for the characters. It covers both the members of the family that go to war and those that stayed in the Avenue, a suburb of London. It brings out the scariness of German bombing and the V-1 and V-2 rockets fired on Britain. Excellent read

[Fran Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece

The Avenue books are an amazing journey through peacetime and war via the lives of friends and family in a South London neighborhood: life, death, marriages and separations and birth, multiple generations of characters brought to life by Delderfield's brilliant prose. Finishing the second book was like saying goodbye to old friends. I cannot recommend this two volume series highly enough!

[Mary Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this back to back with the first in the series, The Dreaming Suburb. Over the years I have burned out on books dealing with WWII. I made the exception since this was a sequel. I have to say that there was no disappointment. R.F. Delderfield weaves a wonderful story, masterfully intertwining different characters into a cohesive story line. I will definitely be returning to this author in the future.

[Eric C. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An all-encompassing view of English life in the 20's-'45

This is an e grows


This is a wonderful account following the lives of five families and their interactions during the stressful times leading up to and during the Second World War. I could hardly stop reading to eat or retire. One gets caught up in their travails and joyous occasions.

[Phil Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the residents of one particular fictional avenue in suburban London, it moves between different households and individuals, at the same time revealing how their separate lives entwine with one another. A very enjoyable, well-written read.

[Kath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago but still remember how involved I felt with the characters and how well he writes about the effects of war on ordinary characters. It is an epic work and I have only just realised there is a sequel so I may re-read the first two.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the follow up book to the dreaming suburb by Delderfield. It takes you through the lives of the same families during WW2 in England. Love this Book!!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it.