Showing results by narrator "Anne Dover" in All Categories

A story from Night in the Front Line, a collection of Second World War short stories. In 'Night in the Front Line', the title story of this collection, Molly Lefebure vividly captures the different reactions of one small community to the Blitz. When Mrs Brown is found sheltering under her stairs during a raid, she is quickly rushed to the safety of the local school. There, amidst the chaos and panic, she meets an array of neighbours in varying states of distress.

The Second World War sparked the writing of hundreds of short stories by servicemen and women as well as civilians. They appeared in magazines and collections during and after the war and addressed all areas of the conflict, from the home front to service abroad. Short stories offer a wonderful insight into everyday concerns on the various front lines and illustrate the humour that kept up morale as well as the despair and confusion felt by so many.

In the year of her 100th birthday, Dame Vera Lynn's fascinating and life-affirming wartime memoir from the forces' sweetheart of her adventures entertaining the troops in far-flung Burma. "I was just 27 years old when I went to Burma. It was an experience that changed my life for ever. Up until that time I had not really travelled anywhere at all, apart from one touring visit to Holland with a band I was singing with before the war, and I had certainly never been in an aeroplane. But I wanted to make a difference, to do my bit." And she did.

When Ethan Postlethwaite, his wife, Grace, and their daughter, Amy, announce that they will be leaving the family home in the Yorkshire Dales, Grace’s parents are heartbroken. Hoping for a new life prospecting for gold in the wilds of Canada, the young family say goodbye and set sail across the Atlantic in search of a brighter future. The journey there proves hard and treacherous; upon arrival, it becomes apparent that the riches they had been promised in the gold fields have already been plundered.