I am delighted to let all my readers, friends, and family know that GOODNIGHT CHILDREN, EVERYWHERE, is complete. My new book will be published in late August, in time to mark the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of the children from the cities in September 1939, just before Britain declared war with Germany.
GOODNIGHT CHILDREN, EVERYWHERE, is a collection of stories told by evacuees, themselves, as they reminisce about their experiences as children, snatched away from home and family, some as young as three years old. Their parents were discouraged from seeing them off at railway stations; they didn't know where their children were going, nor were they certain that they would ever see them again.
Some of the children were placed with gracious and kind families who cared for them as they would for their own children. Others were not as fortunate. Some were faced with anti-Semitism for the first time in their lives. For many, though, life in the countryside was new and delightful and they developed a life-long love for the country and for growing things.
As one of those evacuees, myself, I have my own story - the good and the bad - that winds through the book. Like so many, I returned home to London during the "phony" war, when nothing seemed to be happening, only to be caught in the Blitz - and sent away, again.
To augment the children's stories, I researched archives at the Imperial War Museum in London, and at other Record Offices, collecting some photographs that bring that time back as thought it were yesterday.
The publisher is The History Press, Ltd. and the book is already listed on Amazon for pre-ordering.
I hope you will enjoy reading what is now described as "history" for it really tells how world events over which we have no control, especially as children, shape our nature and our destiny for as long as we live.
