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1940: A story of how one Lincolnshire village came to stand up to Hitler
There Was a Time
What you need to know before your trail
As Churchill and the nation face their finest hour in 1940, a Lincolnshire village wakes up to a glorious summer’s morning.Following Dunkirk, the fate of the whole war will soon rest with the RAF and their desperate effort to win the Battle of Britain. If they fail, Hitler’s next step will be invasion.And as the scene comes to life before us over the next six months, this shadow of war will not disappear.From the pub to the church, struggling single mother to the lady of the manor, the paper boy to a traumatised bomb disposal volunteer, this superb jewel of a novel portrays a community of people and weaves together their stories with passion, betrayal, intrigue and suspense.
Travel Guide
Lincolnshire
The author writes a very poignant beginning to this story in which he writes why he had to tell this story.
He tells of the time when as a young boy, he and his family were in Wales in a small cottage beside the sea when they heard the news that war had been declared. His father had been one ofthe first 80, 000 professional soldiers who’d gone to France with the British Expeditionary Force at the beginning of the First World War.. He’d fought through Mons, Marne, Aisne, First Ypres, Festubert, Loos and theSomme until Wounds ended his war. “He knew better than most what the news meant. He sank on to the wall of the greenhouse trough and tears welled up in his eyes”
He writes that he was one of the boys who watched as the other children were evacuated and the streets emptied of children. Three buses took them off to somewhere far from the village. He remembers the children waiting with their gas masks and name tags. The panic etched in the faces of the parents. The days which followed he remembers as being empty – the memories of these days stayed with him and are the reason why he wrote this book. The courage and hope these people had and the difficulties and hopelessness they endured and had to face on a daily basis – this book is a testament to them.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
I found this novel a really striking one in many ways. I read the author’s note before going into the story and I was then compelled to read the acknowledgements in the back as I felt there might be even more to discover. And there was. This novel has many personal reasons attached to it, why this author wanted to write it and felt compelled to do so. That set the scene nicely and a lump was in my throat even before I started it to be fair.
The story itself more than does justice to what Mr White set out to achieve and I hope he’s happy with having written such a personal account of a time gone by. This is in fact not just a novel but a personal account of a time that has been set in writing many times but never quite in this way. It was like reading a diary as it was based on true fact yet given characters and events which really helped create a glimpse of the past and of what the human spirit can really achieve.
Thank you Mr White for a very poignant novel and a personal story of how the world once was. I always wanted to speak to my gran and grandad about the war but sadly never got the chance. I feel now that I’ve spent time with someone they might have known.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: There Was a Time
Destination: Lincolnshire Author/Guide: Frank White Departure Time: 1940s
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