Damn This War!
Between the Blitz and the Desert, a Story of War-Crossed Love
Published on 9. November 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-83773-036-0 (ISBN)
Description
'Moving, funny ... an exquisite story of love, hope, distance and, ultimately, disenchantment.' Mail on Sunday
'A sad and truthful fragment of modern history' TLS
'Beautifully written' Jenny Uglow
The love story of Zippa and Tony is nothing without the context of the Second World War.
The war introduced them - they met as blackout wardens in London. It gave them darkened streets to wander in, hand in hand, then, by sending Tony away to officer training camps, it sharpened their hunger for each other, casting a glow over his comings and goings. It turned them into schemers and wanglers against fate and army regulations. It pressed them into marriage, and when the war decided to deploy him to North Africa, it whispered the urgent question of a baby. To which Tony, thinking of the war, replied maybe not; and Zippa, thinking of the war, said yes.
In spite of themselves, the war experience was changing them both, and yet both were hanging on, looking back, suspended in memory and time, and living from letter to letter.
Decades later, their daughter Julie discovered their letters, and piecing them together began to create a portrait of her parents and their relationship that was completely unfamiliar to her. Vivid, honest and completely absorbing, Damn This War! is a true insight into a wartime love story.
'A sad and truthful fragment of modern history' TLS
'Beautifully written' Jenny Uglow
The love story of Zippa and Tony is nothing without the context of the Second World War.
The war introduced them - they met as blackout wardens in London. It gave them darkened streets to wander in, hand in hand, then, by sending Tony away to officer training camps, it sharpened their hunger for each other, casting a glow over his comings and goings. It turned them into schemers and wanglers against fate and army regulations. It pressed them into marriage, and when the war decided to deploy him to North Africa, it whispered the urgent question of a baby. To which Tony, thinking of the war, replied maybe not; and Zippa, thinking of the war, said yes.
In spite of themselves, the war experience was changing them both, and yet both were hanging on, looking back, suspended in memory and time, and living from letter to letter.
Decades later, their daughter Julie discovered their letters, and piecing them together began to create a portrait of her parents and their relationship that was completely unfamiliar to her. Vivid, honest and completely absorbing, Damn This War! is a true insight into a wartime love story.
Reviews / Votes
Moving, funny ... an exquisite story of love, hope, distance and, ultimately, disenchantment. * Mail on Sunday * A beautifully written family story, and a moving account of the toll of war, in the desert and at home. -- Jenny Uglow Damn This War is a sad and truthful fragment of modern history ... Julie Hankey remembers her parents with the wisdom of her own long years, and pays them and their times due tribute * The Times Literary Supplement *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Duxford
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-83773-036-0 (9781837730360)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Julie Hankey is the author of A Passion for Egypt and Kisses and Ink, books that draw on private letters and wider research to bring the past to life.