Download As Green as Grass: Growing Up Before, During & After the Second World War AudioBook Free
Uprooted from her beloved Great European Beach, Emma Smith moves with her family from Newquay to the Devonshire town of Crapstone. But the dust has hardly resolved when tragedy hits, and Emma's father, a DSO-decorated hero of the Great Conflict, is so frustrated by the hardship of life as a lowly bank clerk and by his thwarted artistic ambitions that he suffers a catastrophic breakdown - that devastation Emma's resourceful mother rallies courageously. Then, in 1939, the conflict again becomes possible. Emma's lovely sister Pam at once enlists with the WAAF and Jim, her politically minded brother, after primarily declaring himself a pacifist, joins the RAF. But what should Emma, aged only 16, do? Secretarial collage equips her for a job with MI5 but it's dreary work and Emma yearns for fresh air. She actually is rescued by way of a scheme taking on girls as crew for canal motorboats. Freedom! The conflict over, Emma trips to India with a documentary film company, lives in Chelsea, falls in love in France and spends time in Paris where she packages about mending a shattered center by writing her first novel. Sitting beside the Seine throughout a heatwave with her typewriter on her behalf knees, she is unwittingly snapped by renowned professional photographer Robert Doisneau. The zest, thirst for life and buoyant spirits of Emma, as she recalls in evocative depth the grade of Great britain in the 30s and 40s, give As Green as Turf the feel of your ready-made classic.
