Nella Last's Peace: The Post-War Diaries of Housewife, 49 Book

It's hard to assess this book on it's own as opposed to comparing it to Nella Last's War (which I loved). This was a great continuation of Nella's story - the difficult times post war, the challenges with her husband and with life in general. In some ways, these post war years were harder on Nella than the war itself. During the war she was busy and needed outside the home. She built relationships with other women and the soldiers that came into the canteen, she ran the Red Cross efforts and the charity shop. Everyone was rallying together for a common cause - all saying that everything will be better when the war ends. But after the war there was even more shortages, more rationing, more economizing and much less of a rallying spirit. It's also interesting to read some of her thoughts about America and the resentment that was probably common in Britain at that time that we didn't get into the war soon enough and then didn't have any of the shortages to deal with after. Reading this next installment of Nella's story was like reconnecting with an old friend. Definitely a must read for anyone who enjoyed her war time diaries but not one to read as a stand alone book.