Nella Last in the 1950s: The Further Diaries of Housewife, 49 - Softcover

Last, Nella

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9781846683503: Nella Last in the 1950s: The Further Diaries of Housewife, 49

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846683505 ISBN 13: 9781846683503

Publisher: Profile Books, 2010

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'I can never understand how the scribbles of such an ordinary person ... can possibly have value.' So wrote Nella Last in her diary on 2 September 1949. Sixty years on, tens of thousands of people have read and enjoyed the first two volumes of her uniquely detailed and moving diaries, written during World War II and its aftermath as part of the Mass Observation project, and the basis for BAFTA-winning drama Housewife 49 starring Victoria Wood (with a follow-up under discussion).

This third compelling volume sees Nella, now in her sixties, writing of what ordinary people felt during those years of growing prosperity in a modernising Britain. Her diary offers a detailed, moving and humorous narrative of daily life at a time that shaped the society we live in today. It is an account that's full of surprises as we learn more about her relationship with 'my husband' (never 'Will') and her fears of nuclear war. Outwardly Nella's life was commonplace; but behind this mask were a penetrating mind and a lively pen. As David Kynaston said on Radio 4, she 'will come to be seen as one of the major twentieth century English diarists.'

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About the Author:

Robert Malcolmson is Professor Emeritus of history at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. Patricia Malcolmson is a historian and a former executive in the Ontario public service. They live in Cobourg, Ontario.

Review:

Nella Last may be the most prolific writer you've never heard of. . . . A moving account of daily life in England after World War II." The Washington Post

"A vivid and characteristically distinctive account of those uncertain years poised between austerity and affluence. It confirms Nella Last's status as one of the major twentieth-century English diarists." -David Kynaston

"It’s wonderful to be back in Nella’s world again. Such emotional candour, so many entertaining little personal battles. Unquestionably one of the great British diaries of the mid-20th century." -Simon Garfield

Nella Last may be the most prolific writer you've never heard of. . . . A moving account of daily life in England after World War II."―The Washington Post

"A vivid and characteristically distinctive account of those uncertain years poised between austerity and affluence. It confirms Nella Last's status as one of the major twentieth-century English diarists." -David Kynaston

"It’s wonderful to be back in Nella’s world again. Such emotional candour, so many entertaining little personal battles. Unquestionably one of the great British diaries of the mid-20th century." -Simon Garfield

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