Made in Myrtle Street

‘Dear Dad, Floppy is gone and I’ll never see him again, ever. We had him for Christmas and I didn’t know because Mam said we were having something that was a bit like chicken.’ Pippin’s distressed letter to her father, describing her Christmas dinner in 1916, reflected the difficulties of the families that were left behind when their men went off to war. She was 9 years old and they had just eaten her pet rabbit. The news, however, brought comfort to Edward Craigie who, along with his two lifelong pals, quick-witted, rugby loving Liam and the clumsy but compassionate Big Charlie, had just survived a horrific eight months in Gallipoli. In Made in Myrtle Street, Pippin’s letters interpret the situation at home through the eyes of a young though maturing child but in an often hilarious way. Edward’s replies are those of a caring father who finds it increasingly difficult to hide from his daughter the realities of the war. Made in Myrtle Street follows the three friends as they endure with humour and determination the challenges of Egypt, Turkey and France. But the pain of separation from their families grows more acute as the war drags on and those at home adapt to life without their men. The persecution of the three friends by an alcoholic Major, and the discovery that he had traumatised two of their families before the war, provokes a distracting, and ultimately distressing, quest for retribution. Made in Myrtle Street is a compelling, humorous, often touching insight into WW1 from the point of view of an ordinary soldier and his family.