This collection of letters from a young woman to her fiance during World War 2 provides us with a glimpse of life on the home front in London and how women copied while "doing their bit" for the war effort.

Eileen is at Cambridge at the start of the war but takes a civil service job and get letters are going of everything from terror at the height of the blitz to chatter and gossip about mutual friends. Most friends are identified only by first name in the letters and it's very difficult to sort out the Joans, Janets, and Joyce's and keep them all straight. The listing of main characters at the end comes too late to help the reader.

Eileen is very bright and there are some interesting philosophical discussions but they are lost in the endless trivia. This collection needed more editing as well as better identifying information added to the letters to aid the reader.

The letters written by Eileen to Gershon capture all of the emotions that young lovers felt during the war when the only way to communicate was via mail. The author's inclusion of Eileen's daily routine made this more relatable and easier to imagine what life was like for her.

War creates an urgency not seen in peace time, everything is more intense, faster, harder, more sorrowful. Here are the letters between Eileen Alexander, a British woman and recent Cambridge graduate and Gershon Ellenbogen, written between 1939 and 1945. Ellen’s letters capture the furor, the terror and the determination of the people of Great Britain during the Blitz, an event that would have brought most nations to their knees. A story of courage and heroism in the face of greatest adversity, this story may help us keep perspective during the dark days of the global pandemic we all now face