Our Hidden Lives: The Remarkable Diaries of Post-War Britain

by Simon Garfield

In 1936 anthropologist Tom Harrison, poet and journalist Charles Madge and documentary filmmaker Humphrey Jennings set up the Mass Observation Project. The idea was simple: ordinary people would record, in diary form, the events of their everyday lives. An estimated one million pages eventually found their way to the archive, and it soon became clear that this was more than anyone could digest. Today, the diaries are stored at the University of Sussex, where remarkably most remain unread. In Our Hidden Lives, Simon Garfield has skilfully woven a tapestry of diary entries in the rarely discussed but pivotal period of 1945 to 1948. The result is a moving, intriguing, funny, at times heartbreaking book.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Diary, Biography, World War II, Historical

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Simon Garfield is a British journalist and non-fiction author. He was educated at the independent University College School in Hampstead, London, and the London School of Economics, where he was the Executive Editor of The Beaver. He also regularly writes for The Observer newspaper.

Reviews

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mass Observation Project was a somewhat lovely scheme instituted by the British government in the late 1930s. Basically they wanted to find out how normal people lived, to know their views and opinions. The purpose was to capture the life of the average man and woman, those who weren’t newsworthy and just made their way through generally unnoticed. Those in power came up with two ways of doing this. The first was to send researchers out onto the streets to ask questions about current events and the ways of the world. But it’s the second which concerns us here: average people were asked to write diaries which could be mailed into the department, so they could be read by researchers and then put in storage for future historians.

‘Our Hidden Lives’ brings together five of those diaries. Covering the period just before the end of the war onwards, Simon Garfield weaves together these disparate and separate lives expertly to give us a taste of five different, yet not totally differing, worlds within Atlee’s Britain. So we have a poetry writing pensioner in South London; an education focussed accountant in Sheffield; a South African housewife, also in Sheffield; a would-be author in the Home Counties; and a gay antiques dealer in Edinburgh. (The last might be the most interesting of all. Homosexuality was of course still illegal in Britain, and although he doesn’t state them directly, he makes little effort to disguise his sexual preferences. To write it all down and then mail it to officialdom must have required some courage). It is absolutely fascinating to read about everyday life in post-war Britain, with its rationing, power shortages and long queues to buy tripe. (All of the diarists wonder at some point whether it was Britain who actually won the war). A tad most disturbing, but also interesting to note, are the social attitudes it reveals, with racism (and in particular anti-Semitism), clearly being a more open part of British life than it is now. In some ways this book is like looking at a slightly different Britain, in others it’s like peering in at a completely alien world.

There’s a great deal of pleasure in these pages, and amazingly – given its subject – the text is rarely dull. Yes, these people are sometimes writing about creosoting fences or going shopping ,and other mundane pursuits, but it’s just so interesting to be immersed in their lives that one keeps reading just get to know them all a little better (even if their views can sometimes be hugely infuriating). It’s therefore a wrench when the diary entries end and their lives recede back into the past.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm afraid I could not get too interested in this book. The idea appealed to me because like so many other people, I am curious (okay, nosy) about how other people spend their days.

The first section begins with entries from May of 1945 and everyone is waiting for Churchill to come on the radio and declare Victory in Europe. It did not seem to be as amazing a moment to these particular people as you might think. Or maybe they just did not allow their emotions to show even on paper, who knows. But there was not the gushing type of writing that I had expected after years of war.

In the next chapter everyone was mainly talking about the elections in the summer of 1945. This is where I began to lose interest. Struggled through but after that I thought I would just peek ahead here and there and see if I wanted to keep going

I didn't.

DNF perhaps a little early, but enough for me to know it would have still been just a two star book even if I had finished the entire thing.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection that goes a long way towards enlightening people on the ordinary lives of Brits sixty years ago. I hadn't realized just how long it took the UK to recover from the war, with the food shortages and coal shortages and power cuts and everything. The diarist B. Charles was pretty hard to like, what with all his nasty anti-Semitism claiming the Germans should have finished off the Jews and the world would never be right until someone had. But if that's the way people thought back then, that's history.

I am looking forward to finishing the Mass Observation trilogy: in addition to this book, there are two others from the wartime days.

[cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t get any better than the actual diaries of British citizens. Here are the three years after the war and the total mess Britain was left in with not enough resources and food and political chaos. Hitler actually almost succeeded in ruining Europe despite his loss.

[Christine Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars, 7 stars more! Oh I do like diaries and these are brilliant. It would make an absolutely ace book for a club to discuss.
I was born in 1948 and this explains so many things I didn’t understand from my early childhood cos as far as I can see nothing that much changed until the 1960s. My mum could make a Mars bar last a fortnight!
Mum would have been then the same age as Edie coping on her own with my Dad in the forces for some of the time and an ambulance man after that, my brother aged 7-10 and her aging and ailing parents next door and then my arrival. Well done Mum ! I didn’t appreciate quite what you’d put up with.

[Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

reality tv for the ww2 era.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, an insightful glimpse into the lives of ordinary people trying to go about their lives in the aftermath of the 2nd world war. Their stoic attitude never ceases to amaze me and how they made do. An inspirational generation, true respect.

[Fern A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a gem of a book. The Mass Observation Archives (which still exists and collects everyday stories) is a collection held at the University of Sussex. It is an assortment from everyday lives ranging from diaries, adverts, essays written by people with their opinions on subjects of the day and just all sorts of things in relation to the everyday lives of ordinary people. This book is diary entries from multiple people at the end of the Second World War. The people didn’t know each other though were all going through the same experiences facing the U.K. at the time and often with differing opinions on them. It’s like having a nosy glimpse into the past. While there is far too much too comment on I particularly enjoyed an entry on why Scotland needs independence and another from one man’s rant that women wearing trousers would mean that men would not be allowed to be men anymore and that this was taking their role (he goes on for some time and many of his arguments are incredibly similar to the arguments about trans rights today, just showing how opposed we are to change and accepting what will probably be later recognised by almost everyone as progression and something positive). A great book for dipping in and out of!

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our Hidden Lives is a book with extracts from diaries submitted by people who took part in something called 'The Mass Observation Project', which was set up for the government(s) in Britain to get an idea of what the population really thought about things, what were their issues and concerns. Having received this book as a present, I was a bit disappointed to see the dates covered, as I thought that the diaries would cover the war years. This soon passed as I started to read the book and got to know the characters. They are described by the author/collator at the start in pen pictures and don't seem all that interesting at first glance. A housewife, an accountant, an OAP, a jobbing writer of sorts, and later in the book a man whose occupation didn't seem too clear to me - a Mr B. Charles. As mentioned already the diaries start at a point where victory in Europe is just about declared, and continues for the next three years or so, covering the change of government and the first inklings of the NHS coming into being. The housewife, Edie, originally hails from South Africa but has been in the UK for some years. She is sharp, and amusing in her accounts of living with the after effects of the war, but some of the terms she has to describe some other people might be a bit hard to bear for some readers, with frequent usage of that 'n' word that is verboten, and quite rightly so, nowadays. The accountant, George, describes a lot of his work when visiting and inspecting the books of various factories, which after the war are in a varying states of efficiency after losing a lot of their workforce and having their premises remodelled by the Luftwaffe. He provides an insight into the burocreacy and penny pinching that went on in running a business then, as probably now. Probably my favourite diarist is the eldest, whom I have called an OAP already but I'm not sure if the state pension was about then and I haven't gone back into the book to check. His entries are frequently livened up by some poetry about what he has covered in the day's writing, which I enjoyed, no threat to the Poet Laureate by any means, but good fun. The writer, Joy, gives the impression of having a bit of a struggle to do most things, let alone write, with frequent entries about what we would call 'duvet days' now. Mr Charles, joins in later in the book - thinking about it he is some kind of arts dealer and lives in London and Scotland. He is a gay man, and talks about meeting servicemen, ex and current and seems to be a bit, no a lot, of a fusspot with pithy descriptions of his fellow man and woman. I thought he was quite courageous to take part in the diary project, given the attitudes of the time. All of the diarists bemoan their lot, in terms of food and things they used to take for granted - their quality, rationing and price and, to my surprise, none of them seemed to have many good words for Churchill - seeming glad to see the back of him. Having said that though, they don't seem impressed by politicians generally - how times change eh? Another feature, and this was mentioned in the introduction, was how all of the diarists seemed to have definite tones of anti semitism, each using disparaging terms for the Jewish people, and little, if any sympathy for their plight in the preceding decade. To sum up, this book is well worth a read and others, like me, may well recognise themselves in some of the situations and reactions of the diarists to their everyday lives, and the people and things that seem to mess it up quite a lot.

[Philippa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely compelling reading - such rich detail of every day lives in the first few years after the end of World War Two. Some of the diary entries made me pause in surprise (and shock occasionally) as I realised very little has changed, in terms of society, attitudes, and human nature. They could have been described the London I live in now, and some of the people in it. The only thing that's changed is technology.
Highly recommended reading.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely brilliant. There are so many hilarious moments, especially from Herbert Brush, the bad-poetry writing allotment gardener. Maggie Joy Blunt is a really good writer and her diary contrasts well with the others who aren't quite as eloquent. Completely fascinating to get a glimpse into people's everyday lives.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hardly ever give up on a book, but I'm afraid after the first 150 pages of this one, I couldn't face another 400. The entries are sweet and interesting, and quite often funny, but nothing much happens. I found that it became very repetitive and that unfortunately, my interest was not held enough to keep reading.

[Jamie Trecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating. And sad. Read it.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sorry when the book ended. The contributors were so different, and so revealing. An incredible portrait of post WWII Britain.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good Mass Observation diaries edit... and that's the point I suspect, the skill of the editor in defining the focus and making the selections. Simon Garfield has selected a handful of individuals' diaries to follow through from the point where peace was impending into the beginning of the 50s. I've always enjoyed this sort of book but the experience of reading this collection (published in 2005) in mid-2020 when people have experienced shortages, restrictions and queuing provided an extra layer of interest.

None of the diarists here had children and were all well into adulthood then so are long dead now, but I still found myself thinking how important this book is in understanding those who grew up post-war exposed to these attitudes. I was unprepared for opinions which I can't just write of as 'it was a different time'. The frequent flip-flopping of attitudes to the German people is perhaps most understandable, with complaints about UK residents going without in order to ensure the Germans were fed, and frequent checking lest they might be having insufficiently punitive lives. The nature of the anti-Semitic views was astonishing however - not just trotting out all the usual tropes but from some active and repeated endorsement of the Nazi extermination project... expressed as agreements in discussions with others, not merely as sneaking private thoughts. There is an unexpected and profound selfishness revealed by most of the writers, beyond the difficulties of getting by - some more or less all the time, others when feeling frustrated. So much sounds like what I read when I stray into the wrong corners of Twitter.

B. Charles is a real oddity here - for one thing he moves to Edinburgh in the course of the diaries and writes as someone looking at England from outside, but he is downright creepy. I wonder how much code there is in his writing when he speaks of his encounters with young men with 'possibilities' and his offers of 'personal development'. He writes a lot about homosexuality, in a way which would not be alien today... except that he appears to conflate it with sexual attraction to and activity with young teenagers.

George Taylor and Edie Rutherford both live in Sheffield and George in particular is always travelling to places familiar to me. Edie is South African and her perspective on what is happening in her country of birth is interesting. She's the only diarist to be enthusiastic about a Labour government (although Churchill's post-war fall from favour is very clear from many of the others' diary entries)

George's outings and the considerable work he puts into the running of the WEA (Workers Educational Association who offer courses on all manner of subjects) are the most likeable elements of his writing, the rest sometimes appears dull, but he is worth paying close attention eg his mention that his wife lost her job at his firm because they needed to give work to a returning serviceman.

Maggie Joy Blunt writes of the dreary impact of rationing and simply not having enough food sometimes. She is the professional writer of the diarists, a single woman who moves from employment to freelance, and she takes in holidaymakers... there were echoes in her accounts of how she manages this of the great MO diarist Nella Last.

Herbert Brush, already elderly and retired (but I was pleased to read he lived a good while longer after the book) is perhaps the most genuinely endearing of the diarists. He grumbles, he says occasionally appalling things as they all do but he does seem to enjoy a rich life. Possibly due to Simon Garfield's editing skills, Herbert is often the comic relief with his endless fence creosoting and his garlic which he persists in growing although no-one wants it (if you discount all the experiences Edie has in the tripe queue). We can see that he is fascinated by starting to see black people around in London where he lives. I think it is Herbert too who treats Mass Observation as correspondents, occasionally asking questions.

There are certainly parallels to what people are expressing now and it's instructive to see familiar 'O tempora! O mores!' comments back then, as well as the light it sheds on how innovations were received at the time. The National Health Service, brought in during the period of these diaries is viewed with a surprising level of distaste across most of the diarists.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mass Observation Project was started in the late 1930s with the aim of recording everyday life in Britain through the eyes of volunteer diarists. These volunteers were asked to submit regular accounts of their day-to-day activities, their views on what was happening in society and their observations on how other people were feeling and coping with various changes. For Our Hidden Lives, which covers the period of May 1945 – July 1948, the author selected five diarists, two women and three men, whose ages ranged from the mid-thirties to seventy-two; they came from different areas of the country, as well as from different social classes. All showed great commitment to the project, even though they sometimes wondered whether anyone ever read their offerings!
I found each of these “voices” to be distinct and vibrant; they offered a real glimpse into the lives of the five characters as their individual personalities, concerns and attitudes emerged through their writings and observations. They shared everyday concerns and anxieties – about shortages of food, fuel, new clothing, housing, as well as even more severe rationing accompanied by ever-rising prices. Wider concerns included the new Labour government, the setting-up, and affordability, of the Welfare State, the nationalisation of the steel industry and the railways, the Nuremburg trials, the death penalty, the atom-bomb, fear of a nuclear war, Communism, the independence of India, events in Palestine and the relevance of the royal family. Although these concerns were shared, individual attitudes and ideas about solutions to the problems were often very different, and therefore represented a fairly wide range of contemporary opinion. It was both interesting and, at times, shocking to read very freely expressed racist and bigoted views, and also to realise that, even with the knowledge of the widespread slaughter of Jews and the horrors of the concentration camps, so many people expressed anti-Semitic views – no need felt at that time for “political correctness”!
I found this fascinating glimpse into the social history of post-war Britain, as portrayed by “ordinary” people, to be both engaging and compelling – even though I found some of the views expressed to be loathsome. I was struck by the fact that so many of the issues which attract comment, complaint and debate in 2012 are just the same as those of these diarists in the 1940s – I’m not sure whether to be comforted or horrified by this realisation! However, it is absolutely clear that this is a book guaranteed to provoke lively discussion in a group!!

[Fionnuala · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a testimony to how fascinating the time period is and how compelling the diarists are that I come out of this book having had a wonderful time and even developed a bit of fondness for most of them, despite the fact that they're all awful by modern standards. Almost to a person they're vehemently antisemitic, though at least some of them stop short of saying that Hitler should have killed more Jews. One of them is a blatant and unrepentant misogynist. Another uses the N-word quite freely. Even the ones with decent politics, who seem to have their heads screwed on in matters of common sense, are victims to the prejudices of their time. It's difficult for a modern reader to balance this fact with the fact that they are all fascinating people, as well as the fact that it's impossible to read years of a person's diary and not feel some attachment to them. This is an unparalled piece of history, and I wish there was much more like it. It's a brilliant way of capturing the essence of a time period, and it raises a lot of questions that make good starting points for further research and reading.

Reading this book is like looking into a time capsule where the person who organised it included things that you didn't even know you wanted. The matter-of-factness of it all, the way that you learn via context clues and opinions and criticisms and celebrations, how you get to know the people in the diarists' lives and build up a portrait of a much wider scope, how you can highlight and trace why such prejudices and ignorances appeared at the time, how some things are still very much the same and others so different, how they had attitudes and technologies you would not expect for the time (sex education on the radio! audio books!) and yet other things seem absolutely Victorian, and indeed are... it's as though the time period is frozen in amber, and reading this book allows you to peek in as though you've been transported there as an invisible witness. The only thing I would have changed is I would have liked for one of them at least to have been a parent -- I would love to see what raising a child would look like during this time period, and how having children would impact the routine of living. Though to be fair, if they had had children, I doubt they would have had the time to keep a diary!

This was a fascinating read, and it really makes me wonder just what apparently mundane things from our own time will be fascinating and unexpected in generations to come, and what views and ideas we hold as normal will be revealed to be incomprehensibly backwards or progressive compared to future generations. Truly the world is always changing, and it's both exciting and humbling to consider.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating between 3 and 3.5

This book is a compilation of 5 peoples diaries submitted to the Mass Observation Project from May 1945 to July 1948.
They are ordinary people trying to live their lives in the UK in the immediate aftermath of WW2 whilst still suffering from rationing, severe winters, losing jobs and the ever present problem of german prisoners whilst hearing reports on the war crimes trials on-going in germany.
It is quite a chunky boom of over 500 pages, and it split across multiple chapters each covering 2-4 months time. The diarists are living across the country, in town and country and have different backgrounds to each other.
Some of their comments may annoy or shock people because they sound sexist, racist or anti-Semitic at times but the reader has to accept that the views being displayed are from a period 70 years ago and that the writers were born between 1880 and 1905 (approximately) so they really are from a different country.
Overall i found it an interesting read if dipped into and read a chapter at a time. The world being shown is one that is never shown in films, books or radio programmes from the time as in the main they always tried to show the country doing okay. But the diarists write of their hopes, dreams, troubles, family and friends. Very interesting book i thought.
If my dad was still around i think it is probably the sort of book he would have liked as well.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh blimey this book left me with alot of questions
firstly an amazing book of letters - Edith rutherford and co has put together set in yorkshire, mostly Sheffield in the mid 40's after the war with ration booklets and candlelight (not that Sheffield had changed much then in the letters by the late 90's) ! cold war ended 1977 with radiators being but in every household in the govermental budget
This book is in shillings of which us 70's/80's child was not brought up to know !

ok the questions left-

1)-how did Edith rutherford and co know about the palastines in 1946/47/48?
and we wake up today being october 2025 to palastines being all over london and the front page news .....strange one !

2)- what if it wasnt winston churchill that told the british that the war had ended?
and infact president roesovelt who was sat out at sea on a US naval frigate that via morse code sent the message to winston churchill to broadcast on the radio the 1944 war was over ?!

3)-
our hidden lives -
Tittled appropriatly but whos hidden lives ?
i think that Edith rutherford and co are referring to the jewish community who until she briefly mentions them around 1948 they are not mentioned ......me personally didnt grow up to know that since the 70's/80's the jewish even lived in any part of yorkshire and certainly didnt grow up to know were a jewish child went to school there!
again who would of even dreamed that what Edith rutherford and co briefly mention 1948 - in 2024/2025 is in todays international news in manchester !

although saying the above

The mitford sisters - letters to 6 sisters book
nancy mitford does mention this , about the jewish 1992 to princess ann who responds with ''what about the jewish'' ?!

A quaint book which in most places will have a yorkshire memory or three come throwing back to life, A long missed woolworths being just one of these

When lord mountbatton (battonburgh to the 70's/80's kids) my head went
yes thats him! ..... (i be aged 2/3 years old)
hmmm! king charles doesnt or does he have a twin brother that was killed back in 1979/1980 via a cruise ship ???
sailing from norhern ireland ....led to believe with irish catholics but it had a bomb on it
or was it the above that died on the cruise ship ? .........
or was it the christians and they swapped the children back in 1979-1988 approx ?? ......

if so the christians be the correct children laying dead in the catholic tunnels !

[Louise Culmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at postwar Britain from five different diarists, chosen from the vast number accumulated by the Mass Observation Project. The diaries run from 1945-1948, and these five very different people all have their own views of what is happening to them and to the country. Elation at the end of the war gradually gives was to disillusionment about the shortages and restrictions and the continuing of rationing. Food looms large in all the diaries, the difficulty of obtaining most things, the queuing, the reminiscenses about what was available before the war, the excitement when bananas appear again etc. And then of course there is the General Election, and the prospect of the creation of the Welfare State. My favourite diarist is pensioner Herbert Brush, who enjoys working on his allotment and occasionally dashes off verse about something happening to him. The blurb on the back of the book rather rudely describes his poetry as 'appalling', but I didn't think it was appalling. It was cheerful and unpretentious and it rhymed - he wasn't trying to be Dylan Thomas. He had a great sense of humour and his entries often made me laugh. But all of them were interesting people, and I felt quite sorry when the book came to an end, I would have liked to on reading about their lives.

[Margaret Galbraith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous insight from everyday people who were THERE and not just an account by others. This book was compiled by diary extracts from daily life from 1st May 1945 to 7th July 1948 so much history here. A huge project at the time. They talk about worse rationing than during the war years and about German POW helping during their time in UK this was a programme where they did odd jobs and work for their keep. Some went back in 1948 others stayed and even married British women. Sadly of the diary entries even talk about their hatred of Jews too. All in all I did enjoy this book and being given exact dates from Nuremberg trials and about the assignation of Ghandi. So many everyday people had so much knowledge at that time and I’m so glad this was recorded. The introduction of the Biro pen made headlines too and had great reviews! We take so much for granted nowadays but rationing must have been awful … getting eggs from Denmark to find perhaps only 2 which hadn’t gone off 😬 and the high prices some charged making everyone shop around. Movies and theatre were a big highlight for some and seemed to be attended as much as they could afford to get away from the daily chores. If you’re interested in those years it’s well worth a look. My only gripe was some, as in most diaries, were a bit repetitive at times!

[Luke Smart · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's quite surprising just how absorbing this book is. The daily happenings of five people from 1945 to 1948 doesn't sound like a particularly enthralling concept, yet reading through these entries allows us to understand - better than any history book I should imagine - what life was like in a Britain very different from our own.

The interesting thing about the average set of diaries is how they only become valuable once the world has changed to such a significant extent that what was once normal now seems strange. As change happens slowly, this usually means that a diary does not become useful or interesting until after the person who wrote it has passed on. This applies to all five of those featured in this book. Some of them comment upon this themselves, pondering whether recording the humdrum events of their lives might one day be worth something to someone. They would never find out and there was no chance they ever would. Enough time needed to pass and now they are long gone, but like Pepys before them, their experiences live in on in their writing for the generations of today to read.

Will the generations still to come benefit from our writings the same way? I imagine they will.

[Cliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd not long finished The View From The Corner Shop which is one individual's diary kept under the Mass Observation scheme during the war years when I came across this book in the waiting to be read pile. It I'd from the same Mass Observation records. Unlike the previous book, it contains the diaries of five different individuals for the years 1945 to 1948, the years of austerity in the UK following the end of the war and the threat posed by the possibility of a nuclear war. Most if the correspondents expected another world war within their near future. The diaries reflect the dismay with which austerity was faced with the continuation and extension of rationing. The diarists also saw the beginnings of the Welfare State and in particular of the National Health Service which not all thought a good thing. What came as a surprise was the amount if anti semitism despite the discoveries of the horrors of the concentration camps. Overt racism is also apparent. What never appears to change, however, is the attitude of the more elderly diarists towards the youth of their time, sentiments which are heard in every generation. Rude, no respect etc! The class divide is also very apparent with the mainly middle class diarists who also disparage those they see as 'the lower orders'.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives extracts from the submissions of five "ordinary" people to the Mass Observation project in the years immediately after the Second World War. They were very difficult years - I knew rationing had continued, but I hadn't realised how strict it was, or how many other shortages there were, coupled with strikes and two harsh winters. Shocking in a different way was the anti-Semitism expressed by some of the writers, especially B. Charles (pseudonym), an antique dealer in Edinburgh who spends his days trying to entice young men into his flat.

Most touching for me was Maggie Joy Blunt, a single woman in her 30s eking out a living for herself and two cats in a cottage near Slough. My favourite writer was Herbert Brush, a pensioner in south London who writes funny little poems in between growing vegetables on his allotment and accompanying his friend/partner/wife (it's not quite clear) when she drives around in relation to her unspecified job.

The book is fascinating in its portrayal of real lives at a difficult time, but it could have been shorter. I'd have cut out George Taylor, who didn't seem to add much, since we had another and more vivid writer from Sheffield in Edie Rutherford.

[Esther O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought and read this book years ago, re-read this week because these Mass Observation diaries
offer a fascinating and frequently shocking perspective on the now routinely idealised ' V.E' generation.
Writing between 1945 - 1948, all are aware of the Holocaust. One writer visited a Daily Express exhibition of the concentration camps.
' Awful pictures... heaps of human skeletons, some of them alive, though they seemed only to have skin on their bones. It is difficult to imagine the mentality of the German guards who could treat people in this war, even though they were ordered to do so by the beasts in command. 22nd May, 1945
Yet the five anonymised diarists are routinely anti-Semitic and express their dislike for all foreigners.
' I wish every Jap could be killed. Horrid little yellow beasts' 10th July, 1945
I simply HATE the Jews,and am certain they are largely responsible for most of our ills at the present time, economically and otherwise There will be no peace until they finally put in their place 5th August, 1947
' One tries not to be nasty to foreigners- I do anyway - but they make themselves disliked so often.'
26th March, 1948
Openly gay himself, one writer considered that Hitler hadn't gone far enough.
Also quite shocking is the contempt expressed for her cleaner by a privately educated woman graduate.
-

[Mike Biles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a simply wonderful book. The end of the Second World War was a pivotal time for Britain, as it set about transforming itself, unknowingly, into a completely different place. In 'Our Hidden Lives' we get the first-hand views of some of the people who were there. Through the pages, you get to know them and, love 'em or loathe 'em (and there is a little of both), it is a privilege to be with them for a short while. The pettiness and casual bigotry may surprise some, but is a reminder of how things were. Some of the detail - "I am disappointed with my celeriac; it has grown bulbs as large as a tennis ball, and most of the tops had maggots in them and turned brown before the right time" - is endearing as well as fascinating. Real people, real humans, with hopes and dreams in another time. It's a book I'm keeping on my shelves.

[Mrs J Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is made up from contributions submitted to the Mass Observation Project from May 1945 to July 1948.

It is a snapshot how ordinary people lived their lives during the period which followed WW2
with rationing still in place, unemployment widespread and severe winters it must have been a huge disappointment to the people of Britain who on D-Day must have assumed their lives would soon return to normal which was very much not the case for many years after the end of the war.

It does show racism in the of attitudes of some of the contributors which is shocking at times, but after losing so much l suppose this is human nature, but certainly that bigoted options are not a thing of recent times.

I would Highly recommend this book.

[Jane Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The immediate post-war years seen through the eyes of five diarists, who also entertain readers with snippets of their personal lives. Things were tough after the war ended and disillusionment with the new Labour government soon sets in. The new Welfare State is not welcomed with open arms as we might expect. There is a lot of resentment towards the rest of Europe which seems to be recovering from war far more rapidly than Britain. Most shockingly, there is vicious anti-Semitism, with more than one of the contributors expressing the wish that Hitler had managed to exterminate all Jews. Above all, these are people not very different to people today - 80 years later, some of their thoughts and views sound very (sometimes disturbingly) familiar.

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading anything like this! Being able to read how people's lives continued after WW2 like this is probably the closest you can get to living it. There was a range of view points in terms of class and age so you could really understand how the war affected each person based on their circumstances. I did think it was a bit too long as by the last hundred pages or so it had begun to become quite repetitive, but apart from that, being able to have an insight into the thoughts of every day people on the government, rations and current affairs in the 40s was really interesting and I loved it.

[A.J. Richmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic look into the every day lives of five British folk post WWII. It’s funny how upon looking back you can see that some things just never change. I particularly enjoyed references to ‘children these days’ which proves that every generation feels the younger generation is going to hell in a hand basket. I appreciated how the author chose to include a snippet at the end on what became of the diarists. Though I admit I wanted to know more. Every day life of the past is incredibly fascinating to me and I hope to find more books like these.