Found in a Bookshop

by Stephanie Butland

Nella Last’s War: The Second World War Diaries of ‘Housewife, 49’ by Nella Last. You may have seen the TV film dramatisation of this – I remember Archie raved about it, and he said he knew Clifford Last, the sculptor, Nella’s son. Nella Last wrote a diary for the Mass Observation project, starting in 1939 and going on until she died in the 1960s. I think it was around 12 million words in total. Nathan’s mum gave this to me as it’s her favourite book. I read it to be polite, to be honest, and I was going to do about fifty pages to get the gist and leave it. But I’ve never read anything quite like it. It’s very everyday and at the same time completely absorbing, and it made me think about how much I take for granted.