The Yellow Duster Sisters by Susan Kennaway

  

The Yellow Duster Sisters (A wartime childhood)

by Susan Kennaway

first published in 2011

From what I was taught at school, the Second World War started with six months of a phoney war. The war had been declared and then nothing much seemed to happen, for six months, however somewhere along the line it was decided that non-essential personnel should be evacuated from the large towns and cities which might get bombed. Schools were transplanted from cities to towns and villages where it was thought that they would be safe. All the pupils and teachers, were taken in by local people. Some children were moved further afield, to Canada, Australia and, in the case of the two sisters in the book, to Africa. Moving this far came with it’s dangers, at least one ship was sunk, on the way there and not everyone got a warm welcome. This book was written, after the death of her elder sister so that their experiences, as refugees during the second world war, would not be forgotten. The stories of all the refugees is part of the history of the war, and as such should not be overlooked. This book is part of filling out that history, it would be interesting to hear the story from the view point of a teacher, moved from a city, to the back of beyond trying to carry on teaching pupils who probably want to go home to find out how their parents, friends and neighbours are and if their home is still standing.

It is an interesting story, I felt sorry for the two girls, sent away from home to be cared for by their Mother’s elder sister who was working as a governess. It was as if they were inconvenient, and remained so when they eventually got home to a world that was so different from the one they had left behind.