Review by Gill Atherton

IF you recall with nostalgia the days of ration books and air raids, then a new book by a local author, Victims of War, is not to be missed.

Jean Shansky of Broadgate, recalls the sights, sounds and horrors of WWII in her latest venture.

Victims of War is a collection of poignant short stories, largely autobiographical, but in researching them, Jean contacted people all over the country and combined their experiences with her own.

"It's a women's view of the war," explained Jean: "There are so many tales about the heroes of war, who are nearly all men. Victims is about women and their contribution.

"They went through so much, with bombs falling on them and no means of defending themselves, but that tends to get overlooked," she said.

This is Jean's third book, and she's dedicated it to her father Henry Smith who was killed in Belgium on active service in 1944.

The book contains tragic tales of women whose sweethearts never came home.

"One thing women dreaded was the telegraph boy coming down the street on his bicycle. You never knew which house he was going to stop at," Jean told me.

But there are plenty of amusing anecdotes about how families had to improvise and make do with what little they had, and of how everyone stuck together in the face of adversity.

Victims of War is on sale in most bookshops in Preston at £5.95.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.