Postcards of a War by Vanita Oelschilager


This was a lovely book. Written with children between the ages of around 4- 8 years of age in mind, the intention is to educate them and help them understand the issues surrounding a parent who is serving in the armed services.

Inspired by the letters and postcards the author received during her childhood from her father who was serving during the Second World War.

The story focus is on young Matthew who spends his afternoons, after school with his Grandfather. His father is working and his mother is serving in the military. During the course of the afternoon’s Matthew explores his confusion regarding where his mother has gone, whilst looking at the postcards his grandfather has from his father, also sent from a tour of duty.

Together they build a scrapbook of those early postcards and the subsequent letters, postcards and emails from his mother.

This was a beautiful book with lovely illustrations and was a real joy to read.

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Guildford New Town Bridge circa 1906

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Family History by Hazel Hart

This was a nice easy read story, full of twists and turns and some real surprises in the final pages.
The story starts off with Crystal who is furious that her family has not been chosen to represent the town in a local history book, so she enlists the help of another researcher. Hot on the trail she heads over to her sister only to find that her sister has been seriously hurt.
The story unravels and the locals believe that Crystal is to blame and Crystal is keen to dispel such rumours and moves into her sister’s home in an attempt to find out exactly what has happened. She uncovers her sister’s diaries and starts to read and is overwhelmed with what she discovers along the way and with what is located in the basement.
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Early Engraving View across Guildford 1831

This is an original engraving that had been removed from The New Complete Histories of the Counties of Surrey and Sussex by Thomas Allen published in London in 1836 by Isaac, Taylor & Hinton

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Library Loot – 6th August 2012

My main event for last Monday was not to just browse the library, but also to return a book and collect one that had been reserved for me.

As luck would have it I managed to renew the book that I had almost finished and collect the book that I had reserved. I also spotted another couple of books. Then just before I headed out I renewed all the books so that they were all due the same day. It helps me avoid library fines!

Mum's List: A Mother's Life…Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma…The Ship Thieves: The True Tale of James…

Taking part in Library Loot and you can read the details HERE

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Ramblings from my Desk…..(8)

At the risk of sounding confessional, it has been 10 days since my last blog post. I know, it is unusual, but then the last 33 days have not been usual at all. The reason is that I have been home alone and quite frankly I have been exhausted.

Hubby arrived home today, the car chockabloc with luggage, clothes, uniform, footwear and a very large pile of dirty washing. Hubby has been away at one of the Olympic venues and has been gone a total of 33 days. Believe me when I say it has been a very long month. He trundled off on 11th July and we spent, for the first time in 18 years our wedding anniversary apart. We have seen each other during the month when I have travelled to his location, but all that travelling on top of my working week, and a dodgy back it has taken its toll.

At the time of writing this Team GB has 59 medals and I am very proud of the achievements that those who have represented us have made. The opening ceremony was amazing and in some ways I can not believe that all the hype and it is almost over. The closing ceremony is tomorrow and then at the end of August for 2 weeks we head into the Paralympics.

In the meantime, I plan to catch up on the various draft blog posts, book reviews and genealogical posts. So normal service will be resumed soon.

In the meantime, I have made some headway with my Olympic Reading Challenge – are you going to join me?

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View across Guildford from Warwick’s Bench

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Vokes, Guildford Advertisment – September 1955

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Lymposs & Smee Milk Bottle circa 1930


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Demolishing The Ram Public House Circa 1913

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