Kāpiti College Library

Notes

The stories of those who stayed at home in New Zealand during the Second World War are as vivid and poignant as those from the battlefields.

Many of us have grown up with stories from our parents and grandparents but are unaware of the social, physical, financial and emotional toll taken on families and communities during that time. Eighteen New Zealanders tell us those stories in home.

Written in an extremely accessible style with disarmingly honest, sometimes funny, often surprising, personal and heartfelt recollections, home is essential reading for young and old. It gives a real feel for the thoughts and feelings of people living through that time.

Highly illustrated with photographs — many previously unpublished — this book reveals the reality of civilians during wartime New Zealand. We see how the chronic uncertainty, the fear of enemy invasion, the deprivations that came with rationing, and the intensity of wartime romantic relationships took their toll. How some took a pacifist stand against the patriotic tide while others hid their embarrassment when they were excluded from military service. How many lived with the ongoing anxiety of long-distance separation from loved ones and endured the inevitable grief of loss.

Home has accurately documented these revealing and moving stories while we still have these people and their memories with us.