Wartime living

Dark is the Dawn

In order to emphasise the appalling consequences of the

war, Cynthia has painted a vivid portrait of the peaceful

years immediately prior to the conflict, notable for her

memory of the abdication of Edward VIII and the great

Crystal Palace fire in 1936.

We hear about the lifestyle of a typical English family

'neither rich  nor poor' - their schools, their holidays, what

they ate, the games they played. The declaration of war

ends this quiet, mundane life, and things  are never the

same again. She makes us very aware of this as she 

describes the transition from peace to war.

In Cynthia Morey's account of her experiences of World

War 2, key  stages of the war are dealt with

chronologically, and their effect on the  lives of the civilian

population - as seen by through the eyes of a child -  are related from her own personal memories.

Her admiration for the RAF began when her brother Paul became a  navigator-bomb aimer on

Wellingtons, making night raids on Germany  and later volunteering to serve in the middle east. She

studied aircraft recognition books with youthful enthusiasm and could identify every British and enemy

plane that flew over.

Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the Dambusters' raid, D Day -  and the final victory - all are

described movingly in this unusual book.

Strange confidence

So great was the danger to

civilians from the constant

bombing of strategically

important targets that you

would think children lived in a

constant state of fear.

Somehow it was not so, for a

strange  element of

excitement mingled with the

apprehension felt at the

sound of the air raid siren.

Twelve-year-old Cynthia had

supreme  confidence in the

protection of the RAF. 'My

youthful heart nearly  burst

with pride at their exploits,'

she writes. 'How could we

not win the war with men like

these ruling our skies?'