The Oaken Heart: The Story of an English Village at War

Margery Allingham has always been my favourite of the "Golden Age" crime writers, not least because the subtlety of her writing allowed her to change her books to reflect the changing times after WW2. "The Oaken Heart" is of course non-fiction, and well known as one of the best descriptions of ordinary English people in the first year or two of the war. It really is impossible to recommend it too highly, for its subject matter and for its writing. (Typically of her glancing humour, Allingham describes a woman as like a Shakespearean actress playing the Queen of Denmark "before all the trouble started.") And now there is this excellent new edition, with notes and some of Marge's letters and diary entries for the relevant period, all beautifully put together by Julia Jones, who wrote the Allingham biography "The Adventures of Margery Allingham". (Which I also highly recommend.) "The Oaken Heart" has been out of print or hard to obtain for a long time, so this new edition is very welcome indeed. It is so fascinating for any fan of Allingham's Campion novels to read the diary entries referring to her finishing "Traitor's Purse" through the Phoney War and then preparations for a possible German invasion.

Although I was born 7 years after the end of WW2, I’ve always been fascinated by the threat of Nazi invasion circa 1940. The Riddle of the Sands, Erskine Childers 1903 and the film circa 1977 and The Invasion of 1910, written 1906all deal with German invasion of dear old Blighty. So I really recommend this period book as the lady writer describes just how they felt about the threat.

I found this book fascinating as I am studying the effects of the early part of WW2 on my own home town through the local newspaper, and this underlined many of the issues raised. I enjoyed Margery Allingham's contemplative style and felt the book gave insights into how civilians felt at this time as they 'did their bit' on the Home Front.

Allingham wrote the Oaken Heart with the aim of encouraging the USA to join the war. It didn't work, but what we have from that effort is a lively snapshot of what was happening in a village, like so many other villages, at a very difficult time. It is a fictionalised account, but written by someone who knew the English village inside out. I have been looking for a copy of this book for a long time, having read it as a library book, and now I have it I will treasure it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know what was going on at home during the war.

This is a true story of a village in wartime, not the fiction for which the author is better known. The author goes in and out of London on business and the contrast with rural life makes it all the more shocking. The details are wonderful, though I could have done without the explanation that she kept the diary as a private commission for some Americans.

Did not have me on the edge of my chair. Could not slip into to this book,perhaps it’s me not the book.

Published in 1941 and so without the benefit of hindsight, this gives a personal view by a professional writer of how it all seemed at the time. Well worth reading.

It was a gift but am told it was enjoyed very much