The complete collection of the diaries of Nella Last
'I can never understand how the scribbles of such an ordinary person ... can possibly have value...'
So wrote Nella Last in her diary on 2 September 1949. More than sixty years on, tens of thousands of people have read and enjoyed three volumes of her vivid and moving diaries, written during the Second World War and its aftermath as part of the Mass Observation project - and the basis for BAFTA-winning drama Housewife 49 starring Victoria Wood.
The Diaries of Nella Last, brings together into a single volume the best of Nella's prolific outpourings, including a great deal of new, unpublished material from the war years. Capturing the everyday trials and horrors of wartime Britain and the nation's transition into peacetime and beyond, Nella's touching and often humorous narrative provides an invaluable historical portrait of what daily life was like for ordinary people in the 1940s and 1950s. Outwardly Nella's life was commonplace; but behind this mask were a penetrating mind and a lively pen.
As David Kynaston said on Radio 4, Nella Last 'will come to be seen as one of the major twentieth century English diarists.'

- 485 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Dedication
- Introduction
- Part One: War, 1939–1943
- Part Two: Peace, 1945–1955
- Epilogue
- Glossary
- Acknowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- Index
- Plates
- Foot Notes
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Yes, you can access The Diaries of Nella Last by Patricia Malcolmson,Robert Malcolmson in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literary Letters. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.