"The impact of the land girls cannot be ignored. It was not just that women were working and farms had more women than men, women who were not part of the family or, for some of them, had even lived in the countryside before – but women were wearing trousers and filling in for men, some of whom would never return from war. For the women, their time as land girls changed their lives and how they viewed their own role in society and the family. Using original interviews and photographs from some of these land girls, historian Ann Kramer delves deeper than any previous study to understand the role of the land girls both during and after the Second World War."
A moving story of love, loss and survival against the odds by bestselling author of The Last of the Bonegilla Girls, Victoria Purman. It was never just a man's war... Melbourne,1942 War has engulfed Europe and now the Pacific, and Australia is fighting for its future. For spinster Flora Atkins, however, nothing much has changed. Tending her dull office job and beloved brother and father, as well as knitting socks for the troops, leaves her relatively content. Then one day a stranger gives her brother a white feather and Flora's anger propels her out of her safe life and into the vineyards of the idyllic Mildura countryside, a member of the Australian Women's Land Army. There she meets Betty, a 17-year-old former shopgirl keen to do her bit for the war effort and support her beloved, and the unlikely Lilian, a well-to-do Adelaide girl fleeing her overbearing family and theworld's expectations for her. As the Land Girls embrace their new world of close-knit community and backbreaking work, they begin to find pride in their roles. More than that, they start to find a kind of liberation. For Flora, new friendships and the singular joy derived from working the land offer new meaning to her life, and even the possibility of love. But as the clouds of war darken the horizon, and their fears for loved ones - brothers, husbands, lovers - fighting at the front grow, the Land Girls' hold on their world and their new-found freedoms is fragile. Even if they make it through unscathed, they will not come through unchanged... MORE PRAISE 'a well-researched and moving story' - Canberra Weekly
**Don't miss Jenny Holmes's latest wartime series, The Air Raid Girls. Part 3 - The Air Raid Girls: Wartime Brides - is available for pre-order now!** --------------------------------------------- A heart-warming, romantic story of friendship, camaraderie and triumph over adversity that fans of Donna Douglas, Daisy Styles and Call the Midwife will adore. Winter, 1942. Brenda and Joyce are just two of the girls who have joined the Women's Land Army and are doing their bit for the war effort. But after months working on farms in the Yorkshire Dales, they're looking for a fresh challenge. Despite the bitter cold of their new billets high in the remote fells, their fear for those away fighting, and concern for family and friends, there is warmth to be found in faces old and new, and plans for a jolly Christmas are afoot. But when a child evacuee goes missing in the snow and tragedy strikes close to home, can their dearest wish - that all their loved ones stay safe this Christmas - possibly come true? --------------------------------------------- Readers love Jenny Holmes: 'There wasn't anything I didn't like about this book' 5 star review 'I couldn't put this book down' 5 star review 'Loved the whole story' 5 star review 'This is a totally absorbing book' 5 star review 'An excellent read put together in fine style' 5 star review
Published under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, this work is illustrated with photographs depicting land-girls in nearly every branch of the work undertaken during the war. The text by Vita Sackville-West aims at giving a human picture of the land-girl's life. A number of tables of facts and statistics are also included. It is thus a comprehensive survey of an important branch of women's work in the war.
Between 1917 and 1919 women enlisted in the Women's Land Army, a national organisation with the task of increasing domestic food production. Behind the scenes organisers laboured to not only recruit an army of women workers, but to also dispel public fears that Britain's Land Girls would be defeminized and devalued by their wartime experiences.
Discover the emotional Goodwill House series from bestselling saga author Fenella J Miller 'Engaging characters and setting which whisks you back to the home front of wartime Britain. A fabulous series.' Jean Fullerton This boxset contains books 4-6 in the Goodwill House saga series The Land Girls of Goodwill House A Wartime Reunion at Goodwill House Wedding Bells at Goodwill House The Land Girls of Goodwill House August 1940 As Autumn approaches, Lady Joanna Harcourt is preparing for new guests at Goodwill House - land girls, Sally, Daphne and Charlie. Sally, a feisty blonde from the East End, has never seen a cow before, but she’s desperate to escape London and her horrible ex, Dennis. And although the hours are long and the work hard, Sal quickly becomes good friends with the other girls Daphne and Charlie and enjoys life at Goodwill House. Until Dennis reappears threatening to drag her back to London. Sal fears her life as a land girl is over, just as she finally felt worthy. But Lady Joanna has other ideas and a plan to keep Sal safe and doing the job she loves. A Wartime Reunion at Goodwill House September, 1940 With harvest approaching, land girl Daphne is busier than ever as she ploughs the fields and tends to the animals with her friends Sal and Charlie. All three girls enjoy the relative peace of Goodwill House...but war is never far away. When a German plane crash lands in the grounds of Goodwill House, everyone is shocked, especially when the two German pilots are declared missing. Where could they be hiding? Tensions are high, and Daphne is dealt yet another shock, when she meets Corporal Robert Andrews – the man she was once engaged to marry! Goodwill House is the last place she expected to be reunited with Bob and although he looks dashing in his uniform, Daphne doesn’t think she can ever forgive him for breaking her heart. With the war getting closer every day, can these two finally be reunited for good or will their love be forever lost...? Wedding Bells at Goodwill House January 1941 As the residents of Goodwill House feel the hard bite of winter, land girl Charlie Somiton is still glad of the warm friendships she has made there. Not just her fellow land girls, Daphne and Sal, but also dashing local G.P. Dr James Willoughby who looked after Charlie when she was injured at work. Charlie likes Dr Willoughby, but she fears that there can never be more between them than just friendship. Because despite her upper-class background, Charlie carries with her a terrible secret that she can never share with James. Dr Willoughby knows Charlie is dealing with something painful and he wishes she’d confide in him more. The war is getting ever closer and James knows all too well that life is short and happiness should be grabbed with both hands. But is Charlie brave enough to risk her secret and her heart or will her past ruin her chances for a happy future.
This book is about women in World Wars I & II - women working in factories and on farms, or toiling perilously in field stations just behind the front lines, in inhospitable hospitals and convalescent homes. It is, therefore, about the prodigious contribution women made to the war efforts from 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, standing in for the men who had left their places of work for the various theatres of war from Greece and Italy to Belgium, from Mesopotamia to France. Their tasks were many and various: keeping the troops supplied with shells, bullets and explosives, keeping the nation from starving to death, keeping hundreds of thousands of wounded troops alive so that they might fight another day. The book is, in short, the uplifting but sometimes tragic story of the many women who stepped up to work in the factories, hospitals, field stations, in transport and in civil defense, on the farms and shipyards, or signed up to the various military and civil services during the two world wars of the 20th century, ‘wars to end all wars…’. The book is different because it deals with women’s labour in both world wars and in all occupations, it covers the discrimination and prejudice they faced from men at every level, military and civilian, even when they had demonstrated beyond doubt that they were quick learners, industrious and proficient, and usually as good as any man. The book raises the embarrassing question why it has it taken so long for the prodigious contribution women made in both wars to be recognized, and why some women workers still remain air brushed from our military history after more than a century. As it turned out, little was beyond their capabilities and it is reasonable to suppose that without their huge efforts and accomplishments both wars might have turned out very differently for us.
This scheme takes an investigative approach to history, developing pupils' thinking skills as they explore the subject. There are tasks designed to ensure progression, plus integrated extended writing to develop literacy skills.
