Book info

• Title A Child's War
• Author Molly Bihet
• Year 1985
• Genres Non-fiction, Historical

Molly's touching account of life in Guernsey during the German Occupation brings events of the Second World War to life through the eyes of a young child. The Channel Islands were the only British territory to be occupied during the Second World War and many Islanders were immediately imprisoned. Molly's story begins on a lovely afternoon on the 28th of June 1940, when she recalls waving a recently bought cucumber at planes flying over the harbour, only to realise that they were German planes when they started to machine-gun and bomb the previously peaceful harbour. Molly's recollection of her childhood engages the reader from beginning to end and provides a charming account of her life set against the backdrop of war.

Thoughts

A lovely memoir. I picked this up after watching Tony Robinson interview the author on his Walking Through History programme. It’s not an area I know a lot about, Guernsey, and it was fascinating and terrifying to think about the occupation by the Germans during the Second World War.

This is the story through the eyes of a child, and it’s interesting to hear about the ways the kids tried to get extra food, the things that weren’t allowed (radios), and the way everyone tended to look out for each other. When the Red Cross ships arrived, I could feel the relief pouring from the page. Lovely.

Rating: 4 / 5