Having read several of Margery Allingham’s detective novels, I was intrigued to come across The Oaken Heart, an account of life in her small English village during the Second World War. Originally published in 1941, it was apparently based on letters written to some American friends and expanded into a book at the suggestion of her publisher. It’s interesting to think that she was writing this while the war was still taking place and when nobody knew how much longer it would last or what the outcome would be.
Allingham’s village was Tolleshunt D’Arcy in Essex, but she refers to it in the book as ‘Auburn’ after a line from the poem The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith. She is obviously very proud of Auburn and the way the people who live there work together to cope with whatever the war throws at them; it’s true that all towns and villages have their own unique characteristics, but I think it’s also true that the wartime experiences of the residents of Auburn will have been similar to the experiences of people in other parts of Britain.
Like many other villages, Auburn, in 1938 when the book opens, is still suffering from the effects of the previous war which ended just twenty years earlier. There’s a sense that Allingham and her friends are putting all their faith in Neville Chamberlain, not really believing or wanting to believe that war could possibly happen again. Of course, it does happen again – after a year of preparations, gas mask distributions and discussions of who should take in how many evacuees. The subject of evacuees is an important one to the people of Auburn; at first they are excited at the thought of groups of little schoolchildren from London arriving in the village (since the First World War there has been a shortage of young people in Auburn), but the reality is very different – hundreds of young mothers and babies! Allingham’s descriptions of the newcomers, the culture differences and how the villagers dealt with all of this are quite funny to read about.
I have never read anything about Margery Allingham as a person before, so I don’t know what she was supposed to be like or what impression the people who knew her had of her, but based on her own words in The Oaken Heart, she seems very likeable and down-to-earth. She makes a few references to her writing career now and then (she was working on Traitor’s Purse at the time), but there is never any sense of self-importance or superiority over anyone else in the village. Her writing style is warm, conversational and, as you would expect, very readable.
This is a wonderful book, which I would recommend to anyone who enjoys reading about life during the war. The fact that it is a first-hand account written in 1941 rather than a memoir written years later gives it another layer of interest. As we reach the final page, there is still no end to the war in sight and nobody has any idea if or when it’s all going to stop. I was sorry that the book ended when it did, as I would have liked to have continued reading about the people of Auburn and to find out how they fared later in the war.
She Reads Novels 
I too have read this book with great enjoyment. Its slightly uneven tone and unplanned narrative shows how authentic it is; I found the arrangements for the evacuated mothers really fascinating, especially the allocated spot for discussions/arguments in the garden! I lovely review.
Yes, there is a real sense of authenticity and immediacy in comparison with memoirs written at a later date. That was one of the things I loved about the book – as well as the parts about the evacuated mothers, of course!
I’ve never heard of this! It sounds good.
I had never heard of it until recently either and had no idea Allingham had written a book like this.
This sounds fascinating – must try and get hold of it. I’ve just been reading a book about the Detection Club, of which she was a member, but she doesn’t figure hugely in it. I got the impression, as you suggest here, that she just happened to write as part of her life, rather than getting totally wrapped up in being “a writer.”
I was quite impressed that she barely mentions her writing, as I think some authors would have taken every opportunity to remind us of it! She did come across as a genuinely nice person in this book.
There is an app for the Internet Archive. I found the book there.
Maureen
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That’s good to know. Thanks.
This sounds really good, and something I’d love! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂
It’s a great book – if you have any interest in the Second World War period I’m sure you would enjoy it. 🙂
This one sounds interesting given it is an account of daily life during the war years as they were happening. 🙂
Yes, I thought the fact that she was writing it while the war was actually happening made it particularly fascinating.
My daughter and I recently read some juvenile fiction about a small English village that takes in refugee children from London. The village and inhabitants sound very similar to Auburn and its villagers. I think this would be a nice follow-up for me to read. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Yes, it would be interesting for you to read this and compare it with the other book you read. I think Auburn was probably very similar to a lot of other English villages during the war.
I enjoyed this so much – the first account I’d read that wasn’t centered on London. I also would have liked to know more, to have followed the story longer.
There are so many books about London during the war, it does make a nice change to read about how other parts of Britain were affected.
I really enjoyed this one too, it was even more interesting for me as I lived not far from her village for a few years. I wish I had read it back then. It’s such a shame that she didn’t continue it for the rest of the war years.
Yes, it would have been interesting to have read it while you were living near the village. The book did come to a bit of an abrupt stop and left me wondering what else happened to the people of Auburn during the rest of the war.