I'm a big fan of the WWII genre, but until I read this book (not strictly a WWII story as the events are fictional - perhaps apocryphal is a better word) I hadn't realised how cosily plucky little Blighty's fight has been portrayed. I've read books that detail the most appalling and life-shattering events but nothing ever before that has conveyed the sheer terrifying and exhausting grind of trying to survive while not being sure quite which is the right choice at any point.

At first I was so irritated by spoilt Joan who couldn't manage without multiple maids and a nanny that I thought I wouldn't enjoy the book, but I soon realised that I couldn't put the book down. I have young children too and found myself wondering how on earth I would hold it together for a single night if bombs were falling around us. I knew water supplies were interrupted and various foods became scarce, but I hadn't brought it down in my mind to the level of how long it would take to run out of water and then how you'd feel if you knew there was a chance that any water you did find could kill you all.

As the story wound on I was sobered by the fear and fatigue, the requirement to carry on finding something to feed your children, the squalor of the out-of-town camps that wore on, the mismatch between the official version of events and reality on the ground, the total inability to relax, ever, about anything - this must have been far closer to people's experiences than anything else I have read. It's my first Nevil Shute and has me wanting to read more.