Has anyone read this book? Alandale is the true story of a young girl, living in an ordinary street, raised in extraordinary circumstances. Alandale was an unremarkable row of terraced housing in the East Yorkshire city of Hull, which could be the same as any terrace, down any street in the country. But it was more than just bricks and mortar. The author takes us back to a time when the events that took place within those houses and walls, saw people struggling with their own battles to keep some sort of normality throughout what was the nightmare of the Second World War. Hull, an âEast Coast Cityâ, suffered some of the worst bombing outside of London, and rushing to local air raid shelters, snatching sleep when you could, and still going to work or school, became a way of life. As with many children during the war, Mary was evacuated to the countryside, but this respite and adventure was to be cut short all too soonâ¦â¦ Seen through a childâs eyes, Alandale affords the reader a fascinating insight into the everyday reality of growing up in war, and is brought to life by the authorâs creative talents and vivid memories of real events. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alandale-ebook/dp/B009N0XA78/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349684347&sr=8-1
Sounds an interesting read, I will certainly give it a go. Are you on commission by the way OLM, for any sales generated?
A cynical attempt to alienate prosser even more and drive him out ...hasn't the lad got enough to cope with? for gods sake... didn't you ever see fawlty towers?
Any book that recognises what 'Ull went through in the war is ok by me, it has never gotten the recognition the City or the people who went through it deserves. I'll give it a read.
I'm not on commission for this one, a mate just posted it on the 'Hull: The good old days' Facebook page(there's some good stuff on there if you've never come across it) and I'd never heard of it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/278450892200994/ For a book I am on commission for, check out Vagabond by AP Wolf, available from Amazon, Waterstones and all good book shops, it's my first dabble in publishing... please log in to view this image If you want to know why the hero of A.P. Wolf's riotous novel is going quietly insane in a concrete tower block, you'll have to read Vagabond. It's a story of twenty four hour piss-ups, cock fights, mah-jong, and unsafe sex in the kampongs and back-alleys of old Singapore. It features a pair of dogs called Rape and Pillage, a cat called ****bag, a very large and very dangerous monkey, a crazed older brother called Dave, a posse of under-age and over curious daughters of local army officers, various murderous Marines, and Richard Chan, the most awe inspiring man in all Singapore. And one hell of a lot of Tiger beer. And it all ends... well, badly http://www.wreckingballpress.com/books/vagabond.php
Rover is correct regarding the BBC stating it was a "North East Town". Hull was never mentioned. I lived through the war first in a house directly behind Sculcoates Power station until the family moved (for obvious reasons) to the then outskirts of Hull on Welwyn Park Avenue. I have a factual book about the war years in Hull called "A North-East Coast Town Ordeal and Triumph" by T Geraghty (by courtesy of Hull and Grimbsby Newspapers Ltd.) He states it is "The story of Kingston Upon Hull in the 1939-1945 Great War". On Page 3 amongst other things, People killed, about 1,200, Injured, 3,000, Houses damaged 86,715 (leaving only 5,945 undamaged). I calculate that to be 93.6%. The book was published under the authority of the Hull Corporation.
You can still get hold of that book... http://www.amazon.co.uk/North-East-Coast-Town-Kingston-upon-Hull/dp/094628945X
Interesting that it is still available and must have been reprinted OLM. My version does not have photographs on the front cover. Looking at the many photographs in the book still sends shivers down my spine. And I should have said in my earlier post that the Alandale book sounds very interesting because I was also a child during those dark days.
Hulls own geographical situation could well have been a blessing in disguise . As it was so easy to identify and follow - to and from other cities - i imagine the bombs were dropped on industrial/dockside targets with far more accuracy than a more circular city. Human tragedies aside - the legacy of the bombing still remains with missing buildings and peculiar road layouts . That said the council did more destruction to buildings than the luftwaffe ever managed .
It was referred to as a North East Town most often and also as a northern coastal town. And, bad as the suffering was, I wish people would stop harping on about it as far, far, worse happened to other cities. Hamburg had 45,000 deaths in 3 days and a lot of Germany cities were absolutely flattened. However they were rebuilt a lot quicker than Hull, there are no bombed it cinemas in Hamburg still standing. And we got more Marshall Aid than the Germans before anyone brings that old chestnut up. Even French cities were more badly damaged on D- Day as we bombed the rail lines and supply routes. In fact 60,000 were killed in a couple of days,nearly as many as we're killed in this country in the whole of the war in bombing raids, and cities like Caen were completely flattened but again were quickly rebuilt unlike our city. And don't let's mention the destruction in Leningrad, Stalingrad and Warsaw. The residents of those cities, where the deaths were measured in hndreds of thousands and into the millions, would be amazed people are still going on about it so much.
When the US got their feet in the front and back doors of Soviet Russia (Germany and Japan) the UK was a near obsolete but still bolshy partner for investment and the more americanised way to do colonialisation .
