To All The Living, Monica Felton
To All The Living, Monica Felton
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

To All The Living
Imperial War Museum Wartime Classics

Author: Monica Felton

Narrator: Madeleine Leslay

Unabridged: 15 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Headline

Published: 12/01/2021


Synopsis

In January 1941 Griselda Green arrives at Blimpton, a place 'so far from anywhere as to be, for all practical purposes, nowhere.'

Monica Felton's 1945 novel gives a lively account of the experiences of a group of men and women working in a munitions factory during the Second World War. Wide-ranging in the themes it touches on, including class, sexism, socialism, fear of communism, workers' rights, anti-semitism, and xenophobia, the novel gives a vivid portrayal of factory life and details the challenges, triumphs and tragedies of a diverse list of characters.

Adding another crucial female voice to the Wartime Classics series, To All the Living provides a fascinating insight into a vital aspect of Britain's home front.

Praise for Imperial War Museum Wartime Classics:
'If poetry was the supreme literary form of the First World War then, as if in riposte, in the Second World War, the English novel came of age. This wonderful series is an exemplary reminder of that fact. Great novels were written about the Second World War and we should not forget them.' WILLIAM BOYD

'It's wonderful to see these books given a new lease of life [...] classic novels from the Second World War written by those who were there, experienced the fear, anguish, pain and excitement first-hand and whose writings really do shine an incredibly vivid light onto what it was like to live and fight through that terrible conflict.' JAMES HOLLAND, Historian, author and TV presenter

'The Imperial War Museum has performed a valuable public service by reissuing these absolutely superb novels.' ANDREW ROBERTS, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

(P)2021 Headline Publishing Group Limited

About Monica Felton

Monica Felton (1906 - 1970) was a feminist, socialist, historian, peace activist and pioneering proponent of town planning. She went to University College, Southampton and then did a Phd at the LSE. In 1937 she was elected a member of the London County Council representing St Pancras South West. During the Second World War she served in the Ministry of Supply, an experience she reflected in To All the Living. In 1942 she became a Clerk of the House of Commons.After the war she became involved in town planning, serving as Chair for the Peterlee and Stevenage Development Corporations. However, she was fired from this post after taking an unauthorized trip to North Korea on behalf of the Women's International Democratic Federation in 1951. On her return from this trip she accused American troops of atrocities and British complicity. There was a media and establishment backlash and even accusations of treason. As a result she became increasingly isolated in Britain and moved to India in 1956. She died in Madras (modern day Chennai) in 1970.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cheryl M-M on December 31, 2021

Griselda Green becomes the face of munition factory workers, especially the women. The fragile balance of power, being the cog in the wheel of destruction and the crossing of boundaries when it comes to relationships, and whether the ideology contradicts and dampens said relationships. Felton was a J......more

Goodreads review by David on October 04, 2021

This is the latest in the series of excellent reprints from the Imperial War Museum. They have ‘rediscovered’ novels written about WW2, mostly by people who experienced the conflict either home or away. Previous books can be referenced by clicking this link. MonicaAuthor Monica Felton (1906 – 1970) w......more

Goodreads review by Martin on September 09, 2022

I hadn’t heard of this novel until I was at one of the Imperial War Museum gift shops. The IWM has republished several novels written during and about WWII. I don’t get excited for combat stories but I do go for homefront stories. I would describe this one as “Swing Shift” (1984 Goldie Hawn film) if......more

Goodreads review by Alfred on October 04, 2021

This is a book of its time. First published in 1945, this novel published by the Imperial War Museums chronicles life in a wartime munitions factory. It is well written social history.Tiis novel is full of misogyny, anti- semitism, fear of communism etc. In fact the factory in which it is set, calle......more

Goodreads review by Alice on October 09, 2021

In To All the Living, by Monica Felton, we follow the day-to-day experiences of several men and women working at the fictional Blimpton munitions factory, from those who run the factory, to those working in the shops, as well as medical officers, middle management, administrative staff and others. Th......more


Quotes

If poetry was the supreme literary form of the First World War then, as if in riposte, in the Second World War, the English
novel came of age. This wonderful series is an exemplary reminder of that fact. Great novels were written about the
Second World War and we should not forget them. William Boyd

It's wonderful to see these books given a new lease of life [...] classic novels from the Second World War written by those
who were there, experienced the fear, anguish, pain and excitement first-hand and whose writings really do shine an
incredibly vivid light onto what it was like to live and fight through that terrible conflict. James Holland

The Imperial War Museum has performed a valuable public service by reissuing these absolutely superb novels. Andrew Roberts