Posted in Wartime: Letters Home from Abroad - Knott, Richard

The Second World War saw many people consigned to long periods of exile, far from home. How did the exiled keep in touch with home? Why were some exiles silent when others wrote frequently and at length? Posted in Wartime explores the nature of such exile and considers what could be written in diaries and letters, given that letters were censored and diaries were, at best, frowned upon. At the book's heart are the stories of three very different exiles: a Liberty Ship captain; a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps; and an airman in Iraq and Palestine. Set alongside those are the experiences of a number of celebrated wartime exiles whose diaries and letters are both extensive and detailed, and whose stories loosely connect with the journeys of the three main protagonists; they include the travel writer Freya Stark, the photographer Cecil Beaton, and the playwright Noel Coward.* Exhibition of Cecil Beaton photography (of the Duchess of Devonshire and her set) at Chatsworth, March 20.