THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA by Harry Leslie Smith

5 GOLD STARS

Non Fiction, Memoir, Post WWII

Originally posted on Amazon HERE on 17 December 2012

I was lucky enough to get this when it was on Amazon for free, but I would have bought it anyway, having read the two other books in the series, 1923: A Memoir and Hamburg 1947.

Harry Smith is back from the second world war, and brings his German bride over to live in darkest working class Halifax - a bit of a shock for her! The book documents not only the ups and downs of Harry and Friede's relationship, but also tells much about how people felt after the war, in both Germany and England, about the increased desire for sociological change, everwhere, and about the dissatisfaction felt by so many people.

Just like the other two books in the series this is completely unputdownable - I started reading this the minute I'd finished the last one. It's not only fascinating because of the personal way it relates the history of the time, but it's just so well written, really engaging. I read it when I shouldn't be reading it; I kept sneaking my Kindle out - yes, it's one of those books!

I highly recommend all three of these books - well done, Harry Smith!

HAMBURG 1947 by Harry Leslie Smith

5 out of 5 stars

Non Fiction, Memoir, WWII

Originally posted on Amazon HERE on 17 December 2012

This is the continuing memoir of Harry Smith - for the first book, see 1923: A Memoir. It's about his life in post war Hamburg (as is obvious from the title, I guess!), and about the lives of the people he knew there, too, and the population of the city in general.

Within the book I read so much about the years directly following WW2 - things I never about, because those times are not nearly as well documented as the war years, are they? I hadn't realised how bad things were in Germany, or how much prejudice still existed, even though we were now supposedly at peace. Those years are shown through the eyes of Harry's girlfriend, Friede, much of the time, so I was made aware of how it was for the average person with so little, whose lives had been thrown up in the air by the war, and their uncertainty about the future.

The book isn't only terrific from a historical interest point of view, but it's also extremely well written - so much that I started the 3rd book in the series the minute I had finished this one!