It is a shame that only Eileen's letters survive as Ellenbogen's missing voice is felt as a real absence. This and the lack of historical context and analysis render the collection of letters a little impotent in terms of impact.

Love in the Blitz; A Woman in a World Turned Upside Down by Eileen Alexander is a compilation of letters that Eileen Alexander sent to the man that she loves. They start in 1939 and go throughout World War 2, whilst Gershon is drafted, and sent off to war.

They are entertaining letters, and show a time when Eileen is ready to be her own person.  She writes about how difficult she finds the separation from Gershon, how her parents control her actions, how she finds her work, about her friends, and the about living through the war.

I found this to be well written, sometimes hard to read, interesting, and really insightful.  

Love in the Blitz was published on 30th April 2020, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, and so my thanks to NetGalley and to William Collins.

People who I like a lot have really enjoyed this. But I really struggled. I found Eileen’s style hard going and I didn’t actually like her much. But as a look at what it was like in a corner of England during the Second World War it is an insightful document - particularly as Eileen and her family are Jewish and have a lot of connections abroad

‘Love in the Blitz’ comprises letters sent by well heeled, Eileen on the Home Front to her soldier beau, Gershon, who is away fighting. I found this to be a fascinating window into a bygone world. which is lent additional resonance due to our separations from loved ones as a result of the current pandemic. A testament to the enduring power of love in times of great adversity, the triumph of the human spirit and a poignant timely reminder of the power of the written word as a way to maintain connections when face-to-face contact is not possible.

Thank you for sending me an advance review copy in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.

Really enjoyed this week, an interesting insight into love and life during the Blitz. Such a unique and interesting way to show a love story.

On July 17th 1939, Eileen Alexander, a bright young woman who recently graduated from Girton College, Cambridge, begins a brilliant correspondence with fellow Cambridge student Gershon Ellenbogen that lasts five years and spans many hundreds of letters.

This book is a completely different kind of layout than I was expecting. The book gives a fascinating insight into the day to day activities of one woman during wartime and how they impacted her family, career, and her heart. The collection of letters allow us a real insight into the life of Eileen and what Gershon meant to her.

My only negative is that we did not get Gershons replies to her and so by the end of the story, it did seem quite one-sided which I'm not sure if that is how the author wanted it to be. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Heart-warming and moving letters that provide a glimpse into WWII through a woman's perspective; "Love in the Blitz" is an absolutely engaging and informative epistolary-esque read.

This book was NOT a quick read. At times I thought it was going to go on as long as WW2! Eileen Alexander is a well to do, well educated Jewish lady. The book is a collection of the letters to Gershon Ellenbogan who she eventually married. I would really have liked to have read some of his letters to her- just to see if his were as full of such musings. This was not a book to read in big chunks, rather one to dip into, read a couple of letters & then read something else. It does give an insight to Eileen's world. It doesn't really capture all that much of the war though, which is quite surprising.

All in all I'm glad I read it, but was also glad to finish it! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

A wonderful moving look back at ww11 .A young woman writing letters to her love who is fighting in the war.A book that drew me in connected with me emotionally.Tissue box nearby is a necessary a book I will be highly recommending,,#netgalley#loveinthebkitz

After reading a small sample of these letters in a magazine I was delighted to receive a copy of the rest of them. With the benefit of hindsight I wish I had just left it with the much shorter excerpt. There was so much that was tedious, the endless “darlings”, the lack of explanations if she mentioned something the reader wouldn’t have known about. It would have been much more interesting with less letters and more information - in other words someone to give it a really good edit. It doesn’t help that Gershon’s replies are missing sadly, Eileen was a product of her time and class and didn’t seem too concerned about anything but Gershon. A bit of a flibberty gibbet when it came to the work she would do. There were some very interesting moments when she wasn’t sat writing letters!

A real window into the world of one person's 2nd World War. Interesting to read a British Jewish account of the time. The slang/phrasing of the time takes a little getting used to but a good read

This World War 2 memoir is derived from the letters of Eileen Alexander sent to her beu Gershon Ellenbogen (whom she eventually married). The letters were purchased from eBay by David McGowan who compiled them to tell Eileen's tale.

The premise of this book really excited me. I adore reading anything about WWII and to be able to read a first account of life through the war really appealed to me. I have to admit that this book fell flat. Although Eileen was very intelligent (as a Cambridge student from a priviledged background), I really struggled to connect to her. She came across entitled and at times arrogant. She didn't consider the struggles of the less fortunate and was a tad selfish.

I really had to force myself to read this book and really feel that some further editing would have benefitted the flow. However one thing that did strike me is how we have lost the beautiful art of letter writing. It's a shame we didn't have Gerson's replies to read as I would have loved more than a 1 sided story.

I would like to thank Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This book is a collection of the hundreds of love letters Eileen Alexander sent to her University friend, then fiance and then husband, Gershon Ellenbogen between 1939 and 1947. They provide not only a commentary on their relationship but also a valuable insight of aspects of social history at the time.
Eileen was obviously very bright and one of the few women at the time who obtained a 1st Class Honours degree in English at Cambridge. Destined for a brilliant academic career but for the intervention of WW2, we see a mixture of forthright convictions mixed with naivety and innocence.. Committed to the sanctity of marriage and premarital chastity she found it hard to understand (or condone) the behaviour of some friends and former University colleagues who displayed frailty in such areas whilst their partners were away.
She came from a relatively wealthy and well connected Jewish family but relations with her parents throughout the period were at times brittle. Eileen, ever independent minded, did not take kindly to some their interventions and comments about her life. She was accepted for the most junior of posts as an Administrate Assistant, in the Civil Service. What a scandalously waste of talent. Couldn't the Civil Service bureaucracy recognise her abilities and properly ignore her gender? She and father were not backward in approaching friends in high places endeavouring to use their influence to secure a posting to a Department of her choice or about the delay in Gershon securing a Commission, (after all, the partners of a lot of her friends seemed to have got one quite easily.!) Their approaches were not always successful.
Her War, although in London seemed relatively quiet. She did not like air raids but was resistant to going into a bunker whenever possible. Fire watch did show her some of the destruction inflicted on others but equally the letters revealed how frequently she lunched with friends in Hotels or quality restaurants or attended dinners with her family or acquaintances.. Despite all of this, Eileen reflected a keen interest in social justice and was appalled when in 1944 the Government did not implement the Beveridge Report. Perhaps surprisingly she expressed the view towards the end of the War that it might good for the people of the Country if Attlee became Prime Minister. (He did and she/we got the National Health Service in 1948.)

This book is well worth reading for the commentary on the times and for the way her life developed. A formidable woman who one could imagine, if she had lived in present times, might well have made a very significant contribution for the benefit of Society.

Recommended

An interesting and large collection of letters written by an upper class, educated, Jewish woman in London during World War 2 to her boyfriend. They show the growth of the relationship and of her developing from a student into a woman during the turbulent and uncertain times. It can be difficult to follow at times as we only read one side of the conversation and there is an assumed knowledge of people and places that we don't have. However there are some interesting anecdotes and unusual tales that she tells in her very open and uninhibited letters. She does this in a discrete, but still frank manner, especially with subjects relating to sex. The most frustrating thing is that sometimes she will tell part of a story, but it is never completed, so you don't always find out what happened. That is where the letters become real, and not a story written in the style of letters. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, a very unusual collection indeed.

A series of letters by Eileen Alexander to her fiancée and then husband, Gershon Ellenbergen, running from 1939-1946 re-surfaced in public auction. They are now presented here, edited by David McGowan and David Crane, set within their historical position over the Second World War. They form a significant record of both the personal and political aspects of the time – and a very detailed description of the impact on one young woman and to a lesser extent her family and people around her. Eileen was born in Egypt to a wealthy multi-national Jewish family, but was educated in England and had just taken a first at Girton, Cambridge. Gershon is from a stricter and poorer Jewish family from Manchester. The first letter is sent from hospital, Gershon driving her, in her car, from Cambridge to London, causes a crash in which she receives serious head and face injuries. It is not entirely clear what the impact was on her and whether her family’s response to her (often erratic) behaviour is recognition of these injuries.
On a personal level Eileen admits that her letters are her “creative” impulse – she must have spent hours of every day over them. They meld her daily realities with angst over her relationship with Gershon. Believing that she cannot tolerate sexual relations she claims she will not marry, but equally will not let the relationship go. Eventually over the years she comes to the intention to marry, but her letters explore the impact of her sexual frustration (largely unrecognised) and behaviour which from current perspectives look not just dated but bizarre. Through this mirror she then analyses (often extremely negatively) the relationships of other women friends around her as they cope with the implications of war - disrupted lives, friendships and marriages both uncertain and carried on at a distance, with death or injury a reality for some. She seems in many ways remarkably young and immature – and if her letters are true her (volatile) parents treat her in the same way.
Most readers might be drawn to this book because of what it says about the war years, most having family stories of that time themselves. It is immediately clear that we were not “all in it together”; the privilege of money and access to influential “ears” very much smoothed the family path. These included good housing, servants, healthcare provision, money to shortcut the rationing of food and to buy culture – theatre, cinema, books and travel. But it meant that there was not the need for Eileen to settle to a specific job, or to do it honestly and well when she had one. But against that she demanded an “interesting one” and through her links was able to access better paid ones. To be fair as the war progressed things became harder for all and more dangerous for civilians even in their politer London enclaves beyond the East End. Eileen was first stressed and then seemingly cracked.
The real interest to some readers will be her documenting of her access to privileged jobs that she had no real experience for or indeed aptitude. Her letters showed that she regularly spent her working days writing her letters (as well as stealing office equipment to do so). Her diaries are a constant stream of her attempts to wangle a more congenial job both for herself and indeed Gershon who as a male would be called up leaving him with fewer options. Her Cambridge University background, and links built there, fast tracked her into secure government or administrative posts in management roles (with reflective salaries). Her lifestyle reflects the broader background, in which the privileged could operate – more creative admin jobs, away from regimented, boring, long-hours work. For the men away from the rigidity of military rules and requirements as well as day to day risk and traumas of fighting. In her letters however, there seems to be an almost total disconnect between this behaviour and “real life” for others. This blithe, almost sociopathic, disregard for others is what makes this book hardest to read. There is also a quiet reference to her “informing” on conversations heard in a social setting to the Secret Services – placing members of her circle under suspicion and life-long scrutiny. But in war meaning they might be moved from the more creative jobs to the frontline.
As said previously she came from an international Jewish family previously based in the Middle East – there are odd references to her father possibly being rounded up as an “enemy alien” – a fate rapidly sorted by influential friends. But generally Jewish family and friends and their realities and risks of the war are barely touched on or discussed. It is not clear whether her refusal to mention these was a deliberate strategy to avoid political matters with Gershon as he is in the military – or a wilful disregard of the impacts of both Nazism and complications of the unravelling situation (with rising Zionism) in the Middle East. But it does seems to leave a gaping hole in her letters.
Nevertheless all these things together make for an interesting read. The personal view of the impact of war consistently reported by one woman, and in private way over many years can be really quite eye opening; not least by throwing a particular slant to things you might already have heard about from other sources. Yes, the letters are being marketed as “romantic”, but in reality they are much more.

A man buys a collection of letters on eBay and then tracks down the relative of Eileen Alexander. They then colaberate to publish this true insight of a young lady Eileen's life during the war. She lived a privileged life and had access to all walks of life. Her stories written to her future husband while at war are sad, witty, gossipy and just entertaining. All emotions are shared though these fascinating memoirs.

What I loved most about this book is the background behind it. The fact that a pile of letters was randomly bought on Ebay. These are love letters written in World War2. There are extraordinary. They are written by a Cambridge graduate Eileen who received a first class honours degree in English. She was an amazing letter writer and wrote about her life and love in such detail. The letters span five years and there are hundreds. Eileen writes to her future husband, his letters back have been lost but this allowed me to join the journey and use my imagination and that I found refreshing. I loved this book.
Rarely these days do we get any letters, mostly it is emails. I always want to keep any correspondence that is well written and meaningful.
This is a very personal story and I am very happy to have got a glimpse of it. In some ways I feel a sadness at how different things are today. Do we verbalise our thoughts? I do also realise the gift of writing so beautifully is a rarity, many of us might have experienced the journey in our own ways but very few would be able to detail this. This book is not just a love story it is social history of the time, written with a vividness that takes you back to Eileen's world at that time.

Long is the best description of Love in the Blitz.
Eileen Alexander was obviously a very interesting person but this collection of her love letters doesn't give you as a reader a glimpse to love in the blitz as the title promises. The letters are a glimpse into the privileged and sheltered world of Eileen during the war.

I was given a copy of Love in the Blitz by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Just one letter from bright young graduate Eileen Alexander to Gershon Ellenbogen a fellow student who had inadvertently involved her in a car crash is enough to spark a correspondence that will last the length of the Second World War.

Those expecting a fictional tale here will be disappointed, Love In The Blitz is a collection of Eileen's letters to Gershon, and are very real in their content.

This collection, I suspect will not be to everyone's taste, some of the letters are very long and therefore difficult to read, and some is very gossipy and frivolous which I suppose is a good insight into how people's emotions would have been challenging and changing during this time.

Love In The Blitz is a unique insight to life in London during the Blitz and a great read during our own troubled times and period of lockdown.

A fascinating glimpse in to a love story that is true and strong despite world war 2. As told through the letters of Eileen as she replies to the love of her life. From friendship at University before the war, an unrequited love initially but time distance and loneliness changes perspectives. An illuminating glimpse in to the social mores of the time, highly educated and enquiring Eileen enjoys a full social life in London whilst desperately missing her beloved. Anyone with an interest in world War 2, social history and a very personal story will not be able to put this book down.