Made in Myrtle Street (Prequel)
by B A Lightfoot
Dear Dad,Floppy is gone and I’ll never see him again, ever. We had him for
Christmas and I didn’t know because Mam said we were having something that was a
bit like chicken.’Pippin’s distressed letter to her father, describing her
Christmas dinner in 1916, reflected the difficulties of the families that were
left behind when their men went off to war. She was 9 years old and they had
just eaten her pet rabbit. The news, however, brought comfort to Edward Craigie
who, along with his two lifelong pals, quick-witted, rugby loving Liam and the
clumsy but compassionate Big Charlie, had just survived a horrific eight months
in Gallipoli.In Made in Myrtle Street, Pippin’s letters interpret the
situation at home through the eyes of a young though maturing child but in an
often hilarious way. Edward’s replies are those of a caring father who finds it
increasingly difficult to hide from his daughter the realities of the
war.Made in Myrtle Street follows the three friends as they endure, with
humour and determination, the challenges of Egypt, Turkey and France. But the
pain of separation from their families grows more acute as the war drags on and
those at home adapt to life without their men.The persecution of the three
friends by an alcoholic Major, and the discovery that he had traumatised two of
their families before the war, provokes a distracting, and ultimately
distressing, quest for retribution.Made in Myrtle Street is a compelling,
humorous, often touching insight into WW1 from the point of view of an ordinary
soldier and his family.
Christmas and I didn’t know because Mam said we were having something that was a
bit like chicken.’Pippin’s distressed letter to her father, describing her
Christmas dinner in 1916, reflected the difficulties of the families that were
left behind when their men went off to war. She was 9 years old and they had
just eaten her pet rabbit. The news, however, brought comfort to Edward Craigie
who, along with his two lifelong pals, quick-witted, rugby loving Liam and the
clumsy but compassionate Big Charlie, had just survived a horrific eight months
in Gallipoli.In Made in Myrtle Street, Pippin’s letters interpret the
situation at home through the eyes of a young though maturing child but in an
often hilarious way. Edward’s replies are those of a caring father who finds it
increasingly difficult to hide from his daughter the realities of the
war.Made in Myrtle Street follows the three friends as they endure, with
humour and determination, the challenges of Egypt, Turkey and France. But the
pain of separation from their families grows more acute as the war drags on and
those at home adapt to life without their men.The persecution of the three
friends by an alcoholic Major, and the discovery that he had traumatised two of
their families before the war, provokes a distracting, and ultimately
distressing, quest for retribution.Made in Myrtle Street is a compelling,
humorous, often touching insight into WW1 from the point of view of an ordinary
soldier and his family.