Love in the Blitz

Starred review from January 27, 2020
This collection of letters written by literary translator Alexander (1917–1986) to her future husband, Gershon Ellenbogen, between July 1939 and March 1946 proves a remarkable aggregate of public and personal history. It begins with, per editor Crane, a “remarkably forgiving letter” from Alexander to Ellenbogen after she is badly injured in a car crash while he, a friend and fellow Cambridge student, is driving. The ensuing correspondence (of which his half is lost) traces their deepening bond, as he serves in the RAF and she in the Army bureaucracy, and shares details of ordinary British life during WWII, perhaps most dramatically of blitz-era London. “I’ve been nervous in Air-Raids before, but last night I was Terrified,” Alexander writes, noting elsewhere, “gas-mask practice is at 10 and I’ve left my mask at home again.” She also shares “libelous” gossip about her friends (“Darling Jean Swills Pink Gin with Terrific Swagger—It’s my private opinion that she’s a bit of a Wild Oat”) and describes familial roadblocks to their relationship, as when her parents are scandalized by her plans to stay with Ellenbogen near his training camp. Any reader with an interest in cultural history or a love of romance will find this a book to savor.

March 1, 2020
Letters from a young Londoner to her lover offer an intimate chronicle of life on the homefront. In 2017, McGowan purchased a large cache of letters written by Eileen Alexander (1917-1986), from 1939 to 1947, to Gershon Ellenbogen, her boyfriend, fiance, and, in 1944, husband. Deftly edited by McGowan and with informative chapter introductions by Crane, the letters offer a moving, sharply etched chronicle of wartime London, where Eileen lived with her family, joined the war effort, and eagerly awaited Gershon's return from a post in Egypt. As Alexander herself noted, she was a lively, engaging correspondent: "letter-writing is undoubtedly my medium," she wrote to Gershon; "when I'm writing (and particularly when I'm writing to you, my dear love) I have the feeling that I'm living my experiences all over again--but living them more richly, because they're being shared with a friend." Alexander's wit and intelligence shine through reports of her work, their friends' romantic entanglements, her reflections on religion, her sexual longing, and tidbits of gossip, some related to their mutual friend Aubrey Eban, who later became, as Abba Eban, the internationally renowned "Voice of Israel." Awarded a first in English at Cambridge, Alexander laces her letters with literary references, and though nightly bombings often required sleeping in shelters, she and her friends were able to dine out, gather in one another's houses, and attend the theater and movies, excursions that she recounted in detail to Gershon. The war certainly took its toll, psychologically and emotionally, but Alexander assured Gershon, "I'm a Girl of Simple Needs. The only things I must have are you," friends, books, and "constant Hot Water." As "depressing and exhausting" as the war was, Alexander wrote, "if I were asked to choose between death and a shameful peace--I would choose death," she wrote. "The only price I couldn't pay would be your life." A rare, vivid perspective on the impact of war.

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April 1, 2020
Alexander was a brilliant young Englishwoman bound for an academic career when WWII intervened. A car accident involving Alexander and Gershon Ellenbogen was the flint that lit the flame of a long, slow-burning relationship that endured the war and resulted in marriage. This book compiles Alexander's long-lost love letters to Gershon, her beloved soldier, as he was posted in various locales during the war. They run the gamut of chatty (sometimes catty), ruminative, plaintive, and frank, and readers will appreciate Alexander's breadth of literary knowledge. (And also be grateful for the many footnotes that explain some of the literary references.) Alexander's style of expression is uniquely her own with terms like "mollocking" (to cavort, especially sexually) and naming the bathroom "Duncan." Nothing is too great or too trivial to include in her letters: interminable air raids, praise for C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, and squabbles with her father and brothers. Front matter provided by the editors helps give context, and a "who's who" at the end helps readers keep the vast cast of characters straight.WOMEN IN FOCUS: The 19th in 2020(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 1, 2020

In 1939, author Alexander had just graduated from Girton College, Cambridge. The year before, she'd met fellow Cambridge student Gershon Ellenbogen, and on June 29, he set out to drive her to London, but they had an accident en route. Recovering in the hospital, she began writing to him and wouldn't stop until March 26, 1943, when they were married in London. Between those dates, she sent her boyfriend, fianc�, and finally husband more than a thousand letters, determined not to lose him even when he was overseas. Alexander died in 1986, Gershon in 2003; he had saved all her letters. Eventually, they were listed for sale on eBay, ending up in the hands of a competent, respectful editor and compiled here. Alexander's adoration for Gershon shines through in every letter, and so do her observations on the opinions and foibles of the people around her. You'll laugh out loud at unbuttoned descriptions of friends, family, and coworkers while learning more than you'd expect about life in London leading up and during to World War II. VERDICT This treasure trove of love letters, cultural history, and memoir should make a wonderful addition to all World War II collections. [See Prepub Alert, 12/2/19.]--David Keymer, Cleveland

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