Joan Mant history draws upon the reminiscences of over 300 'land girls' (as they were affectionately known at the time), to tell the story of life on the wartime farm. Despite the prejudice against women undertaking heavy outdoor work, young women from all walks of life volunteered to serve their country on the land. It was a hard and demanding task involving none of the glamour that life in the armed services seemed to offer. Wages were at subsistence levels and in most cases living conditions were spartan. Those who had volunteered expecting a bucolic life of jolly hay-making were quickly pitch-forked into harsh reality. Eating raw potatoes, keeping clean by bathing in milk sterilisers and starting work at 4 am were common conditions, and accidents - sometimes fatal - added to the hazards endured.
But throughout these moving accounts of their lives runs a common thread of humour, camaraderie and pride. Land Girls is a fitting tribute to the WLA's heroic effort to keep food on the nation's table and establishes their well-earned place in the archives of war.
- Back cover quote ‘A wonderful record of life in the Land Army, as told by the Land
Girls themselves’ BBC WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? MAGAZINE
- Author was a Land Girl herself.
- Author has collected reminiscences from over 300 British Land Girls.
- Comprehensive coverage of the experience of Land Girls during the war.
- Well illustrated with 52 period photographs, some in colour.
- The perfect book to stock in heritage sites and museums with a Second World
War focus.
- Reviews in the paperback review sections of the national daily and Sunday
newspapers, weeklies, and history magazines to include The Daily Mail, BBC
Who Do You Think You Are Magazine and The Sunday Telegraph.