A vivid, intimate account of life in austerity Britain. Superb.
David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain A touching and startlingly frank portrait of adapting to life in post-war Britain. Truly fascinating. I enjoyed it as much as Nella Last's War.
Gilda O'Neill
Nella Last's Peace is extraordinary - tender, intimate, striking, heartbreaking and witty - it grants us the lovely and dignified privilege of knowing a stranger's heart.
A. L. Kennedy
Compassionate, gossipy, observant - Nella Last's long-awaited Peace Diaries deserve to be read not only for their intimate insight into the dislocated post-war world, but also for their continued portrayal of Nella herself. She is brave, lovable and a born writer.
Virginia Nicholson
Nothing could have been more 'ordinary' than the life of Nella Last, a middle-aged woman living in the north-west of England in the Attlee years, ground-down by ration books, post-war exhaustion and an uncertain future, and yet her eye for detail and penetrating interest in the people around her make her diary a social document of extraordinary interest and value.
D. J. Taylor
Advance quote
Nella's eye for detail and penetrating interest in the people around her make her diary a social document of extraordinary interest and value.
D J Taylor
The diary has a certain universal quality that transcends the particular time and circumstances. My gut feeling is that Nella will come to be seen as one of the major twentieth-century English diarists.
David Kynaston
Woman's Hour
It's not necessary to read Last's first volume to become immediately absorbed by her honest and heartfelt story.
Nora Krug
The Washington Post
Nella Last may be the most prolific writer you've never heard of. It's not necessary to read Last's first volume to become immediately absorbed by her honest and heartfelt story.
Nora Krug
Washington Post