Waiting for the Bluebirds

In September 1939, aged only seven years old, June Matthews faces sudden separation from her parents and her familiar life in a poor district of London. With thousands of other city children, she is evacuated to the countryside under 'Operation Pied Piper', and finds herself living with strangers in a small farming village in Hertfordshire. She learns to love the countryside and the ways of the village; she makes friends, tries her hand at catching rabbits, and narrowly escapes sexual assault by a young soldier. In many ways it is the return to her London home six years later which proves more traumatic for her: now an independent minded teenager, she finds family life difficult in many ways, not least because of the appallingly cramped and impoverished living conditions which her family is forced to endure as a result of the post-war housing shortage. Carefully researched and honestly written, this autobiographical memoir recalls many episodes of joy, pain, danger, and humour. June's account of her personal experiences is enriched by a wealth of historical references detailing the progress of the war on the Home Front.