Report an issue
Tell us what's wrong and we'll take a look.
Thanks – we got it. We'll review and follow up if needed.
World War II on the home front: "Fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or James Herriot will enjoy this unique historical account." —Library Journal One of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction's Four Queens of Crime "Engrossing and moving."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) This remarkable firsthand account—from the acclaimed Golden Age mystery author—was written to let people know how the Second World War affected ordinary English country people. The Oaken Heart is Margery Allingham's tribute to the resiliency and determination of the people of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, the Essex village where she lived and nicknamed "Auburn" in her manuscript. Allingham, already a successful mystery author in 1939, was at work on the Albert Campion novel Traitor's Purse. The first hint of war was felt in the alarm of a radio announcer's voice, and Allingham put down her pen as her peaceful corner of the world braced for sending its men into battle, and even possible invasion. As villagers rallied around the cause—supporting each other and their country—Allingham found herself acting as the local billeting officer and first aid organizer. She writes of the sacrifices of farmers, the mistrust of politics, the grim acceptance of rationing, the bombing of London. And through it all, the never-ending hope for peace. The Oaken Heart captures the personal and universal toll of war, far from the front lines, written by a woman whose own quest for justice jumped from the page to the streets where she lived. "Her record of the events and people of this fraught wartime period is rendered with the skill found in the best of her fictional writing . . . remains an insight into another facet of a remarkable talent."—Crime Time
Margery Allingham
Margery Allingham was born in London in 1904. The child of two writers, she grew up in the village of Layer Breton near Colchester and spent much of her childhood writing stories and plays. Her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, was published in 1923 when she was only nineteen. Her breakthrough came in 1929 with the publication of The Crime at Black Dudley, which introduced Albert Campion, the gentleman sleuth who went on to become her most famous character and featured in eighteen further novels and numerous short stories, including Sweet Danger and The Tiger in the Smoke, establishing her as one of the four queens of the Golden Age of crime. Allingham died in 1966 and her husband, Philip Youngman Carter, completed her final Campion novel, The Cargo of Eagles.
More by Margery Allingham
Why Readwise Books?
Readwise Books is an ebook & audiobook platform that automatically logs how much you and your friends read, making it fun and easy to read more. Learn more →