Our Street

Yet another wonderful book by Victor Pemberton: the magical author of a series of books on life in London, This one is set during and around the time of the second world war and talks of the life of a fifteen year old boy who takes pity on an old German-Jewish widow who lives just off the Seven Sisters Road, after a series of pranks that he and the gang had played on people living there.He finds himself drawn to Elsa and into her world of books and a culture he never knew existed.

This book opens up to the reader what it was like to live with the constant worry of air raids and especially for Frankie the main character; with his strange friendship with Elsa.Many people in the book frown on his friendship but I felt it was a good thing that had come out of the nasty tricks "the Merton Street Gang" had played on the likes of people like Elsa.

Victor through his story gives a warm and entertaining vision - brimming with atmosphere of wartime London , a vivid story of a community surviving some of the darkest days of our history. Many have written of this time, but not many can put the real atmosphere of the time on paper, and the traumas that many families were put through, during that time.

I found it a wonderful descriptive and enjoyable book.Victor Pemberton is a pleasure to read with his down to earth visual illustrations of life in the war years.