Blitz Kids: True Stories from the Children of Wartime Britain to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day

Duncan Barrett

Nuala Calvi

Published to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day

'Betty heard the scream of bombs falling and the terrifying thud of explosions. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang, and her mother was thrown across the shelter. For a moment everything was lit up by a blood-red light. Then they were plunged into darkness...'

When the Second World War began, there were 10 million children living in Britain. Many were evacuated to the countryside, but others stayed behind and witnessed the Blitz close-up in cities around the UK.

Blitz Kids tells the remarkable true stories of children who spent their nights in cold, cramped air-raid shelters, hearing the rumble of planes and the crash of bombs overhead. Many woke up in the morning to find their homes and schools destroyed, their favourite toys buried beneath rubble, their pets lost and, in some cases, their families shattered. Yet amid the turmoil and tears, they found a way to enjoy their childhoods, collecting steaming-hot shrapnel, turning bombed-out houses into adventure playgrounds, and chasing American GIs for chocolate and chewing gum.

From headstrong East-Ender Kitty to quick-witted Liverpudlian Christopher - and little Doreen, who survived the devastation of Coventry - Blitz Kids brings together the moving true stories of a remarkable generation now passing into history.