Suzanne Lang

Displaced Donkeys: A Guernsey Family's War Suzanne Lang

The evacuation of Guernsey in late June 1940 impacted on every family on that peaceful rural island. Parents had only 24 hours to decide whether or not to send their children to Britain with their schools and teachers. Mothers with children under school age had to decide whether to flee Guernsey to Britain with their children, whilst men of military age had to decide whether to enlist in the British forces, or to remain on Guernsey to protect their homes and livelihoods under the coming Nazi Occupation. As numerous families were torn apart, the stresses of war affected relationships between husband and wife and between parents and children. Many of the mothers who left Guernsey for towns in the North-West of England had little money and few possessions, and struggled to care for their children, both materially and emotionally. They also had to cope with the unfamiliar surroundings of industrial towns that were so very different to their rural island home. Suzanne's book tells the story of one such Guernsey family. It details their highs and their lows, and shows how they coped in the unfamiliar surroundings of Glasgow and Stockport in the 1940's. As Dolly states, it's this bloody war Cliff, it's changed people's lives... It wasn't of our making but we've had to live through it and survive as best we could.'