We Went to England

A vivid, often humorous slice of autobiography, We Went To England spans the Atlantic OceanRochester, New York to London, the Great Depression and the second World War. Children of an American mother and an English father, Elaine and her sisters have a privileged, sheltered lifemore akin to the world of Jane Austen than that of Angela's Ashes. Elaine, though, finds there is always a BUT. You have to learn to be a Lady. To obey a set of rigid ruleswhat's "e;done"e; and "e;not done"e;. Too many of the rules she learns only after breaking them. With the War in 1939 everything changes. Being a Lady is no longer so importantsurviving is. There are gas masks, air raids, bombs and the constant fear of death. After September 11, 2001, Elaine's story has fresh relevance. As a young girl she learned that in the presence of constant low-level fear, life goes onand so do laughter and purpose.