The stories in Good Evening, Mrs. Craven are definitely taking a sombre tone now. War Among Strangers had been published on 17 January 1942, so Mollie must have written it right after the Pearl Harbor attack. In it, Mrs. Bristowe is the wife of a British civil servant. When WWII broke, she and her husband […]

In Goodbye, My Love (published on 13 December 1941), Adrian Vyner is a young man who has just been called to serve in WWII. Adrian is to leave London in four days, so he and his wife Ruth have a lot to do before that, and on the top of that list is to pay […]

Mrs. Ramsay’s sewing party is back in full swing once again with some recurring characters from Battle of the Greeks! Before Mrs. Ramsay started hosting these parties, she had always taken their small Sussex village to be a “sleepy hamlet where nothing ever happened.” But now, thanks to her new lady friends, she knows nothing […]

Fin de Siècle (published on 12 July 1941) is one of my favorites in the collection! Don and Ernestine Merrill are a young bohemian couple from London. Up until the first few months of the war, they had been fierce pacifists who never shied away from making disparaging remarks of the “military caste.” But now […]

Mrs. Ramsay (from Date with Romance and Mrs. Ramsay’s War) makes an appearance again in Battle of the Greeks (published on 8 March 1941). In this story, the women from the village get together at Helen Ramsay’s place once in every two weeks to stitch pyjamas as a part of their war effort. Usually, these […]

Winthrop Biddle, the main character in Lunch with Mr. Biddle (published on 7 December 1940), is a confirmed bachelor who is not about to let the war completely cramp his lifestyle. As a popular member in the high society, Mr. Biddle had managed to get away from his Devonshire house and live with his affluent […]

Lucy Grant, the protagonist in As the Fruitful Vine (published on 31 August 1940), is a young woman who has never had her moment to shine in front of her family and friends. It’s not because Lucy never had anything worth celebrating – she has had a few big moments. But the timing has never […]

In This Flower, Safety (published on 6 July 1940), Miss Mildred Ewing, a wealthy spinster from London is trying to escape the war and go somewhere that promises her safety. Ever since the war began, Miss Ewing has been living at Hotel San Remo in the seaside with her elderly maid, Sparks, leaving behind her […]

It’s the Real Thing This Time (published on 15 June 1940) is a story that is a bit similar to Meeting at the Pringles’. In this story, the protagonist is retired Major Marriot. He had fought in WWI, but now in his dotage, he has turned into a gardener attending to vegetable patches in his […]

In Clover (published on 13 April 1940) is another story concerning London evacuees and their hostesses from the countryside during the Blitz. In it, the twenty-four-year-old Mrs. Fletcher is to play hostess at her manor to the Clarks – a pregnant mother and her three children. Mrs. Fletcher is from an upper-middle-class family, and her […]

In the first Letter from London Mollie wrote on 3rd September 1939, she mentions as the Londoners began to evacuate the city, the English from the countryside were trying their best to overcome their traditional “dislike for strangers,” and open up their homes to a number of unwelcome guests who would be staying with them […]

For most adults, wartime can be a stress inducer. However to the Pringle sisters, the protagonists in Meeting at the Pringles’ it has quite the opposite effect! Mollie Panter-Downes’s second letter to the New York Times written in January 1940 is about a group of women who have rallied to do their bit for the […]