Wave Me Goodbye: 2stories of the Second World War

Written in and about the decade 1939-1949, the stories in this high caliber anthology are the work of women, chiefly English (five Americans are represented), who were actively engaged in the war effort on the home front. The experience of war--the London blitz, evacuation, the fronts in Europe and Africa--become personalized in stories from Barbara Pym, Rosamond Lehmann, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and others as notable. Among the Americans are Kay Boyle, Dorothy Parker (whose Lovely Leave has enduring resonance) and Jean Stafford ( The Maiden ) in a chilling postwar augury. Selected from a variety of publications by Boston, a London journalist, the stories poignantly illuminate the ``second war'' behind the frontlines. (Nov.)