# "1923" A True Story about Britain during the Depression and through WW2



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.--The Bookbag

1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru
Product Description
To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family's early history-their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.

1923: A Memoir presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smith's story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.

1923: A Memoir tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real.

http://www.amazon.com/1923-Memoir-Lies-Testaments-ebook/dp/B0060CKF52/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321364944&sr=1-2


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*Highly Acclaimed 1923: A Memoir now just 99 cents*










_New Year, 1945
Confined to camp on New Year's Eve, we sang Auld Lang Syne at the chime of midnight and toasted the year to come. During the first days and then weeks of January, we waited in disjointed apprehension to deploy to Europe. After a while, we thought our captain had played a cruel prank on us. He promised us in December a mission in Europe and a greater role in this war, and it now seemed as fanciful as Meade's desert premonitions. We waited and asked our sergeants, "You'll know when you know," was the answer.

We waited and Warsaw fell to the Russians. We waited impatiently and the death marches began for the near-lifeless prisoners of the concentration camps. We waited while the Germanic retreat of volks deutch began, from the Eastern, Hanseatic fortresses of Lithuania, Latvia, and Pomerania. Over two million Aryan refugees limped across the snow or sailed in over-laden ships across the icy Baltic. While underneath the slushy sea, Russian submarines hungrily trawled the waters in vengeful wait. The Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz and we waited. For parts of Holland still under German occupation, "The Hunger Winter" was now in its fifth month and the citizens were reduced to consuming tulip bulbs and boiling shoe leather for nutrients. We waited anxious, ignorant, and callow for Europe._

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923: A Memoir just 99 cents for the Holidays. Harry Leslie Smith's true account of life in Great Depression Britain and WW2*









It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.--The Bookbag

1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru

Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life.-Feeding My Book Addiction 
To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family's early history-their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.

1923: A Memoir presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smith's story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.

1923: A Memoir tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real.


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923: A Memoir Lies and Testaments Just 99 cents this Holiday Season!*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52 *1923: A Memoir Just 99 cents!*

It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.--The Bookbag

1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru
Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life.-Feeding My Book Addiction

1923: A Prologue
My sister and I were children of the one true Church which took its orders from the Vatican. We were commanded by God's earthly representatives to arise, early, each Sunday and dress in clean, presentable clothes. On Sundays, Mam stayed late in bed while Dad always escaped our ritual with an early morning walk. After breakfast of a shared piece of stale toast, my sister would clean my face and hands with an old soapy dish-rag. Until the age of six, I had been excluded and shielded from religious penance and paying homage to Jesus snug in his heaven. So I was mystified and frustrated by this weekly occurrence of stomping across city streets with stores shuttered and bolted. I was envious of our town's well-fed but less-devout brethren who were still wrapped up warm in their beds, while my sister and I traversed, two or three miles to the parish cathedral.

In front of St. Joseph's, we lined up with other hungry children from our school and from other parochial establishments in the parish. We formed neat lines and rows designated by age and classroom. Nuns, from the Sisters of the Cross and Passion barked up and down the street like sergeant majors at inspection. They pulled and dragged sleepy eyed worshippers into their correct drill formation. Nuns, in wimples and long black gowns, impenetrable to human emotions and suffering, demanded silence. Nuns commanded while pulling ears or twisting arms that there was to be order and no shuffling of feet. They ordered us to demonstrate reverence, for the Holy Father and for the Church. The street was a parade ground of regimented child soldiers for Christ. We were twisted in military boxed squares, divided and codified by our school and by our level of education. All of us, impatiently waited to be marched into Sunday Mass and confession. "Father, forgive me, for it has been seven days since my last confession and I have had impure thoughts about my pudding for tea." I was seven then when I shivered before the entrance to God's Holy House, in Bradford.


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*Harry Leslie Smith's true account of life in Great Depression Britain and WW2 still just 99 cents*










http://www.amazon.com/1923-Memoir-Lies-Testaments-ebook/dp/B0060CKF52/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325884433&sr=1-1

It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.
--The Bookbag

1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru

"Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life."-Feeding My Book Addiction 
From the Back Cover
_The sky is clear. I am in the back of a truck, in a long convoy of vehicles. We are moving like an enormous centipede up a two lane road. There are 15 men in each lorry. Woodbine cigarettes and Capstans dangle from our mouths. The straps to our tin helmets hang loosely around our chins. We are cocksure and unafraid. We are survivors and conquerors pushing our way through northern Germany. Opposite our convoy, there is an endless procession of refugees. They are pushing their scant possessions in hand carts or dragging along worn luggage with ropes wrapped around them. The procession contained men and women, the young and the old. Thin, cadaverous horses followed the throng dragging their hoofs in the thin soil beside the road. The jetsam was a mixture of forced labourers, ex prisoners, ex concentration camp inmates and the Diaspora from Germany's eastern provinces. They were all moving southward, as if believing that their homes still existed or that they still had relatives alive to give them shelter. If the Netherlands and Belgium were any example to me, there was little left of Europe. What had not been bombed had been looted and what had not been looted had been burned to the ground._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*99 cents for 1923
1923: A Memoir tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real.*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_By Mrs. Vonnie J. Hughes (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) 
This review is from: 1923: A Memoir Lies and Testaments (Kindle Edition)
Instead of arid history books, read this. Harry's humble, poverty-stricken and hopeless beginnings produced a remarkable man (although he doesn't see himself that way).

Harry takes you through the first and second world wars as seen by one who lived through them, not as the history-apologists would have us believe.

The gulf between the haves and the have-nots at the beginning of the 20th century can only be thoroughly discussed by someone who was there, and Harry does this brilliantly.

I'd like to see a bit more editing done - seven or eight errors which threw me - and the ending is abrupt, but that is all to the good. That abrupt ending had me thinking, "Did he write a sequel? Where is it?"

Whoever you are, whatever genre you read in, read this book and learn
_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923: A Memoir now just 99 cents

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52]

It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.--The Bookbag

1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"There are many books written about WWII and The Great Depression, however written in a memoir creates a different read. If not for the true to life language of Harry's experiences, this story could be on school book shelves for students studying history." Mary Crocco

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru
Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life.-Feeding My Book Addiction


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*
99 cents for 1923
1923: A Memoir tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real.*

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_Birthday Greetings from 1941
I am quite sure that, this year, on my birthday there will be many good wishes, along with some cake. No doubt, there will be champagne because, after all, I am turning eight-nine.

"That is very old," a relative recently said to me.

"It is an ocean of time," I replied.

On good days, I marvel at my advanced age and on bad I lament that so many have passed before me. Being a winter baby, I have felt February's austere light ebb, fade and grow cold upon my face for close to nine decades. Time has marked my body with many scars from this marathon, I started in 1923. I hope my finish line is far off in the thicket and I have still lots more time to ramble along the river bank of existence.

When I began this sprint, in my life's journey, there was little to mark the day of my birth from any other day. There were no parties, balloons or fancy sweets, just a passing greeting from my mother, while my older sister tugged on my hair and counted my years of life. Afterwards, she would give me a pinch for good luck.

When I turned eighteen, a squeeze of good fortune from my sister would not have gone amiss considering Britain was at war. I was certainly going to need providence, on my side, because I was scheduled to begin my induction with the RAF, the following day.

My birthday in 1941 was a quiet affair. My friend Roy had already left to join the Cold Stream Guards while my other friend Dougie Butterworth was ill again and had taken to his bed with a quivering heart. I did not want to spend my last birthday, perhaps my last days on Earth with Eric. His fast talk about the money he was making in selective war service sickened me.

Instead, I decided to indulge myself with a visit to the public baths. They were located at the top of Boothtown Road. I arrived and paid an attendant 50p. It was a privilege to soak in a warm bath rather than a tin tub filled with tepid water in a kitchen. A female attendant led me along a narrow passageway until she found an unoccupied room. Inside the narrow, wood-lined space was a hanger for one's clothes, and a deep, porcelain, bathtub. The attendant placed a plug into the bath. She turned the taps on until the bath was filled with warm inviting water. When finished, she closed the door behind her. I undressed and submerged myself in calm, cleansing hot water. I was empty of thoughts or cares until the water grew cold and it was time to dry myself, dress, and depart.

Afterwards, I spent some hours with my sister Mary who had come down to Halifax to bid me farewell. We did not talk much. We sipped our ale. We held each other's hands on the table. We looked into each other's faces, seeing if we could read our past upon them. She joked and bantered more than me because I was withdrawn and frightened about what tomorrow would bring for me. I was as scared as I was as a child when the nuns beat me because my future was as ominous as my past. I experienced the same form of loneliness when Albert our father left us. There was no one and nothing which could ease my sense of apartness from the civilian world. When it was time for my sister to leave, she got up and kissed me.

"Come back safe, Harry, just come back."

The following morning, I awoke with a jittery feeling like it was a school morning. I dressed warmly and went to the kitchen. My mother was sitting alone, warming herself by the oven. Bill her lover had already gone to work and my half brother's Matt and junior were at school. She made me a cup of tea and cut me a large slice of fresh bread. There was a generous lather of butter and jam on it.

"Go on, tuck in. Well, lad, this is it. Keep your head down, Harry. Don't do anything daft because life is short, my boy, life is short."

I hugged her with mixed emotions. I mumbled farewell and made my way to the train station.

The platform was deserted while I waited for my train to take me to Padgate for induction. It was cold, damp, and grey; sweet smoke from the McIntosh candy plant fell like drizzle across the station. I reached into my overcoat and found a near-empty packet of cigarettes.

I placed one in my mouth and furiously struck a match, quickly inhaling the harsh tobacco. In the distance, I heard the whistle of the train. I smelled the coal burning off its engine. I breathed in the coal that had been dug from the pits of Barnsley, Elsecar, and Barley Hole. I tasted it in my mouth, around my teeth, and on my tongue. It was the soot of my father, my grandfather, and all my ancestors who laboured beneath the ground.

As the train drew its way into the belly of the station, another passenger approached the platform. He was a man in his fifties, long past the time for war, and he was whistling the tune, 'Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run&#8230;"
_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*99 cents for 1923
1923: A Memoir tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real.*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.--The Bookbag

1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru
Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life.-Feeding My Book Addiction 
Product Description
To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family's early history-their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.

1923: A Memoir presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smith's story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923: A Memoir Lies and Testaments 99 cents

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

5 stars outt of 5 stars Heartbreaking & Uplifting, 
By Melanie King - See all my reviews
This review is from: 1923: A Memoir Lies and Testaments (Kindle Edition)
Having never read a memoir, I wasn't sure what to expect. But from the moment I got involved with [...] and selected my authors, I knew I would be a fan of the genre - at least this particular author's account of his early years.

Just from the brief blurbs on the [...] author page, there was a parallel resonance between Harry's life and my father's, although comparing the two, my father's life wasn't nearly so tragic and poverty-stricken. In their later years, they both fought in Europe during WWII.

It must have been extremely painful for Harry to be able to put his childhood on paper for all to see yet cathartic at the same time.

It's hard to imagine the type of childhood Harry experienced in 1920s and 1930s England. In that period, people did what that had to in order to survive, including digging through trash and stealing from others to obtain something to eat. His account of his father's years of working in the mines until he could no longer work below ground to being pensioned off and shamed out of the family home because of the actions of his mother, who only did what she had to in order to ensure their survival (such as it was).

Even Harry's mates and later his RAF comrades had no idea what he had been through as a child, ***spoiler here*** although I suspected it would tumble out when he pulled his rifle on a fellow serviceman. ***end spoiler***. Harry had invented a happy reasonaby normal family life for himself.

Harry is quick to credit his older sister, Mary, for his survival. When she finally leaves home, he's devastated. They remain close but it's not the same. When he talks about corresponding with Mary after he's enlisted with the RAF, you can feel the hurt in his words as he knows they've drifted apart.

Harry's keen wit and way with words make for an spell-binding rollercoaster ride of emotions from the lowest of low to the highest of high. He doesn't pull any punches and is brutally honest when reliving his experiences.

There are two more chapters forthcoming in this series. 1947: A Place For The Heart To Kip and the final book, tentatively entitled 1953: Empress of Australia.

After reading his first, I'll definitely be purchasing the next two._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923: A Memoir only 99 cents *http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.--The Bookbag

1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru

Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life.-Feeding My Book Addiction 
_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_"This makes uncomfortable but compelling reading. The author grew up in grinding poverty and appalling conditions but with a determination to better himself. I actually found this an inspiring read in the end. Although I was shocked and horrified to read what this young boy and his siblings had to put up with, I admired his determination to better himself by finding escape in reading. His childhood was dreadful and his youth in the RAF tedious. Although bitterness shows through in his writing at times; it is perfectly natural given the circumstances but this is not a wallow in self pity. I found the ending very optimistic and hope to read the next installment of his memoirs soon!"_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

"_*Smith's coming of age memoir takes readers on a journey of poverty and heartbreak that is the author's childhood and young adulthood growing up between the first and second world wars. Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life. The narrative flow develops and ages, if you will, as he does throughout the book. It's incredibly powerful to see a precocious child harden under his circumstances and age into an adult set on escaping the ever looming workhouse and empty stomach that seemed to define his childhood.*_" Feeding My Book Addiction


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923: A Memoir 99 cents this weekend










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_The writing is simple and to the point, making the events the most important aspect. Sometimes turning brutally stark, the writing tears away until the truth of those years shines through. There are not many books out there that show the life of a pilot during those years, and I was surprised at how moving many of the sections were. There was no real dull moment in the book's entirety, which is something to compliment the author about. 
Writing a memoir is not an easy matter, there is always the danger of maudlin scenes or descriptive minutia that might mean a lot for the author but not for the reader, so this is one of those books that should be read, not only for the incredible life resting in its pages, but for the skill with which it was handled. I can easily recommend it to lovers of memoirs and of history. _


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*1923: A Memoir 99 cents *

_Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life.-Feeding My Book Addiction _


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923: A Memoir 99 cents *










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family's early history-their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.

1923: A Memoir presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

_1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader_ 
*Only 99 cents
*









http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*99 cents 1923: A Memoir*

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_While reading memoirs is not really my thing. I really did like this book. The author give's insight to something a younger person does not know anything about. Just thinking that my parents and/or grandparents had to go though something like this makes me love and respect them more.

The author talks about how he lived through a depression and WWII. One or the other is important in its self but to go through both is something amazing. There are so few people willing to talk let alone write a book about events and happens during this tragic time. The author portrays the events like they happened yesterday.

While I enjoyed this book someone else might not like it. Please remember that the events in this book are events that actually happened and not just something that the author made up. This is a good read for the current generation to help them understand what grandparents and even great grandparents suffered and went through with out cellphones, internet and sometimes even the basic items to get through everyday life. -Goodreads review
_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

Only 99 cents

1923: A Memoir

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*"I loved this book, the stark reality of poverty in the 20' and beyond was brought to life by real and honest portrayals of how an adult looking back sees his parents. The struggle of day to day life and the whispers and history that wove into how they found themselves barely eking out an existence was just a raw and pure look back at how life could be, and was.

The soft lifting out of the extreme's as they grew up and reached for their escapes simply drew me in and I have since reread it just to watch them grow out of that hard scrabble beginning." Goodreads Review*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*Only 99 cents

1923: A Memoir*

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_"This makes uncomfortable but compelling reading. The author grew up in grinding poverty and appalling conditions but with a determination to better himself. I actually found this an inspiring read in the end. Although I was shocked and horrified to read what this young boy and his siblings had to put up with, I admired his determination to better himself by finding escape in reading. His childhood was dreadful and his youth in the RAF tedious. Although bitterness shows through in his writing at times; it is perfectly natural given the circumstances but this is not a wallow in self pity. I found the ending very optimistic and hope to read the next installment of his memoirs soon!"_ *Goodreads Review*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*Only 99 cents

1923: A Memoir*

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments
by Harry Leslie Smith (Goodreads Author)
4.40 · rating details · 42 ratings · 23 reviews
*

_To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family 's early history their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.

"1923: A Memoir" presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smith 's story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.

"1923: A Memoir" tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

_This was a hard book to read, must have been hard to write and incredibly hard to live through. -Goodreads Review

I loved this book, the stark reality of poverty in the 20' and beyond was brought to life by real and honest portrayals of how an adult looking back sees his parents.-Goodreads Review

This makes uncomfortable but compelling reading. -Goodreads Review

This is a well written memoir that follows the author's life through his difficult childhood in the Great Depression, showing how his mother slowly began to give up her ideals to put food on the table for her children...-Goodreads Review_










*Only 99 cents

1923: A Memoir*
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*Only 99 cents

1923: A Memoir*

_This was a hard book to read, must have been hard to write and incredibly hard to live through. -Goodreads Review

I loved this book, the stark reality of poverty in the 20' and beyond was brought to life by real and honest portrayals of how an adult looking back sees his parents.-Goodreads Review

This makes uncomfortable but compelling reading. -Goodreads Review

This is a well written memoir that follows the author's life through his difficult childhood in the Great Depression, showing how his mother slowly began to give up her ideals to put food on the table for her children...-Goodreads Review_










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments
by Harry Leslie Smith (Goodreads Author)
4.40 · rating details · 42 ratings · 23 reviews










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52
To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family 's early history their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.

"1923: A Memoir" presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smith 's story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.

"1923: A Memoir" tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real.*


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*It's a personal as well as a social history. Smith has the knack of bringing the times to life in a way that few writers can manage. It's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move on & not labour a point.--The Bookbag*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader

"There are many books written about WWII and The Great Depression, however written in a memoir creates a different read. If not for the true to life language of Harry's experiences, this story could be on school book shelves for students studying history." Mary Crocco

"1923" is uplifting and highly recommended. --Midwest Book Review

1923: A Memoir is a protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired. --The Publishing Guru

Smith stays true to himself and his inner voice as he recounts the events of his early life.-Feeding My Book Addiction *


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923 is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time. --The Current Reader 99 cents
*









http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking misery memoir. Well, forget it because it's far from that. It's a factual and eloquent telling of the story of a hard life. There's no undue emotion and Smith is a lot kinder about people than I think that I could have been, considering that the best part of his first twenty three years was probably his time as an airman in the Second World War. It's a personal as well as a social history and Smith has the knack of bringing the times and the places to life in a way that few writers can manage.

It's not just the ability to get dialogue onto the page so that you hear people speak - and it's as people really did talk as the language has not been tidied up at all. It's not just the ability to produce exactly the phrase that paints the picture, although you can open the book at just about any page and smile at a point made with exactly the right words. Above all it's the ability to tell a story, the knowledge of when to move a story on and not labour a point, to know when you need say no more."-Bookbag Review_


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments
by Harry Leslie Smith (Goodreads Author)
4.36 · rating details · 44 ratings · 23 reviews
To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his family 's early history their misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.
"1923: A Memoir" presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smith 's story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.

"1923: A Memoir" tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real.*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*By Nikki (Warrington, The United Kingdom)
★★★★★ May 10, 2012
In the first volume of Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father be... ...more
By M.T. (The United Kingdom)
★★★☆☆ January 25, 2012
I downloaded this book because I like history and because I've run into the author on the Amazon forums on occasion and he's a lovely chap.

Despite the very British nature of this story it is published by an American publisher. This means it has a few strange american quirks which jump out at you... ...more
By Melanie (Brockville, ON, Canada)
★★★★★ June 24, 2011
Having never read a memoir, I wasn't sure what to expect. But from the moment I got involved with loveahappyending.com and selected my authors, I knew I would be a fan of the genre - at least this particular author's account of his early years.
Just from the brief blurbs on the loveahappyending.co... ...more

By Cynthia (Victoria, BC, Canada)
★★★★★ July 21, 2011
Very well written, fast moving social history that reminds of Angela's Ashes. ...more
*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_By David (Bolton, BL6 4EE, The United Kingdom)
★★★★★ June 27, 2012
A wonderful, poignant, honest memoir - heart rending at times, humourous at others but with an underlying resiliance from the author in telling his own story that I found both compelling and admirable.

If you like books about 'real' people then you should, in my humble opinion, read this one. ...

By Desiree (Ozark, MO)
★★★★★ March 06, 2011
i read this book today and it a great e book it will tell you that the 
war and the things it to the people in the era he had to suffer and then 
he become a man at 14 and had to help with money to come and go and the era
they had to live were they could his mom would live with who ever and she
ended...

By Sarah (Blytheville, AR)
★★★★☆ May 11, 2012

By Valentina (The United States)
★★★★☆ July 25, 2011
It is always interesting to see eras, such as World War II, through the eyes of one single individual. This is a well written memoir that follows the author's life through his difficult childhood in the Great Depression, showing how his mother slowly began to give up her ideals to put food on the... ...

By Nikki (Warrington, The United Kingdom)
★★★★★ May 10, 2012
In the first volume of Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father be... .._


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

Selection From Prologue:

*"The sky is clear. I am in the back of a truck, in a long convoy of vehicles. We are moving like an enormous centipede up a two lane road. There are 15 men in each lorry. Woodbine cigarettes and Capstans dangle from our mouths. The straps to our tin helmets hang loosely around our chins. We are cocksure and unafraid. We are survivors and conquerors pushing our way through northern Germany. Opposite our convoy, there is an endless procession of refugees. They are pushing their scant possessions in hand carts or dragging along worn luggage with ropes wrapped around them. The procession contained men and women, the young and the old. Thin, cadaverous horses followed the throng dragging their hoofs in the thin soil beside the road. The jetsam was a mixture of forced labourers, ex prisoners, ex concentration camp inmates and the Diaspora from Germany's eastern provinces. They were all moving southward, as if believing that their homes still existed or that they still had relatives alive to give them shelter. If the Netherlands and Belgium were any example to me, there was little left of Europe. What had not been bombed had been looted and what had not been looted had been burned to the ground. "
*


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_
To say that Harry Smith was born under an unlucky star would be an understatement. Born in England in 1923, Smith chronicles the tragic story of his early life in this first volume of his memoirs. He presents his familys early historytheir misfortunes and their experiences of enduring betrayal, inhumane poverty, infidelity, and abandonment.

1923: A Memoir presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smiths story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.
1923: A Memoir tells of a time and place when life, full of raw emotion, was never so real._


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_I am twenty-two. The sky is clear. I am in the back of a truck, in a long convoy of vehicles. We are moving like an enormous centipede up a two-lane road. There are fifteen men in each lorry. Woodbine cigarettes and Capstans dangle from our mouths. The straps to our tin helmets hang loosely around our chins. We are cocksure and unafraid. We are survivors and conquerors pushing our way through Northern Germany. Opposite our convoy, there is an endless procession of refugees. They are pushing their scant possessions in handcarts, or dragging along worn luggage with ropes wrapped around it. The procession contains men and women, the young and the old. Thin, cadaverous horses follow the throng dragging their hoofs in the thin soil beside the road. The jetsam is a mixture of forced labourers, ex-prisoners, ex-concentration camp inmates and the Diaspora, from Germany's eastern provinces. They are all moving southward, as if believing that their homes still existed or that they still had relatives alive to give them shelter. If the Netherlands and Belgium are any example to me, there is little left of Europe. What has not been bombed has been looted and what has not been looted has been burned to the ground. 
The landscape of Europe's lowlands is pitted and scarred from the movement of giant armies slithering their fat bellies against the land; while their hydra heads tore and destroyed the countryside, the villages and the cities before them. The nameless trod of people opposite our slow-moving trucks are expressionless their mien stolen from five years of war and untold privation. Their eyes are cast down at their feet, stamping towards a dirty, dusty unknown road. Did they have any thoughts and emotions left? Or, are they automatons who by instinct now force their legs left and right onwards towards their birthplace like diseased salmon spawning against a dammed river?
The air is warm and the smell of fresh earth, petrol and spring mingle together. A hundred kilometres north, Soviet infantry and stray remnants of Wehrmacht divisions' still clash .The Germans, we are told, are fighting in a panicked scramble to come westward rather than face their retribution from the Russians. Four days ago, Hitler shot himself in his concrete bunker below the depth of Berlin. Above ground Red Army forces pitched their flag on the Reichstag and levelled the Prussian city. We have been on the move for almost a full day lumbering up the Northern spine of Germany. We do not know what we will encounter. We do not know if there will be resistance, if we will meet an enemy refusing to surrender. At lunch, we lost two men to drowning. Foolishly, they went for a swim in swollen roadside canal. Their names will be etched up on a monument to the fallen instead of being remembered as mocking chance moments before peace.
Suddenly, on this journey into the enemy's land our trucks stop. Word has reached us from HQ. Last night at precisely 1820 allied forces accepted the surrender of all German armies, all German military, navy, air, ground and anything that could would or should carry a gun in the northern part of Germany. Field Marshal General Montgomery in a tent at Luneburg Heath received the instruments of surrender from a clean-shaven General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg. He was the last supreme commander of the Krieg's Marine. The rigid infantry General Hans Kinzel put his hands high, for all German forces in this area. The surrender is for Holland, and Northwest Germany, including Denmark. The rest of Third Reich still resists even with Berlin and Vienna burning and under Russian control.
In Northern Germany it is complete and total capitulation. The city we are approaching is open and free of hostilities. The war is on its deathbed. It has only a few days left to maim and kill. But I am safe. The city is open. We are now occupiers and I am alive. We approach Hamburg, a modern- day Carthage, brick dusts billows against our uniforms. The gray faces of the master race scurrying like rodents upon our approach. They are in search of food, missing relatives, safe housing or happier days. They scatter in confused fear as our truck horn sounds. They shun our looks. Germans' cast their heads down as one of us stands at the edge of truck to curse them with cat calls and howlers.
Two years previous to my arrival, Hamburg was set ablaze. The metropolis and its citizens burned and baked for three nights. It was 1943 and the war's outcome was uncertain. It was the time when men in charge of this conflict's direction were resolute; total war was our only passage to victory. Russia, our ally, demanded we do our share at defeating the Nazi war machine. The morale of the enemy must be crushed. So, the men in charge of the war asked the men with slide rules and mathematical minds to calculate an exact dropped bomb tonnage. The men in charge wanted to know the quantity needed to create greater civilian carnage and total victory for us. The scientists set to work. After many sleepless nights, they solved the equation of explosives to death ratio. They handed their discovery over to the RAF. 
On a summer's evening, when the air was humid, languid and sluggish, on a summer's evening when children were playing on the streets, and their mothers'- were on their door stoops' gossiping;- Hamburg was set alight. Incendiaries fell from the July night sky above them. Hundreds of Lancaster bombers opened their bellies and spewed out ton after ton of high explosives packed with phosphorous. The sheer tonnage of TNT and humid weather created a firestorm. It reached eight hundred degrees and brought winds that swept across streets and lane ways, alleys, parks and industrial zones with hurricane force. As the RAF, my RAF crept eastward bombing the city, one and 133 miles of street footage was burning. The conflagration reached ten square kilometres and affected 16,000 thousand apartment block buildings. Some said only 15,000 thousand civilians died on that mission. Others said over 50,000 thousand people perished. There were some who didn't say a word as they licked their vengeance for London, Coventry, Rotterdam and Warsaw.
Today May 4, 1945, the fires in Hamburg have long ago been extinguished. Here the war is finished. Germany is kaput. I feel nothing as from the truck I survey, the crumbling brick skeletons and the gray ghosts of buildings. I am alive. I have been through Holland and Belgium and seen Germany's legacy; emaciated children, looted homes. I have seen both national socialist collaborators and German army deserters dangling from trees. I have seen mobs, savagely beating women. I have seen women with their heads shaved, tarred and feathered. I have seen justice done in the streets. 
I have no feelings except, perhaps relief. I am twenty-two and will now see twenty-three. Perhaps I would get a life; maybe even a different life from the one I had before the war. I am in the back of that truck with my cigarette firmly between my lips and my stomach is full. I am like some ancient sailor or a warrior from the Odyssey. I am about to enter new and forbidding shores, where a fresh life can be found or snatched out of the rubble.
_


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

What a cliffhanger to end on!, 18 Nov 2012
By Terry Tyler
Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: 1923: A Memoir Lies and Testaments (Kindle Edition)
... and I shall most definitely be reading the next one.

This memoir of Harry Smith's early life in the poverty-stricken north of England was gripping, from the start - a short history of his family and how he came to be born into the situation he did - to the end, which was an account of the war from an average Joe's point of view.

I liked the early part best - it's so hard to believe that such hardship could have existed in this country, in the the last century, not so many years before I was born. I found the perceived difference between the starving north and the wealthy south most interesting, too. I kept being amazed over and over again that so many people had to live in the way they did, before the Welfare State. I know we all know about such things because we've been told about them, but to read someone's personal account of such a life brings it homes much more soundly.

I was engrossed in this book and read it very quickly - when the Kindle started saying '92%', and upwards, I was thinking, no, no, I want to read more! Better go and buy the next one, then....

Highly recommended, fascinating.

*Most Recent Customer Reviews*
_5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully honest memoir.
A wonderful, poignant, honest memoir - heart rending at times, humorous at others but with an underlying resilience from the author in telling his own story that I found both... 
Published 5 months ago by David Makinson
5.0 out of 5 stars 1923: A Memoir by Harry Leslie Smith
In the first volume of Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. 
Published 6 months ago by Nikki Bywater
5.0 out of 5 stars 1923: A Memoir Lies and Testaments
This is an incredible memoir. It is a page turning, sad, funny, true book about Britain in the 1930's and during the second world war._


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_Terry Tyler's review Nov 18, 12

This memoir of Harry Smith's early life in the poverty-stricken north of England was gripping, from the start - a short history of his family and how he came to be born into the situation he did - to the end, which was an account of the war from an average Joe's point of view.

I liked the early part best - it's so hard to believe that such hardship could have existed in this country, in the the last century, not so many years before I was born. I found the perceived difference between the starving north and the wealthy south most interesting, too. I kept being amazed over and over again that so many people had to live in the way they did, before the Welfare State. I know we all know about such things because we've been told about them, but to read someone's personal account of such a life brings it homes much more soundly.

I was engrossed in this book and read it very quickly - when the Kindle started saying '92%', and upwards, I was thinking, no, no, I want to read more! Better go and buy the next one, then....

Highly recommended, fascinating._


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*I am twenty-two. The sky is clear. I am in the back of a truck, in a long convoy of vehicles. We are moving like an enormous centipede up a two-lane road. There are fifteen men in each lorry. Woodbine cigarettes and Capstans dangle from our mouths. The straps to our tin helmets hang loosely around our chins. We are cocksure and unafraid. We are survivors and conquerors pushing our way through Northern Germany. Opposite our convoy, there is an endless procession of refugees. They are pushing their scant possessions in handcarts, or dragging along worn luggage with ropes wrapped around it. The procession contains men and women, the young and the old. Thin, cadaverous horses follow the throng dragging their hoofs in the thin soil beside the road. The jetsam is a mixture of forced labourers, ex-prisoners, ex-concentration camp inmates and the Diaspora, from Germany's eastern provinces. They are all moving southward, as if believing that their homes still existed or that they still had relatives alive to give them shelter. If the Netherlands and Belgium are any example to me, there is little left of Europe. What has not been bombed has been looted and what has not been looted has been burned to the ground. 
The landscape of Europe's lowlands is pitted and scarred from the movement of giant armies slithering their fat bellies against the land; while their hydra heads tore and destroyed the countryside, the villages and the cities before them. The nameless trod of people opposite our slow-moving trucks are expressionless their mien stolen from five years of war and untold privation. Their eyes are cast down at their feet, stamping towards a dirty, dusty unknown road. Did they have any thoughts and emotions left? Or, are they automatons who by instinct now force their legs left and right onwards towards their birthplace like diseased salmon spawning against a dammed river?
The air is warm and the smell of fresh earth, petrol and spring mingle together. A hundred kilometres north, Soviet infantry and stray remnants of Wehrmacht divisions' still clash .The Germans, we are told, are fighting in a panicked scramble to come westward rather than face their retribution from the Russians. Four days ago, Hitler shot himself in his concrete bunker below the depth of Berlin. Above ground Red Army forces pitched their flag on the Reichstag and levelled the Prussian city. We have been on the move for almost a full day lumbering up the Northern spine of Germany. We do not know what we will encounter. We do not know if there will be resistance, if we will meet an enemy refusing to surrender. At lunch, we lost two men to drowning. Foolishly, they went for a swim in swollen roadside canal. Their names will be etched up on a monument to the fallen instead of being remembered as mocking chance moments before peace.
Suddenly, on this journey into the enemy's land our trucks stop. Word has reached us from HQ. Last night at precisely 1820 allied forces accepted the surrender of all German armies, all German military, navy, air, ground and anything that could would or should carry a gun in the northern part of Germany. Field Marshal General Montgomery in a tent at Luneburg Heath received the instruments of surrender from a clean-shaven General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg. He was the last supreme commander of the Krieg's Marine. The rigid infantry General Hans Kinzel put his hands high, for all German forces in this area. The surrender is for Holland, and Northwest Germany, including Denmark. The rest of Third Reich still resists even with Berlin and Vienna burning and under Russian control.
In Northern Germany it is complete and total capitulation. The city we are approaching is open and free of hostilities. The war is on its deathbed. It has only a few days left to maim and kill. But I am safe. The city is open. We are now occupiers and I am alive. We approach Hamburg, a modern- day Carthage, brick dusts billows against our uniforms. The gray faces of the master race scurrying like rodents upon our approach. They are in search of food, missing relatives, safe housing or happier days. They scatter in confused fear as our truck horn sounds. They shun our looks. Germans' cast their heads down as one of us stands at the edge of truck to curse them with cat calls and howlers.
Two years previous to my arrival, Hamburg was set ablaze. The metropolis and its citizens burned and baked for three nights. It was 1943 and the war's outcome was uncertain. It was the time when men in charge of this conflict's direction were resolute; total war was our only passage to victory. Russia, our ally, demanded we do our share at defeating the Nazi war machine. The morale of the enemy must be crushed. So, the men in charge of the war asked the men with slide rules and mathematical minds to calculate an exact dropped bomb tonnage. The men in charge wanted to know the quantity needed to create greater civilian carnage and total victory for us. The scientists set to work. After many sleepless nights, they solved the equation of explosives to death ratio. They handed their discovery over to the RAF. 
On a summer's evening, when the air was humid, languid and sluggish, on a summer's evening when children were playing on the streets, and their mothers'- were on their door stoops' gossiping;- Hamburg was set alight. Incendiaries fell from the July night sky above them. Hundreds of Lancaster bombers opened their bellies and spewed out ton after ton of high explosives packed with phosphorous. The sheer tonnage of TNT and humid weather created a firestorm. It reached eight hundred degrees and brought winds that swept across streets and lane ways, alleys, parks and industrial zones with hurricane force. As the RAF, my RAF crept eastward bombing the city, one and 133 miles of street footage was burning. The conflagration reached ten square kilometres and affected 16,000 thousand apartment block buildings. Some said only 15,000 thousand civilians died on that mission. Others said over 50,000 thousand people perished. There were some who didn't say a word as they licked their vengeance for London, Coventry, Rotterdam and Warsaw.
Today May 4, 1945, the fires in Hamburg have long ago been extinguished. Here the war is finished. Germany is kaput. I feel nothing as from the truck I survey, the crumbling brick skeletons and the gray ghosts of buildings. I am alive. I have been through Holland and Belgium and seen Germany's legacy; emaciated children, looted homes. I have seen both national socialist collaborators and German army deserters dangling from trees. I have seen mobs, savagely beating women. I have seen women with their heads shaved, tarred and feathered. I have seen justice done in the streets. 
I have no feelings except, perhaps relief. I am twenty-two and will now see twenty-three. Perhaps I would get a life; maybe even a different life from the one I had before the war. I am in the back of that truck with my cigarette firmly between my lips and my stomach is full. I am like some ancient sailor or a warrior from the Odyssey. I am about to enter new and forbidding shores, where a fresh life can be found or snatched out of the rubble.*


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


----------



## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_By David (Bolton, BL6 4EE, The United Kingdom)
★★★★★ June 27, 2012
A wonderful, poignant, honest memoir - heart rending at times, humourous at others but with an underlying resiliance from the author in telling his own story that I found both compelling and admirable.

If you like books about 'real' people then you should, in my humble opinion, read this one. ...

By Desiree (Ozark, MO)
★★★★★ March 06, 2011
i read this book today and it a great e book it will tell you that the 
war and the things it to the people in the era he had to suffer and then 
he become a man at 14 and had to help with money to come and go and the era
they had to live were they could his mom would live with who ever and she
ended...

By Sarah (Blytheville, AR)
★★★★☆ May 11, 2012

By Valentina (The United States)
★★★★☆ July 25, 2011
It is always interesting to see eras, such as World War II, through the eyes of one single individual. This is a well written memoir that follows the author's life through his difficult childhood in the Great Depression, showing how his mother slowly began to give up her ideals to put food on the... ...

By Nikki (Warrington, The United Kingdom)
★★★★★ May 10, 2012
In the first volume of Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father be... ..

By Melanie (Brockville, ON, Canada)
★★★★★ June 24, 2011
Having never read a memoir, I wasn't sure what to expect. But from the moment I got involved with loveahappyending.com and selected my authors, I knew I would be a fan of the genre - at least this particular author's account of his early years.
Just from the brief blurbs on the loveahappyending.co... ...more

By Cynthia (Victoria, BC, Canada)
★★★★★ July 21, 2011
Very well written, fast moving social history that reminds of Angela's Ashes. ...more

_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*4.0 out of 5 stars A voice from the heart, January 5, 2013
By Miriam Wakerly (Surrey, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 1923: A Memoir Lies and Testaments (Kindle Edition)
I found this Memoir very touching indeed. Written by an elderly man, the recall of detail is fascinating, especially of his early life and way he conveys to the reader such dire poverty. I love books that are about social change and this certainly posed all kinds of questions about society in the first half of the last century. It needs a bit of polishing, but this really did not detract at all, in fact it seemed to add to the authenticity and the voice from the heart, that is Harry's. For me the book matured as the child grew into the man who fought for his country. Loved it*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_"The books weave together Harry's personal experience with history as we know it today. He was born in 1923 in England and lived in complete poverty growing up. His family situation was incredibly difficult his whole childhood. He joined the Royal Air Force during World War II and was stationed in Hamburg, Germany after the war. It was fascinating to see how people lived in Germany after the war-this was something I had absolutely never thought of. He also did a wonderful job of bringing the difficulties of the lower classes in England to light, and bringing us into the mindset of these people and to really understand their struggles and challenges. He tells his story frankly and calmly yet with humour throughout.

Harry had so many hardships in his life, but managed to keep hopeful that life would get better. Harry is just a likable guy. I found myself rooting for him at every turn. He met and fell in love with a German woman in Hamburg and had many ups and downs in their relationship, from courtship, to marriage, to moving back to Halifax, England, and finally emigrating to Canada (that's where the story ends&#8230;for now. The author is working on the next volume!)

I couldn't put my kindle down while I was reading these three memoirs. It's funny, because I'm a huge fan of Downton Abbey, and I kept thinking about the fact that Downton Abbey is set during the same time period that Harry was born and was growing up. Now yes, I know Downton Abbey is fictional, but it is based on real people-Here some people are living in such incredible luxury, and others are barely surviving. I guess the world today is much the same though. It's just amazing to think about sometimes.

I emailed with the author several times as well, and he was always cheerful, pleasant, and erudite. It's amazing to me to think of what he has lived through."-Hannay Frey

_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*Terry Tyler's review Nov 18, 12

This memoir of Harry Smith's early life in the poverty-stricken north of England was gripping, from the start - a short history of his family and how he came to be born into the situation he did - to the end, which was an account of the war from an average Joe's point of view.

I liked the early part best - it's so hard to believe that such hardship could have existed in this country, in the the last century, not so many years before I was born. I found the perceived difference between the starving north and the wealthy south most interesting, too. I kept being amazed over and over again that so many people had to live in the way they did, before the Welfare State. I know we all know about such things because we've been told about them, but to read someone's personal account of such a life brings it homes much more soundly.

I was engrossed in this book and read it very quickly - when the Kindle started saying '92%', and upwards, I was thinking, no, no, I want to read more! Better go and buy the next one, then....

Highly recommended, fascinating.*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

*"Creating a great memoir is a delicate matter. When relying so heavily on personal recollection, it is easy to mire the story in detail and bring the focus down to street level. The mark of a great memoir is to bring the sense of elevation, especially when the story told is one of sweeping historic events that framed one life. The selection of details and the areas of focus are the most important elements in the telling of a life, and these elements are also the most difficult portray effectively while still allowing freedom of imagination. Harry Leslie Smith's elegiac and moving memoir, 1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments, is a sweeping narrative with startlingly accurate characterizations and dialogue. The reader is elevated to the best vantage point, and a new dimension is created to witness the writer's life in its fullest scope.

Mr. Smith's life is told in this memoir from his birth in Bradford, England in 1923 until the end of the war in 1945. Born to a family of rapidly declining fortunes that lead to extreme poverty, Mr. Smith tells his tale of survival during a time of social upheaval and strife caused by the First World War. At times, his life story becomes almost unbearably grim, but it is mercifully buoyed by Mr. Smith's deftness at keeping the momentum of the story at pace. The heartbreaking, steady parade of misfortunes that befall the author and his sister are hard to read, but never does the story become sentimental or maudlin. Dickensian in its description of daily survival, his tale is one of personal loyalties and sheer determination against great odds.

The story continues to follow the author from his childhood through his early career, and on to his enlistment in the Royal Air Force. Again, in the recollections of his service in England and then of his time in occupied Germany, the story avoids cliché by remaining true to the events recalled, in addition to the personal feelings associated with those events. Throughout the second half of the book, I felt that the acceleration of events happening at the close of the war perfectly mirrored the fast pace of Mr. Smith's life as another chapter of his life came to an end. My only complaint is that I wished that he had continued on to include his post-war life story as well. This is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time."-The Current Reader*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


*Terry Tyler's review Nov 18, 12

This memoir of Harry Smith's early life in the poverty-stricken north of England was gripping, from the start - a short history of his family and how he came to be born into the situation he did - to the end, which was an account of the war from an average Joe's point of view.

I liked the early part best - it's so hard to believe that such hardship could have existed in this country, in the the last century, not so many years before I was born. I found the perceived difference between the starving north and the wealthy south most interesting, too. I kept being amazed over and over again that so many people had to live in the way they did, before the Welfare State. I know we all know about such things because we've been told about them, but to read someone's personal account of such a life brings it homes much more soundly.

I was engrossed in this book and read it very quickly - when the Kindle started saying '92%', and upwards, I was thinking, no, no, I want to read more! Better go and buy the next one, then....

Highly recommended, fascinating.
*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

_It was under the cover of darkness that my family came to Bradford from Barnsley during the era that followed the General Strike. We entered this city of bright gas lights after my father, a miner, was made redundant.
Like the rest of the country's unemployed, we took our chances and hoped guile and good fortune would lead us from the darkness of poverty towards the safety of a steady income.
Yet, there was something else that spurred my family towards Bradford; it was my mum's inability to accept defeat. She wasn't prepared to lie down and let the tides of fate drown her and her brood.
The pawnshop might own her best dresses, wedding ring and bedroom furniture, but she refused to barter away her determination to survive.
With cunning and sex appeal, my mother insured that when we arrived in Bradford that there would be a roof over our heads and some spare shillings to keep us fed. She cajoled a landlord into letting her take charge of a doss house in exchange for free rent and a small stipend.

To my young eyes, the outside of house looked sinister and decrepit, while the interior was ripe with the heavy smell of unwashed bodies and cheap tobacco. I clung close to my father's side as we moved into our one-room squat while my mother whispered brave clichés that this was better than the work house.

My mother was always good at putting on a brave front at the beginning of our downward spiral, but it didn't fool me. All I had to do was look at the taciturn, worried faces of the other tenants.

We were now citizens of a society inhabited by people in constant poor health, pursued by bailiffs and who were never going to have the brass to buy their way out of purgatory.
Sometimes a down and out veteran of the Great War, with a game leg or gassed lungs, would show up at the front doorstep and beg admission from my mother. I'd hover behind her as she advised him of the cost to kip in this house.

Once, I witnessed an elderly couple arrive holding a lifetime of toil in a cheap cardboard suitcase. The look on their faces was resigned, as if they knew that despite how much promise their life might have started out with, it was going to end in a dirty, dark room infested with bugs.

For a while, a mad woman even occupied a room. On my way to play, I'd hear her chatter to unseen ghosts behind thin white-washed walls. She sounded like a dog made senseless by cruelty.

Her faithful husband was the only one able to pacify her by speaking softly into her ear and afterwards placing cubes of sugar into her toothless mouth.

While my mother commanded the lives of those lodged in this wretched house and flirted with the fit, Irish workers, my father escaped this harsh new reality by taking long walks across Bradford.

He hoped that on his travels he'd find another job, but there were no positions for a sensitive miner too old for the pits and too young for the grave.
Short of money, my mother accepted the harsh generosity of St Vincent de Paul's to clothe her children. We now wore the uniform of mendicants: rough hewn corduroy trousers for boys and heavy smocks for girls.

My father found me crying one day, for our lost life, and tried to dispel my terror by letting me ride on his shoulders, while we walked to a stall that sold mushy peas for a penny a plate.

To remind us that there was beauty, even in this city of looms, grit and grime, he took us to Manningham Park.

On the day we went, it didn't matter to me how dusty and desperate we looked, because for a few short hours we were free from the doss house and its misery. My sister and I scampered and scattered across the lawns. We climbed on top the stone cylinders that dotted the sides of the walk way.

As the financial conditions of the world grew more severe, my mother lost her position at the doss house and we were compelled to move into more squalid digs. At the age of seven, I was put to work as a beer barrow boy.

With my cart stacked high with ale, I trundled through dusky streets, where gas lights sputtered and cast long shadows into dark alcoves; while all around me the Great Depression lay siege to the North and to England's humanity._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A True Story About a Life Lived on the Razor's edge of History*
_1923: A Memoir 99 cents_










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *A True Story About a Life Lived on the Razor's edge of History*
> _1923: A Memoir 99 cents_
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

A True Story about Britain during the depression and through the Second World War









http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52

"1923: A Memoir" presents the story of a life lyrically described, capturing a time both before and during World War II when personal survival was dependent upon luck and guile. During this time, failure insured either a trip to the workhouse or burial in a common grave. Brutally honest, Smith 's story plummets to the depths of tragedy and flies up to the summit of mirth and wonder, portraying real people in an uncompromising, unflinching voice.

Nikki Bywater rated it 5 of 5 stars-Goodreads

In the first volume of Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father become distant and Harry takes his first job at only eight years old to help support the family. Not only is the family so deep in poverty but Harry is also starved of love and affection from his mother and neglected. Abandoned by his father Harry only companion is his older sister Mary, they dream of escaping their terrible lifestyle and for a better life.

The second part of the memoir Harry tells us about life in the RAF and about World War II Joining the RAF takes Harry away from Yorkshire and he shares his experiences about life at war and his life in the RAF.


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A True Story written by a 90 year old author about his experiences growing up in Britain during the depression and as memember of the RAF during the Second World War.
*








http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


*Amazon review of 1923: a memoir 
1923: A Memoir, by Harry Leslie Smith, is a lasting memory of his legacy and imprint on the world. While this is a must-read book because it narrates the intriguing early life of the author, it is also fascinating because of its historical backdrop: the Great Depression and World War II. Ultimately, this is a story of true survival. It is about boy turning into a man, one who must conquered life's many peaks and valleys en route to becoming the reservoir of knowledge and experience that Smith is today.

Although this story caters to the age group of 40-80--as they can relate to some of the experiences that Smith depicts--it really is on it way to becoming a timeless classic that conveys the impact of devastating events, such as war and depression, and how a family copes with disaster. Readers will empathize strongly with Smith's endeavors and admire his resolve throughout the struggle.

The story itself begins on an innovative note: an outlining of Smith's lineage and ultimately the controversy and union of his parents, Albert and Lillian Smith. Knowing nothing but poverty, death (of his eldest sister), and an aging father, Harry grew up stealing coal for fuel.

In an age where everything is readily available (e.g., food, home, etc.), it is astounding, heart-breaking, and harrowing to read of a child growing up, in his first seven years of life, witnessing the death of his oldest sister, the physical deterioration of his aging father, and the end of love because there was no time or money for it.

Ultimately, the child, Harry, evolves and runs into a series of unforgettable characters and sequence of events as he weaves through the web of his life. More than anything else, this book describes the tragic themes of hunger, loneliness, and more than anything else, fear.

Instead of cowering and succumbing to a strong sense of foreboding and helplessness, Harry learns essential survival skills and builds himself up from scratch. The quote that resonates most strongly is, "Do you remember a time when we were small, fed, and happy? Do you remember a time, as children, when we weren't scared or lonely? I don't."

In a nutshell, 1923: A Memoir is Harry's protest against social injustice, corruption, war, famine, poverty, and societies blinded by greed. More importantly, it is the story of hope and the notion that anything can be overcome if desired.*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> Only 99 cents!
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52
> 
> *"Creating a great memoir is a delicate matter. When relying so heavily on personal recollection, it is easy to mire the story in detail and bring the focus down to street level. The mark of a great memoir is to bring the sense of elevation, especially when the story told is one of sweeping historic events that framed one life. The selection of details and the areas of focus are the most important elements in the telling of a life, and these elements are also the most difficult portray effectively while still allowing freedom of imagination. Harry Leslie Smith's elegiac and moving memoir, 1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments, is a sweeping narrative with startlingly accurate characterizations and dialogue. The reader is elevated to the best vantage point, and a new dimension is created to witness the writer's life in its fullest scope.
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A True Story written by a 90 year old survivor of the Great Depression and WW2 RAF Veteran.*










http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52?tag=viglink126429-20

_5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing but Evocative, 23 April 2013
By northsylvania "constant reader" (Somerset, UK) -
As an American married to a Brit, who spent some time in The North, I found it an easy read. He has a very straightforward and yet lyrical way of writing, which propels you through the book, despite it's often grim subject matter. I have recommended it to American friends hoping they won't be stymied by English words not in American usage like 'kip'. Most Americans think England is about Downton Abbey, or if of a certain age Upstairs, Downstairs or Monty Python.
I think this is a welcome view from the bottom rungs of the ladder and therefore more affecting than other social critiques of the working class like EP Thompson or even Richard Hoggart. Hoggart comes from that background, but distances himself through sociological analysis. This is a visceral book and, taken in total with the two sequels, a ripping yarn with sociological implications.
Smith is the best kind of autodidact, one who has obviously continued to think about his context in the world without losing sight of his own unique voice. Highly recommended._


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A True Story written by a 90 old survivor of the Great Depression and a WW2 RAF Veteran
*








http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52?tag=viglink126429-20


*
Malcolm Love's review for Good Reads 
5 of 5 stars
*

_Creating a great memoir is a delicate matter. When relying so heavily on personal recollection, it is easy to mire the story in detail and bring the focus down to street level. The mark of a great memoir is to bring the sense of elevation, especially when the story told is one of sweeping historic events that framed one life. The selection of details and the areas of focus are the most important elements in the telling of a life, and these elements are also the most difficult portray effectively while still allowing freedom of imagination. Harry Leslie Smith's elegiac and moving memoir, 1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments, is a sweeping narrative with startlingly accurate characterizations and dialogue. The reader is elevated to the best vantage point, and a new dimension is created to witness the writer's life in its fullest scope.

Mr. Smith's life is told in this memoir from his birth in Bradford, England in 1923 until the end of the war in 1945. Born to a family of rapidly declining fortunes that lead to extreme poverty, Mr. Smith tells his tale of survival during a time of social upheaval and strife caused by the First World War. At times, his life story becomes almost unbearably grim, but it is mercifully buoyed by Mr. Smith's deftness at keeping the momentum of the story at pace. The heartbreaking, steady parade of misfortunes that befall the author and his sister are hard to read, but never does the story become sentimental or maudlin. Dickensian in its description of daily survival, his tale is one of personal loyalties and sheer determination against great odds.

The story continues to follow the author from his childhood through his early career, and on to his enlistment in the Royal Air Force. Again, in the recollections of his service in England and then of his time in occupied Germany, the story avoids cliché by remaining true to the events recalled, in addition to the personal feelings associated with those events. Throughout the second half of the book, I felt that the acceleration of events happening at the close of the war perfectly mirrored the fast pace of Mr. Smith's life as another chapter of his life came to an end. My only complaint is that I wished that he had continued on to include his post-war life story as well. This is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time.
_


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *A True Story written by a 90 old survivor of the Great Depression and a WW2 RAF Veteran
> *
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

_A True Story written by a 90 old survivor of the Great Depression and a WW2 RAF Veteran_








http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52?tag=viglink126429-20

*Malcolm Love's review for Good Reads 
5 of 5 stars

Creating a great memoir is a delicate matter. When relying so heavily on personal recollection, it is easy to mire the story in detail and bring the focus down to street level. The mark of a great memoir is to bring the sense of elevation, especially when the story told is one of sweeping historic events that framed one life. The selection of details and the areas of focus are the most important elements in the telling of a life, and these elements are also the most difficult portray effectively while still allowing freedom of imagination. Harry Leslie Smith's elegiac and moving memoir, 1923: A Memoir: Lies and Testaments, is a sweeping narrative with startlingly accurate characterizations and dialogue. The reader is elevated to the best vantage point, and a new dimension is created to witness the writer's life in its fullest scope.

Mr. Smith's life is told in this memoir from his birth in Bradford, England in 1923 until the end of the war in 1945. Born to a family of rapidly declining fortunes that lead to extreme poverty, Mr. Smith tells his tale of survival during a time of social upheaval and strife caused by the First World War. At times, his life story becomes almost unbearably grim, but it is mercifully buoyed by Mr. Smith's deftness at keeping the momentum of the story at pace. The heartbreaking, steady parade of misfortunes that befall the author and his sister are hard to read, but never does the story become sentimental or maudlin. Dickensian in its description of daily survival, his tale is one of personal loyalties and sheer determination against great odds.

The story continues to follow the author from his childhood through his early career, and on to his enlistment in the Royal Air Force. Again, in the recollections of his service in England and then of his time in occupied Germany, the story avoids cliché by remaining true to the events recalled, in addition to the personal feelings associated with those events. Throughout the second half of the book, I felt that the acceleration of events happening at the close of the war perfectly mirrored the fast pace of Mr. Smith's life as another chapter of his life came to an end. My only complaint is that I wished that he had continued on to include his post-war life story as well. This is a book that succeeds in two ways with ease, both as a personal memoir of a life lived in a volatile age and as a record of that age for all time.
*


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *A True Story written by a 90 old survivor of the Great Depression and a WW2 RAF Veteran
> *
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> _A True Story written by a 90 old survivor of the Great Depression and a WW2 RAF Veteran_
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *A True Story written by a 90 year old author about his experiences growing up in Britain during the depression and as memember of the RAF during the Second World War.
> *
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *A True Story written by a 90 year old author about his experiences growing up in Britain during the depression and as memember of the RAF during the Second World War.
> *
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52
> 
> _By David (Bolton, BL6 4EE, The United Kingdom)
> ★★★★★ June 27, 2012
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52
> 
> _By David (Bolton, BL6 4EE, The United Kingdom)
> ★★★★★ June 27, 2012
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> _A True Story written by a 90 old survivor of the Great Depression and a WW2 RAF Veteran_
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

*A True Story written by a 90 year old author about his experiences growing up in Britain during the depression and as memember of the RAF during the Second World War.*










[/IMG]]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52?tag=viglink126429-20

By David (Bolton, BL6 4EE, The United Kingdom)
★★★★★ June 27, 2012
A wonderful, poignant, honest memoir - heart rending at times, humourous at others but with an underlying resiliance from the author in telling his own story that I found both compelling and admirable.

If you like books about 'real' people then you should, in my humble opinion, read this one. ...

By Desiree (Ozark, MO)
★★★★★ March 06, 2011
i read this book today and it a great e book it will tell you that the 
war and the things it to the people in the era he had to suffer and then 
he become a man at 14 and had to help with money to come and go and the era
they had to live were they could his mom would live with who ever and she
ended...

By Sarah (Blytheville, AR)
★★★★☆ May 11, 2012

By Valentina (The United States)
★★★★☆ July 25, 2011
It is always interesting to see eras, such as World War II, through the eyes of one single individual. This is a well written memoir that follows the author's life through his difficult childhood in the Great Depression, showing how his mother slowly began to give up her ideals to put food on the... ...

By Nikki (Warrington, The United Kingdom)
★★★★★ May 10, 2012
In the first volume of Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father be... ..

By Melanie (Brockville, ON, Canada)
★★★★★ June 24, 2011
Having never read a memoir, I wasn't sure what to expect. But from the moment I got involved with loveahappyending.com and selected my authors, I knew I would be a fan of the genre - at least this particular author's account of his early years.
Just from the brief blurbs on the loveahappyending.co... ...more

By Cynthia (Victoria, BC, Canada)
★★★★★ July 21, 2011
Very well written, fast moving social history that reminds of Angela's Ashes. ...more


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *A True Story written by a 90 year old author about his experiences growing up in Britain during the depression and as memember of the RAF during the Second World War.* *99 cents*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> A True Story about Britain during the depression and through the Second World War
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52
> 
> What a cliffhanger to end on!, 18 Nov 2012
> By Terry Tyler
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> *By Nikki (Warrington, The United Kingdom)
> ★★★★★ May 10, 2012
> In the first volume of Harry Leslie Smith's memoir, we learn a first account about what it was like growing up in Yorkshire, England in the 1920's and 1930's. Born into poverty and the depression after the First World War in 1923, Harry does not get the best start in life. Harry and his father be... ...more
> By M.T. (The United Kingdom)
> ...


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## 1923 (Jul 2, 2011)

1923 said:


> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060CKF52
> 
> _"The books weave together Harry's personal experience with history as we know it today. He was born in 1923 in England and lived in complete poverty growing up. His family situation was incredibly difficult his whole childhood. He joined the Royal Air Force during World War II and was stationed in Hamburg, Germany after the war. It was fascinating to see how people lived in Germany after the war-this was something I had absolutely never thought of. He also did a wonderful job of bringing the difficulties of the lower classes in England to light, and bringing us into the mindset of these people and to really understand their struggles and challenges. He tells his story frankly and calmly yet with humour throughout.
> 
> ...


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