Kennedy was an acclaimed novelist and playwright best-known for The
Constant Nymph. In this autobiographical account, taken from her war
diaries, she conveys the tension, frustration and bewilderment of the
progression of the war, and the terror of knowing that the worst is to
come, but not yet knowing what the worst will be.
English bravery, confusion, stubbornness and dark humor provide the
positive, more hopeful side of her experiences, in which she and her
children move from Surrey to Cornwall, to sit out the war amidst a
quietly efficient Home Guard and the most scandalous rumors.
"Most people knew in their hearts that the lid had been taken off hell,
and that what had been done in Guernica would one day be done in London,
Paris and Berlin." Margaret Kennedy's prophetic words, written about the
pre-war mood in Europe, give the tone of this riveting 1941 wartime
memoir: it is Mrs Miniver with the gloves off.
Where Stands A Wingèd Sentry, the title comes from a 17th-century
poem by Henry Vaughan, was only published in the USA in 1942, and was
never published in the UK, until now.
"Beautifully produced." - Shiny New Books
"Kennedy's powers of observation and her sense of the absurd made me
laugh out loud ... Kennedy writes brilliantly about the way that every
day life somehow continues even in times of great stress and anxiety.' -
A Reading Life
--Margaret Kennedy
