An anthology of linked short stories set in the Second World War. As seen through the eyes of Joey Muldoon a young boy from a lower workingA country at war as told through the 'Dairies' of a nine year old kid. Joey Muldoon's entries only occasionally touch on the Nazi Master Plan for World Domination. A much more fertile source for him was the no-man's-land of the red hot verbal exchanges between a failed comedian father and a feisty, still beautiful ex showgirl mother... With few examples of masculinity, (due to the 'call-up') kids like him learned to cope without male role models. We did have however, the magnificent bonus of our Mums and older women in our corner. And what women they were Prepared to take on the heaviest manual labour, protect us, and even lay down their lives for us. They taught us how to stand up for ourselves, how to get over the death of a loved one, how to deal with the shock of our sexual awakening. Best of all they taught us that fun and laughter, unlike almost everything else was not rationed. Joey's stories often verging on the bawdy, tell us little about the major incidents of the Second World War. What they may do is remind us of time when kids took on responsibilities at an earlier age, and relinquished their innocence much later. K.B.