Mollie was the wartime correspondent for The New Yorker. Her
"Letters from London" let Americans (and the rest of the world)
know how the people were coping with the stresses of war. She
also wrote fiction for the periodical during the same time
period. These short stories in Good Evening, Mrs Craven: the
Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes give one the sense that
they are as informative to the reader to what was happening in
the country as the letters were. Where the letters give facts
and a general sense of things, the stories get more personal.
Each of the 21 stories are quite brief. She rations her words
the way she might ration butter. The characters' worries and
fears, hopes and wishes permeate every sentence. I had the
feeling when I read the stories that I was peeking in the
windows of these people's homes. The stories are in
chronological order which gives the reader a sense of the
psychological and emotional impact the war is having. At first,
the characters are nearly excited in their preparati