Collecting shrapnel from his front yard; identifying incoming bombers by their silhouettes; sleeping in the family bomb shelter - these were the everyday realities of a boyhood spent in the outskirts of London during the early 1940s. In this deeply personal and meticulously detailed account of growing up under the stresses, daily dangers and constant movement of unrestrained warfare, Michael Coles offers us a compelling portrait of the inspiring resilience of childhood.