The Days Of Mars by Bryher

'a masterly evocation of the war years in Britain. Though long domiciled in Switzerland, Bryher left her house, her library, her companion and her dogs to join her embattled friends in London and share their hardships. . . . Those friends people her memories, and they are of the widest variety: some of them illustrious, as the Sitwells, the Compton Mackenzies, the American poet H.D.; but especially there are London's 'little people', sales clerks, a teashop owner and that remarkable cleaning woman Mrs Ash.'