The War and Uncle Walter

The diaries of Walter Musto were recently discovered by his great nephew in an attic. Reflected here is the opinionated, happy voice of a 60-year-old suburban businessman from Surrey who found himself living through the biggest upheaval of modern times. In the spirit of A Diary of a Nobody, his logbook of political and personal musings offers a charming and colourful picture of life on the home front. When Walter began his diary on 1 January 1939, he lived quietly with his ageing wife Alice and their even more elderly dog. As war broke out he took up service as an air-raid warden, and grew tomatoes for the war effort. Walter was a passionate gardener, recording regular visits to his greenhouse and keeping an eye on unfriendly frost. We learn of his predilection for sunbathing nude among his beloved flowers, and of his inconsolable pain as he lives through Alice's death. From bird-watching on the Thames to delays at Waterloo due to unexploded bombs, Walter contrasts lyrically the opposing worlds of war and peace, of personal and collective loss. His lively intellect shows he had an uncannily accurate vision of Britain's future, and contrasts with his genuine love of poetry, including his own! This warm-hearted, eccentric diary reminds us not all wars were fought on the front line.