
` Generous & empathetic.. . opens up postwar migration in all its richness` Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian` Groundbreaking, sophisticated, original, open-minded.. . essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the transformation of British society after the war but also its character today` Piers Brendon, Literary Review` Lyrical, full of wise & original observations` David Goodhart, The Times The battered & exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate for workers
- to rebuild, to fill the factories, to make the new NHS work. From all over the world & with many motives, thousands of individuals took the plunge. Most assumed they would spend just three or four years here, sending most of their pay back home, but instead large numbers stayed
- & transformed the country. Drawing on an amazing array of unusual & surprising sources, Clair Wills` wonderful new book brings to life the incredible diversity & strangeness of the migrant experience. She introduces us to lovers, scroungers, dancers, homeowners, teachers, drinkers, carers & many more to show the opportunities & excitement as much as the humiliation & poverty that could be part of the new arrivals` experience. Irish, Bengalis, West Indians, Poles, Maltese, Punjabis & Cypriots battled to fit into an often shocked Britain &, to their own surprise, found themselves making permanent homes. As Britain picked itself up again in the 1950s migrants set about changing life in their own image, through music, clothing, food, religion, but also fighting racism & casual & not so casual violence. Lovers & Strangers is an extremely important book, one that is full of enjoyable surprises, giving a voice to a generation who had to deal with the reality of life surrounded by `white strangers` in their new country.