In Jane Duncan’s semi- autobiographical My Friend… series, which follows a Scottish girl born in 1910 though childhood in the Highlands, university in the 20s followed by a working life in England in the 30s, she suggests that the life of her generation in the thirties was a period of waiting, marking time and enjoying themselves without serious thought, with the shadow of war on the distant horizon. Certainly Cynthia was aware of this- in her visit to the World’s Fair in New York in 1939 she remarks on ‘propaganda of course’ when she visits the Italian and Russian pavilions- but no record of any discussions survives.
In the holiday snaps we see her family and friends in different parts of England- and in France- having fun after a school year of college and later teaching.
And as with Carol’s snaps 30 years earlier, the treeless-ness of their picnic and camping sites just looks so wrong to my Canadian eyes!
A Family History in Letters 