Doreen Bates

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Diary of a Wartime Affair

An extraordinary book, and profoundly challenging to all one's notions of that era. To read about a normal, educated, sensible, middle class working woman of the 1930s, literate, musically aware, a fan of art and history, who makes moral decisions that would seem more at home in the swinging sixties, or much nearer than that to our own day, is quite amazing.

Diary of a Wartime Affair by Doreen Bates does what it says, essentially a tale of the Blitz and fucking (her 1940s word, not mine), in a startlingly frank and readable way

Fascinating... I found [Doreen's] sophistication, startling modernity and sexual/emotional ups and downs absolutely engrossing. Doreen is a great character. She's a natural writer, with intriguing self-awareness, and persuasive insights on so many things: nature, food, romance, art... Above all, I loved her appetite for life and physical pleasure, and her lack of shame. It is extraordinary, the way she has stepped outside the conventional morality of her time. I am delighted Doreen Bates's diary is seeing the light of day

The explosive story of Bates's long affair with her colleague, William Evans, is recorded in the remarkably frank wartime diary that is finally published this year...

An unusually exact view of private life in the 1930s and 40s ... as seen through the eyes of an unusually intelligent witness: she is astute on questions of pacifism and is a passionate observer of nature. More important, it allows us a remarkably intimate window on to the complexities of a particular relationship... there aren't many diaries of this kind

A remarkable record of private life in the years between 1934 and 1941 ... recounted with a precision and feeling that might break your heart. But it's droll and candid too ... a treat for anyone interested in the sturm and drang of life during wartime

The True Story of a Surprisingly Modern Romance

'Unflinchingly honest... this diary is exceptional' Elizabeth Buchan 
 
'Tuesday 23 October, 1934 
 Another glorious sunny day. Lunch in Kens Gdns. E had not slept well "as I longed and longed for you". It made me happy that he wanted me. I suppose that is mean. He said, "I could pick you out in the dark from fifty women . . ." ' 
 
The diary of Doreen Bates is a candid, spellbinding portrait of a gutsy young woman working in London in the years before and during the Second World War, as well as an extraordinary account of her long affair with an older, married colleague - one that brazenly challenged the strict conventions of the day. 
 
'Startlingly frank and readable' David Kynaston 
 
'Absolutely engrossing' Virginia Nicholson 
 
'Astute, passionate, remarkably intimate, showing us the day-to-day picture of a long relationship' Guardian

Diary of a Wartime Affair is the exceptionally candid diary of a young and very able woman written in the build-up to the Second World War and during the first part of that war, when she worked as a civil servant in London. She and an older, married colleague, E, fall in love. They spend as much time together as possible, meeting in London at talks, concerts and theatres, going on long, often night time, country walks, all beautifully described in her diaries. 
 
Over the years Doreen longs increasingly for a child and, having decided, against all the taboos of the time, to be a single mother, she eventually persuades E to be the father. E is reluctant - he is smitten with guilt about the effect of his affair on his wife and knows how much more irrevocable would be a decision to become a father. However, Doreen prevails and after arrival of undiagnosed twins four months after their birth E breaks the news to his wife. The attitudes of E, Doreen's family, work colleagues and friends are all vividly portrayed in this wonderfully gripping portrait of a woman who decided to take on herself the difficult but rewarding role that foreshadowed many of the developments in women's lives that have occurred much more recently.

Doreen Mary Bates, the author of this diary, was born on 25 April 1906, the first child of Rosa and Wyndham Bates. When Doreen joined the Inland Revenue, E had been working in it for several years and was married to Kathleen, a ballet teacher. Doreen Bates' children, Margaret and Andrew, edited this diary.

London in 1934. Clever young civil servant Doreen Bates is working in the same office as E, an older married man. In the years just before the war, they develop an irresistible attraction to one another and strike up a passionate affair. Doreen records it all with startling candour in her diary - secret midnight walks, countryside escapades and stolen moments of intimacy. 
 
But Doreen starts to long for a child with E. Despite all the taboos of the time, and against the wishes of E, she is determined to become a mother - even though she knows that her decision will provoke anger and shame from her family, friends and colleagues. Eventually she gets pregnant and is amazed when twins are born during the war. However, Doreen faces an uncertain future - will E ever leave his wife and join his new family? 
 
This is the story of a young woman forging her own path in a period of turbulence and uncertainty.

Diary of a Wartime Affair

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