Margery Allingham 
The Oaken Heart 

The story of a small English village called Auburn and the lives of its people during the Second World War. In her one autobiographical work, Margery Allingham tells of the emotions of the people around her and of the jealousies, spites and disillusions, the effects of too little to go around and too many evacuees. A unique work by one of the great names in detective stories, it reveals a view of England’s response to war that is very personal.