After the declaration of war in September 1939, Britain waited tensely for an invasion that never came. Drawing on unpublished letters, this narrative history presents the stories of ordinary people as the lights went out, theatres closed, food and petrol were rationed and thousands of women and children were evacuated. Against the backdrop of the invasion of Poland and the disastrous Norway campaign, it captures the uneasy mood of the ‘Phoney War’ that ended with the fall of France.