The Barley Hole Chronicles: From Hell to Hamburg [Kindle Edition]

When I ordered this book, I was expecting an interesting read, but I wasn't expecting to be totally enthralled with an autobiography.

The first half of the book, 1923: Lies and Testaments, covers only the period from Harry's birth to the end of WWII, but you know the saying, "You had me at hello?" Well, Harry had me with the Author's Introduction. Just that Introduction was worth the cost of the book!

As I read his words that covered his childhood during the Great Depression in England, I could see, hear, and smell a time and place that I had never known. I could feel the pain and strength in a young boy that I had also never known. But, I cared for him; I would have cried for him, but I had read the Introduction and saw the strength and the amazing grasp on life that young boy grew up to have.

I've also read many books about WWII, but never one that took me realistically into the mind and body of a young soldier who thought and acted exactly the way young men do regardless of wars or poverty or other horrors. The book, though an autobiography, reads like a novel, depicts reality with the realism that only novelist generally capture, and captures the reader's heart with the point-of-view of the protagonist, a very real young boy and man.

In the last half of the book, Hamburg 1947: A Place for the Heart to Kip, I found myself reading a love story. He tells his story of meeting and falling in love with Friede, a young German girl, with a realistic poignancy that I have seldom found in the written word. Reading his words about about the young girl who would become his wife and share half a century with him, I remembered for the first time in decades what young love was like. I remembered it just as he described it, "It was primal, it was emotional, and it was natural...." For anyone who loves a love story that depicts truth instead of trite romance, this book is a must read.
But even more, this book is a love story between a man and a place that existed in the restraint of a given time. The place is no longer the place it was, and that time is now long past. But, that love still lives strong, and is now captured forever in the pages of this book. For me, perhaps, the most astonishing thing was to read about a post-war that I had never been taught about and never even imagined. Being an American, I have been taught that we and our allies were the "good" guys. Now I know that innocent people, children, mothers, and old people suffered at the hands of the Allies for simply having been born where they were born. I know that "Friede and her family lived off a soup that tasted like rainwater and ate bread made from animal feed." Such hardships were the result of Allied occupation. This knowledge has given me a greater understanding of the long-term horrors of war, any war, that continue long after the last shot has been fired.
I've never met Harry Leslie Smith; we are continents apart. But, I feel like I know him, that in someway I've shared his experiences, and that he's taken me on a journey through a great depression in England and a war in Europe. I would recommend this book to anyone!

Where do I start? This is a modern day look at jolly old England and how jolly it wasn't. The main character Harry Smith is born into what appears to be a life of prosperity and good living until his father falls ill and verbally informs his fathers brother that he will become the temporary heir to his pub and not Harry's father Albert. This decision will have dire consequences for the entire Smith clan as the uncle (Larratt) has other plans.

Due to Albert's marriage (with a women none of the Smith clan trusted) Larrratt would never honor the original agreement for Albert's sons to run the publican. The road Harry's parents would travel is right out of a "Tale of Two Cities," or "Oliver Twist."

Mr. Smith gives an excellent account of how depressing the cities of Barley Hole and the surrounding communities were: depressed and lifeless. For those who had not education, formal or otherwise, their future had already been cast and it isn't for the faint hearted. Harry and his sister are constantly scrounging for food to survive. His parents attempt to make due, but it is never enough and the family bounces across the coal mine towns of Northern England in a plight of subsistence.

Mr. Smith shows how devastating the depression impacted the working class of England. We thought it was bad in the US and Germany. We have no idea!

The years slide by until September 1,1939 when again the world is thrown into another major conflict. Harry has a decent position with a local grocer, but feels it is his duty to server crown and king. The shop keeper promises he will have a job when the Jerry's are defeated. So, Harry signs up and joins the RAF. (Royal Air Force). He enjoys the steady pay and the less then back-breaking work he has become accustomed to over the years. Good housing, warm food, a place to sleep, and steady income.

The war plods along. Harry and his mates spend most of the war in the confines of the homeland until 1945 when they are finally shipped to the mainland. They are amazed at the destruction they find after the allied bombings and the "scored earth policy" Adolph Hitler has mandated to all of his commanders.

Harry and his band of comrades settle in a suburb of Hamburg:Fulbuttel. His first impression of a conquered country do not bring him any swell of pride. The sight of all the homeless, starving Germans reminds him of his own childhood; gloom and despair. Yes, Hitler and his henchman had to dealt with and destroyed, but how are these people to survive. Will they be relegated for eternity to pay for the crimes of the government? His heart is heavy and goes out to the conquered people. Yes, the victors are regaling in the complete destruction of the The Third Reich, but will now become of the common people who are attempting to carve out a mere existence at the hands of the occupation forces.

Mr. Smith takes you thought the terrible winters of 45 and 46 where tens of thousands died from starvation, old age, or plain ambivalency.

Harry does find something Germany he never had, yet desperately searched for all his life; love. He becomes enamored with a young (17, Harry is 22) German girl, Elfriede Edelman. Okay, I'm going to stop there, I have given entirely too much away. Get a copy and enjoy this journey through time.

I want to congratulate Mr. Smith on this excellent work. I truly enjoyed the dialect all through the book. Yes, I had to look up a few words as I read this excellent work, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Brilliant, just brilliant conversational tone.

The only comments I have for the author regarding the actually building of the manuscript; there are some minor issues with the formatting of chapters. The titles run into some of the ending sentences and there are a few spelling and grammatical issues (easily remedied). For some reason the table of contents shows-up at the end of the book, but none of the chapters are listed.

I highly recommend this work to all literary students and sociologists. It is an excellent read!

I don't know much about how to write a review, but I just have to say how much I enjoyed this book. Right from the start I was drawn into this world that is foreign to someone who never lived during this time. While reading I felt I could actually see the characters, smell and feel and actually be there with them. I couldn't stop reading and immediately purchased the next book in the series Hamburg 1947 when finished. So, sorry, off to continue on this amazing journey. Read this book is all I can say!