Wine and Wheat

Fay Lando was Projects Officer at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Toronto.

It wasn’t all that bad living through World War II in Sheffield, England, as the youngest of three children — even with rationing, hasty retreats into bomb shelters, and an unhappy period as an evacuee separated from family — according to the reminiscences of the author. During the war her parents operated a grocery store. But for 13 years before that, they had farmed in Saskatchewan, until several years of drought had forced them to abandon the farm and return to their native England.

The author relates family anecdotes from the war years and farm years. It’s a book of contrasts — for example, the author’s father loved the land, was an idealist and introvert while her mother was well suited to running the grocery, pragmatic and outgoing. There is also the contrast of prairie farm and English city, and of hardships that break the spirit contrasted with those that temporarily disrupt the physical well-being.

The anecdotes are interesting and entertaining. Not so the family members, whom the author describes using “pop” analysis, all the while avoiding any self-analysis. Several pages of family photos have been included, but they bear minimal relationship to the text.