The wartime years in the first novel by SL Roman saw the British face shortages and rationing of food.

No food could be bought without the card unless it was ‘under the counter’.

Food is a preoccupation for our heroine Annie from the start and she oftens refers to a tiny piece of meat at the table. Meat was rationed from 1940. Butter was also cut back officially and a common snack was ‘bread and scrape’ – scrape was a cheap form of margarine.

Sweets, sugar and of course chocolate were in short supply too. Wartime kids remembered eating carob as a substitute for chocolate – carob is the fruit of the St John the Baptist tree.

Spam as a form of processed meat was imported from the U.S. from 1937 onwards and was made fun of at the meal table. Even worse was snoek fish – pronounced snook – which was a form of pike fish and very unpopular.

Some lucky school pupils were given extra food called Oslo Meal which was a forerunner of healthy cereal and raw vegetables in salad but this was rare.

As well as the rationing of food – transport was restricted and petrol was rationed.

Another hated aspect of the war was the blackout. This meant all buildings had to have specially made curtains or blinds to hide any chink of light which might guide German bombers overhead. It also gave the annoying air raid wardens more power as characters like Mr Cribbles could snoop round Millside looking for infringements. The dreaded shout ´turn that light out’ would go up.

The dramatic tale of One Year One Night by SL Roman is set in the second world war in southern England and reflects the hardships and rationing which hit most of the population. Ironically the food rationing meant that many British people were at their healthiest, eating little fat and sugar and less meat.

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