Heaps of Love, Mum

During World War II Elona Bambridge wrote hundreds of letters from Dutton, Ont. to her daughter, Mary, in London, Ont. In these letters she chronicled the everyday life of small town Canada in the 1940s. But underlying the tales of card parties and engagements was the serious subject of the war - who had enlisted, who was missing and who, sadly, had been killed.

Maridon Duncanson has now compiled her grandmother's letters to her mother into a series of vignettes. Interspersed throughout are excerpts from the letters, articles from the weekly Dutton Advance and notes from servicemen, including a postcard from a German POW camp and letters from Maridon's uncle, John Bambridge. "It is my intention," says the author, "to juxtapose the stories of everday life with the drama of war that, though on another continent, was never really very far away."

Maridon's family ties to Dutton go back several generations to the original Talbot Settlement. Her mother's parents owned Bambridge Jewellers for over 50 years. Her father, Don, was the town doctor in the village in the 1950s, later moving to St. Thomas.

Originally from Dutton, Maridon grew up in St. Thomas and has lived in London, Ont. for several years, where she is involved in journalism and theatre.

The book, which retails for $14.95 is available from the author.