AUDIO

Home Fires

2 discs. color. 6 hrs. Bruce Goodison & , ITV Studios & Masterpiece, dist. by PBS, shoppbs.org. 2016. DVD UPC 841887026024. $39.99; Blu-ray UPC 841887026031. $49.99. SDH subtitles. F/TV
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OrangeReviewStarEnglish village life and World War II have been frequent subjects of British television drama, and yet this new series, inspired by the Julie Summers's 2013 novel Jambusters, provides a fresh perspective on both. Great Paxford is a rural community with an active Women's Institute (WI) organization that is, like the rest of the world, in turmoil. WI president Joyce Cameron (Francesca Annis) wants to suspend the organization as the community gears up for war. Frances Barden (Samantha Bond) disagrees, taking charge and steering the members toward war food production—even threatening to turn the community's cricket pitch into a vegetable garden! But it's the stories of individuals—the village doctor with his own health issues, a battered wife, a son longing to enlist—that make this series so absorbing.
VERDICT Stir love, loss, sacrifice, secrets, and, most important, friendship together with war. A terrific series suitable for all public libraries where British drama is popular.
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