Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins with children's fiction and the adventure novel because they provide important insights into the writer's perception of the child and its needs in wartime. It establishes that there was a curious anticipation of Wilfred Bion's 1950s work on the container in two novels and a short story: Noel Streatfeild's Saplings, Phyllis Bottome's London Pride (1942) and Elizabeth Bowen's 'Tears, Idle Tears'. The book presents social reform and the experiences of welfare and the care system in the period 1930–60. It focuses on Rosamond Lehmann and Elizabeth Taylor and considers Lehmann's experience of analysis and her circle of correspondents. The book provides the post-war history in context and looks at some post-war novels by Macaulay, Godden and Peck, in whose work there are more difficult and challenging relationships within the home between mothers and children.