
The welcome given to refugees from fascist Europe is part of our fond nostalgia for Britain’s role in the Second World War, nestling in our imagination next to images of evacuees clutching teddy bears, and milkmen picking their way through bomb rubble during the Blitz. But there is a darker side to this story. Then, as now, there was great suspicion, resentment and fear towards new arrivals, much of it kindled by the tabloid press. Then, as now, politicians dealt with a reluctance to accommodate refugees by hiding behind bureaucratic hurdles and obfuscation.

Many of the 10,000 *Kindertransport* children who arrived here in the late 1930s have warm memories of the kindness they were shown, but half a million refugees were refused entry and most of them died as a result. And those who were accepted found their troubles far from over. While Britain fearfully awaited invasion in 1940, 30,000 Jews were interned as ‘enemy aliens’ and some were sent off to the colonies on dangerous and sometimes fatal voyages. Nor were Jews the only refugees clamouring for the thin gruel of public sympathy. Those fleeing fascism and civil war elsewhere in Europe found that whether they were met with kindness or hostility depended on the locals’ political affiliations and newspapers of choice.

Interweaving personal testimonies with historical sources, Paul Dowswell casts a fresh eye on the wartime era, painting a vivid picture of what life was *really* like for Britain’s refugees.


Aliens: The Chequered History of Britain’s Wartime Refugees


A thrilling historical adventure set during the English peasants' revolt of 1381.

It's 1381 and the king, Richard II, has imposed a new tax on the people. In the village of Aylesford, Tilda and her ploughman father were already struggling to make ends meet. As serfs they have no rights to move freely or earn wages for their work. Tilda is desperate for a better life than the village can offer, so when the villagers begin to rebel she is swept up in the excitement. Tilda and her father travel to London with the others to petition the king, but the peaceful rebellion they hoped for soon ignites into violence, mayhem and treachery. Tilda's fight for a better life is only just beginning... This page-turning adventure sheds new light on a period of history and will have readers gripped from start to finish.

The Great Revolt

Wolf Children

Wave

Bomber

Red Shadow

Eleven Eleven

Sektion 20

Cabinet Of Curiosities

Ausländer

Battle Fleet

Prison Ship

Powder Monkey

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Aliens

Paul Dowswell writes award-winning historical fiction for young adults. He is best known for his Bloomsbury novel Auslander, which won the 2019 Trinity Schools Book Award and the 2011 Hamelin Associazione Culturale Book Prize and been shortlisted for 19 other UK and international book awards since 2009.

His *Eleven Eleven* won the 2013 Historical Association Young Quills Award and *Sektion 20* won the 2012 Historical Association Young Quills Award. His Bloomsbury novels The Cabinet of Curiosities (2011), *Red Shadow* (2014), *Bomber* (2016) and his Barrington Stoke novel *Wave* (2017) have also been shortlisted for the Historical Association Young Quills Award. His 2005 novel *Powder Monkey* was shortlisted for the 2006 Trinity Schools Book Award. His non-fiction books have won or been shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award (twice), the Rhône-Poulenc Junior Prize for Science Books, and the TES Information Book Award. His *Wolf Children* was hailed as the 'best post-war children's novel since The Silver Sword by Amanda Craig. Dutch publishers Callenbach published his 14th novel, *Out of Nowhere* in 2021.

His books are sold throughout the English-speaking world and have been published in an additional ten languages. Although most are aimed at teenage readers, they have wide appeal and have been published abroad for the adult market. Most of his novels are set in the 20th Century and are primarily concerned with the First or Second World War, and life under totalitarian regimes. Paul Dowswell is also a prolific writer of non-fiction with over seventy titles to his name.

He is a regular visitor to schools all around the UK and Europe and has also been invited to Australia and South Africa to talk about his books and teach creative writing.

He is a Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University and has recently worked for the Royal Literary Fund as a visiting fellow at Sheffield University and Leicester De Montfort.

His acclaimed first adult non-fiction, *Aliens - The Chequered History of Britain's Wartime Refugees, 1933 - 1950*, was published by Biteback in 2023.

<p>A thrilling historical adventure set during the English peasants' revolt of 1381.</p>
<p>It's 1381 and the king, Richard II, has imposed a new tax on the people. In the village of Aylesford, Tilda and her ploughman father were already struggling to make ends meet. As serfs they have no rights to move freely or earn wages for their work. Tilda is desperate for a better life than the village can offer, so when the villagers begin to rebel she is swept up in the excitement. Tilda and her father travel to London with the others to petition the king, but the peaceful rebellion they hoped for soon ignites into violence, mayhem and treachery. Tilda's fight for a better life is only just beginning... This page-turning adventure sheds new light on a period of history and will have readers gripped from start to finish.</p>


The Great Revolt

by Paul Dowswell

Other Publications

by Paul Dowswell