Dear Mona - Letters from a Conscientious Objector

"Dear Mona collects the letters of 20 year old working class Geordie Len Jones to his mentor and would-be partner Mona Lovell, a Quaker colleague who prompted Len's explorations of the arts and of social equality. Their correspondence begins when Len, a conscientious objector, began work for the Forestry Commission in Exmoor in World War Two. With like-minded COs Len wrestled with the idea of personal integrity in the face of the war, while beginning to practise painting and engraving, which would become his living. Len's letters are a fascinating first-hand account of the home front, and the war generally. Eventually he decided on a more active role in the fight against fascism and became a non arms-bearing medic. He was parachuted into northern Europe and took part in the Ardennes and German campaigns, and in the liberation of the Belsen concentration camp. After the war he was posted to Palestine, where he was involved in the issues around the birth of Israel, which are still present today. Here, to Mona's dismay, he met and married Judith Grossman, with whom he returned to Britain to set up as the artist Jonah Jones."--Publisher description.