Goodbye Shirley

Michael Hickey’s schoolboy letters paint a previously unseen picture of Oxford during and immediately after the Second World War. Interwoven with local newspaper headlines, the letters chronicle care-free school days, sport, music and cinema, balmy summers and harsh winters all with the constant backdrop of the war and the resultant militarisation of the city. The book charts Michael’s youth and his awkward but sometimes hilarious steps from childhood into adulthood. Unknowingly, when Michael wrote these letters, he was creating a unique record of Oxford during the war and of his own transformation from a young chorister, Shirley, into a confident and independent young man, Michael. Goodbye Shirley will appeal to readers of all ages and will warm the heart of anyone remotely interested in schoolboy antics, the 1940s, the Second World War, Oxford and social history.