War in the City is a numbered and limited edition of just 1,000 copies.

The book is published in two parts, the second part being published in June/July 2003.

The book tells the story of Brighton, Hove and Portslade from the start of the war in 1939 through to the end of 1941. The second part will cover the years 1942 to the end of the war.

The book tells more stories of the pain and suffering of the people who lived in the towns through the war.

Once again the stories are told by many of the people who lived through these times.

One man in particular has told many of the wartime stories in Portslade, as he was a coal lorry driver at the age of 18 and whilst going about his daily routine he witnessed many incidents including seeing the Hurricane of Sergeant Noble crash in Hove.

He had one or two close shaves during the years before he was called up for his military service

The book also tells the story of the bomb that fell and lodged under St Michael's and all Angel's Church in Southwick, and the problems of trying to find the bomb. It describes how the church tower was dismantled before the bomb could be made safe and removed.

The story of rationing is retold, giving a detailed account of how and when the various commoditied were rationed and later de-rationed. Few people today realise that food rationing lasted some 14 years.

The book is tinged with typical wartime humour like the story of 'The Garden Pest'. A warden was sent to examine the damage caused by falling canon shells, laboriously compiled his official report, writing it with little interest and states 'damage caused to one vegetable marrow and three runner beans.' His Chief Warden wasn't too impressed!

The final story tells of the ordeal of a Prisoner of War, held in both an Italian and German camp. Laurence Seale kept a diary of more than 3 years spent as a POW and the author has copied his diary entries for the whole of that period. It shows what the vast majority of Allied POW's went through during their captivity. This is probably the first time that a POW's diary has been published in this format.