Which housewife, who had three of her war-time diaries published between 1981-2010, was Housewife, 49 based on?
Nella Last Nella Last (née Nellie Lord; 4 October 1889 – 22 June 1968) was a housewife who lived in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England. She wrote a diary for the Mass Observation Archive from 1939 until 1966 making it one of the most substantial diaries held by M-O. An edited version of the two million words or so she wrote during World War II was originally published in 1981 as "Nella Last's War: A Mother's Diary, 1939-45" and republished as "Nella Last's War: The Second World War Diaries of 'Housewife 49" in 2006. A second volume of her diaries, "Nella Last's Peace: The Post-war Diaries of Housewife 49", was published in October 2008, and a third volume "Nella Last in the 1950s" appeared in October 2010.
Märta Helena Reenstierna Märta Helena Reenstierna (16 September 1753 – 12 January 1841), also von Schnell, known as "Årstafrun" (The Årsta lady), was a Swedish diary writer. Her diaries were written in the period 1793–1839, and are kept at the archives of Nordiska museet in Stockholm. They were published in 1946–1953 as "Årstadagboken" (The Årsta Diary). They are considered as a valuable cultural historical document of the everyday life of the people at a Swedish manor of her epoch.