Tag: Headline Review

The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons – A moving novel of lives, books and reading in a challenging time

May 27, 2024

The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons

It is not often that I found myself so deeply moved by a novel, but this well written book evoked that sort of response. It takes as its theme that reading and books, if possible in the company of others, can improve and even change lives, and in the context of this book it is vital. The book opens in 1938 and proceeds through a war that separates families and friends and causes danger and death. The air raids of the title are the London Blitz which means for the first-time fighting is brought home to people on the Home Front. The main character, Gertie Bingham, is still trying to come to terms with the death of her beloved husband Harry some two years before, but as much as Lyons describes her devastation, the book is not a wallow in her sadness. Her ownership of a bookshop and the support of a very special teenager and friends means that Binghams’ bookshop will play a part in a very tough time and be the focus for many people. While this is the aspect of the book that first attracted me, I found the descriptions of Gertie and her progress the most effective. This is a book about the power of books to draw people together when they become the focus of joint reading and discussion, a way of escaping difficult circumstances. It is also an honest account of the difficulties of a refugee girl and how she longs for her family, as well as an encouraging story of how almost a new family gathers around her in the most extreme of circumstances.

At the start of the novel in London, 1938, Gertie is still felling the sadness of losing Harry, and is struggling to maintain interest in her successful bookshop. She is assisted by the invaluable young Betty, but other people who help with the shop and the attached Book Club are proving more difficult. She is also still missing her parents and beloved brother Jack, who was killed in the First World War. She still has her redoubtable Uncle Thomas, a renowned and kindly, if slightly eccentric bookseller, who supports her. Her friend Charlie, a loyal friend of Harry, still appears in her life, and it is through his charitable work that she is persuaded to accept a Jewish child who is already at risk in Germany from the growing Nazi persecution. As she is sad that she was not able to have a child herself during her marriage, she is torn, especially when she discovers that Hedy is fifteen and deeply troubled, and it is not easy to establish a relationship despite her best efforts. As War comes closer, Gertie, Hedy, Betty and others discover that this is going to be a very different conflict from the all too recent previous War, and that while men will still be called away, there will be danger in London itself.

An element of this book that I particularly enjoyed is the book titles that are being sought out and relished in such difficult circumstances. While “Gone with the Wind” is perhaps better known as a film today, the book then was a particular favourite. P.G Wodehouse’s humour and subtle political parodies are popular, as well as Du Maurier’s “Rebecca” as distractions from the challenges of daily life.

Lyons has brought to life people in fascinating time in the twentieth century, and laced the effective story with honesty and real feeling. I found this book an excellent read and recommend it to book lovers as well as those who enjoy a well written wartime story.

In the Shadow of Queens – Tales from the Tudor Court by Alison Weir – Thirteen tales from the Six Tudor Queens and those who knew them

April 16, 2024

In the Shadow of Queens by Alison Weir

This book is the companion to a majestic (in every sense of the word) series of six novels by that great historical novelist, Alison Weir. “The Six Tudor Queens Series” is a brilliant series of novels which revolve around the six women who became Queen during the reign of Henry VIII. Their relationship to the King is not always the dominant theme of the novel; as a historian Weir has rooted many details about the lives of the women before their marriages to Henry, and in some cases afterwards. Some novels contain a wealth of story as the woman involved had relatively long lives and had even in one case been widowed twice before, others, such as Katheryn Howard, being very young when she was killed had a brief biography. Each of the novels are totally absorbing in their own right as the stories of women with fascinating lives. I have reviewed five of them, as well as two of Weir’s other novels on the Tudors. (Search under Alison Weir in the column to the right)

This book is subtitled “Tales From the Tudor Court”, being thirteen short stories from the edge of each of the main six novels. Originally produced as ebooks alongside the publication of the main novel, each Queen is represented by two stories, often featuring members of the Court or as in  the case of Katherine of Aragon, the story of Arthur, Henry’s elder brother and her youthful if already ill first husband. Some stories are the length of novellas, others shorter, but all add greatly to the story of these much-discussed women. As Weir says in the Introduction, she chose the people who would feature in each story of the queens who had “a rich supporting cast of characters”. Each section has a Timeline which gives the important dates for each woman, which if nothing else brings home how short some of the lives were. Some of those who are the focus of the stories were devoted to servants of the queens, others were relatives in complicated ways – given that Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard were related, and one of the people who was involved in both of their downfalls was Anne’s sister in law, she was an obvious choice to focus on. Most of the characters are women, who were called on to be ladies in waiting or nurses to babies, some for dynastic reasons, others because they were seen to be trustworthy to be in important roles. Some stories are complex, others straightforward. Nearly all are set very firmly in the Tudor period, even if the story may cover a wider time than Henry’s life. There are exceptions, including a story of a twenty first century re-enactor and the story of a Sepulchre over several generations.

Given the subject matter of the book, these are not cheerful stories as with much historical fiction, when we know what happened to many of the main characters. Having said that, this book is also a collection of stories of loyalty, love beyond romances, and the nature of women’s lives at the time. As someone who wrote nonfiction history books for many years, Weir has done so much intense research and given a great deal of thought to the subject matter in terms of answering many questions about these characters, so these stories are firmly authentic. Not that the narrative is ever not engaging; Weir is an experienced hand at weaving the facts into the stories. This book is a real treat for those who appreciate traditional historical fiction in a different format, and I recommend it to anyone whether they have read the Six Queen series or still have that pleasure to come.