Helpful Score: 1
Elizabeth Bowen at her best. Part romance, part thriller, part suspense. A good read.
I found this book totally unreadable. Tediously verbose British lit.
Book Description
In The Heat of the Day, Elizabeth Bowen brilliantly recreates the tense and dangerous atmosphere of London during the bombing raids of World War II.
Many people have fled the city, and those who stayed behind find themselves thrown together in an odd intimacy born of crisis. Stella Rodney is one of those who chose to stay. But for her, the sense of impending catastrophe becomes acutely personal when she discovers that her lover, Robert, is suspected of selling secrets to the enemy, and that the man who is following him wants Stella herself as the price of his silence. Caught between these two men, not sure whom to believe, Stella finds her world crumbling as she learns how little we can truly know of those around us.
My Review
This was a book that was very hard to get into in the beginning. Bowen's language is very flowery and she takes a long time to say anything and she has endless descriptions. After getting used to her writing, I did, however, find the characters interesting and the plot was fascinating. There is a real sense of feeling what it was like in London as the bombs were dropped on the city. I actually look forward to reading another of her novels and I would recommend this book to those who are interested in London during World War II.
In The Heat of the Day, Elizabeth Bowen brilliantly recreates the tense and dangerous atmosphere of London during the bombing raids of World War II.
Many people have fled the city, and those who stayed behind find themselves thrown together in an odd intimacy born of crisis. Stella Rodney is one of those who chose to stay. But for her, the sense of impending catastrophe becomes acutely personal when she discovers that her lover, Robert, is suspected of selling secrets to the enemy, and that the man who is following him wants Stella herself as the price of his silence. Caught between these two men, not sure whom to believe, Stella finds her world crumbling as she learns how little we can truly know of those around us.
My Review
This was a book that was very hard to get into in the beginning. Bowen's language is very flowery and she takes a long time to say anything and she has endless descriptions. After getting used to her writing, I did, however, find the characters interesting and the plot was fascinating. There is a real sense of feeling what it was like in London as the bombs were dropped on the city. I actually look forward to reading another of her novels and I would recommend this book to those who are interested in London during World War II.
