Who doesn't enjoy a well-put-together novel which unfolds and reveals and progresses effortlessly in the beautifully controlled way of a writer who understands her craft?
The scenario of a teenage trainee nurse at a central London teaching hospital during the Second World War intrigued me as it's an area and period I've looked closely at for family reasons.
There are a variety of characters, backgrounds and viewpoints which seemed only too true to life but I think a 21st century teenager would need a little more explanation of the social background regarding such topics as class divisions and the US 'color bar' and war-time restrictions such as blackout, shortages and rationing, also hierarchy and control of personal lives in nursing.
There are dramatic action sequences, several romances, agonising choices and many domestic scenes. All ring true in terms of both believable characters and historical detail. This novel relies upon the well-worn soap opera plot-providers of keeping secrets, lying, jumping to conclusions and refusing to listen. So it should be a comfortable fit for the millions of soap opera viewers with the bonus of being set in an exciting era.
And what happened to the bicycle?
The scenario of a teenage trainee nurse at a central London teaching hospital during the Second World War intrigued me as it's an area and period I've looked closely at for family reasons.
There are a variety of characters, backgrounds and viewpoints which seemed only too true to life but I think a 21st century teenager would need a little more explanation of the social background regarding such topics as class divisions and the US 'color bar' and war-time restrictions such as blackout, shortages and rationing, also hierarchy and control of personal lives in nursing.
There are dramatic action sequences, several romances, agonising choices and many domestic scenes. All ring true in terms of both believable characters and historical detail. This novel relies upon the well-worn soap opera plot-providers of keeping secrets, lying, jumping to conclusions and refusing to listen. So it should be a comfortable fit for the millions of soap opera viewers with the bonus of being set in an exciting era.
And what happened to the bicycle?