Thursday, September 30, 2021

V for Victory by Lissa Evans, a darkly comic tale of WWII London

This darkly comic novel is the third in a loose trilogy, following Crooked Heart (2015) and Old Baggage (2019), and the characters’ backstories are revealed as the plot progresses.

In 1944, London’s neighborhoods lie battered from attacks by German bombers. Known as an efficient Hampstead landlady, Mrs. Margery Overs is actually an impostor whose real name is Vera (Vee) Sedge, and her 14-year-old “nephew,” Noel, is a former child evacuee she has taken in.

A charmingly sharp lad, Noel cooks for Vee’s lodgers, who tutor him in various subjects. After Vee witnesses a traffic accident, and Noel meets someone who knew his beloved late godmother, their true identities are at risk of being exposed.

Evans excels at portraying war-weary Londoners conducting their lives while death arrives with terrible randomness; among them is air-raid warden Winnie Crowther, whose husband is a prisoner of war. Many are forced to weigh the cost of keeping secrets. The eclectic characters are all uniquely human, and their interactions—there are no dull conversations—make the novel witty and moving.

V for Victory was published by Harper in May in the US, and I'd reviewed it for the April 15 issue of Booklist.  I hadn't read the previous two books, but that proved not to be a problem.

Crooked Heart
 won the ALA's Reading List Award in the historical fiction category in 2016. It tells the story of how Noel ended up living with Vee, and how they become small-time criminals during the Blitz. Old Baggage, set in the late '20s, is the tale of Noel's unofficial godmother, Mattie Simpkin, "a woman with a thrilling past and a chafingly uneventful present" (per the publisher's blurb), a former militant suffragette figuring out what to do with her life now that the vote has been won. Judging by V for Victory, Evans mingles dark humor and serious subjects very well, and her older books promise a similar experience.

10 comments:

  1. I loved loved loved Their Finest Hour and a Half, and had no idea she had done this trilogy! Buying right away!

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  2. I hope you'll love this series just as much! Her characters quickly won me over.

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  3. Oliver Pelc3:07 PM

    This novel sounds extremely interesting! I love plots set in World War 2 era and the way you described the characters makes me want to order it right away.

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    1. If you enjoy WWII settings, this is a great time to be reading historical fiction (and this is a good one to pick up!). Thanks for commenting.

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  4. I've been wondering about this book and it sounds like part of a trilogy I have to read. I love some dark comedy in a book.

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    1. I plan to read the other two books, too. In the UK, where they were first published, Old Baggage came out first, so I plan to start with that one. But you can probably get to them in any order.

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  5. The author and book were both new to me. It is a setting I like. I never get tired of characters and settings in the big war both during and pre and post wars. It brought out the best (and the worst in human beings). Thanks for this review.

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    1. Thanks for your comments. The author seems to be underrated, and her work deserves to be more widely known.

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  6. This looks good. I love this type of home front story. I have Crooked Heart in my TBR and didn't realise it was part of a trilogy.
    I enjoyed Their Finest Hour and a Half and thought this being made into a film would help the author become better known.

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    1. I don't think I knew Their Finest Hour and a Half got turned into a film - I'll have to find it!

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