Reviewed by Emma Crowley
As the bombs began to fall, the book club kept their hopes alive...
London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times, having just lost her beloved husband, Harry, and with a lingering sadness at never having been able to have a child of her own. Struggling to face running the bookshop she and Harry opened together, Gertie is preparing to sell up and move away when she is asked if she would be willing to take in a young Jewish refugee from Germany. Gertie is unsure and when sullen teenager Hedy Fischer arrives, Gertie fears she has nothing left to give the troubled girl.
But when the German bombers come and the lights go out over London, Gertie and Hedy realise that joining forces will make them stronger, and that books have the power to bring young and old together and unite a community in need in its darkest hour...
Many thanks to Headline for my copy of The Air Raid Book Club to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Air Raid Book Club is the first book that I have read by Annie Lyons and what a gorgeous story it was. It had such a gentle, relaxed pace to it giving the reader an almost soothing feeling as they read through it despite the trials and tribulations that characters were enduring due to the war. It’s set in a bookshop in Beechwood, a quiet suburban area of London, with a varied and eclectic cast of characters who are all united through the power of books in the most harrowing of times. The story emphasis how books have such an impressive influence as to help those when they need it the most. ’There was comfort in words. A world of much needed strength and hope too’. I think this is what makes this book such a special read as it focuses on words and their power to guide and direct us. Words have the ability to offer comfort and solace and to unite people and form the most unlikeliest of friendships all bonding over the written word.
Each chapter opens with an inspiring quote from a range of books and I found myself looking forward to what pearls of wisdom the author had included and how they had a forbearing - if any - on what was to happen in the chapter. Said quotes do make you want to go back and read the book they are from as I felt they were so carefully chosen and my interest was piqued as to what book they came from and the reason for their selection.
The brief prologue introduces us to the main female character, Gertie Bingham, it’s 1911 and she is happily married to her beloved Harry but yet she longs for more as she finds Beechwood too quiet. She had been raised with a keen mind and instinct for sniffing out injustice. She adores books and reading and is always eager to read the next book, to absorb new ideas and send them out into the world. When she spots a shop for lease, a seed is planted, and Bingham Books is born.
Fast forward to 1938 and we meet a completely different Gertie. For so many years the bookshop had brought great joy into her life as books were powerful and inspiring but all her enthusiasm, insight and happiness has vanished. The many years spent running the bookshop with Harry were the best of her life but now her soulmate has gone and with him her love, liveliness and cheer. She has no interest in running the bookshop as the world has lost its lustre without her constant by her side. ’She wanted to escape the constant reminder that Harry was gone and the painful reality of a life without him’. Gertie contemplates selling the bookshop and escaping to somewhere peaceful where she can live out her days with Hemmingway, her loyal canine companion by her side. But Bingham Books is at the heart of Beechwood and the people there need Gertie and the shop. The fire in her belly and the fight in her soul may be gone but surely there is a way for Gertie to reclaim these. She needs to learn to seize the day and how to live her life again to the fullest.
Disheartening is the word I would use to describe the situation Gertie found herself in. There are glimpses of the old Gertie as she works in the shop matching the right book to the right person and providing a safe space for all who enter its doors but really she is a broken woman and these moments of magic and enjoyment are few and far between. You can tell that she is weary and hasn’t the strength to go on that the lustre and spark has left her. When her long-time friend Charles Ashford asks her to take in a young Jewish refugee she worries over what to do but then she sees that ‘the world is on the brink of something terrible. The question is, do we stand by and watch or do we stand up and help?’. Taking in Hedy Fischer who is 15 gives Gertie the sense of purpose that she has been missing from her life. She feels that she will be able to assume the role of mother to the girl. A role that has been absent from her life and which she felt she would never be given the opportunity to do.
Hedy comes from Munich leaving her parents and brother behind. She is sullen and quiet preferring to spend her time in her room but then she slowly starts to engage with the people who work in the bookshop and its customers. Gertie begins to feel surplus to requirements and wonders what is she doing wrong, that Hedy seems to ignore her. I felt desperately sorry for Gertie as I think she was pinning all her hopes on Hedy giving her a goal in life and that relationship she had craved was just not materialising. This sums up perfectly how Gertie felt. ’Both alone. Both missing the ones who couldn’t be with them. Neither of them had chosen this situation and yet here they were, flung together. Two lonely strangers, clinging to the same life raft as the storm raged around them’.
I loved seeing the development of the relationship between Gertie and Hedy. It wasn’t forced or trivialised. Instead a natural progression occurred as did a deep appreciation for each other and all this was through a love of books and the bookshop. Both Gertie and Hedy needed each other but they didn’t realise how much until war was declared in 1939, leaving Hedy’s family stuck in Germany. Now Gertie can be the mother she has truly wanted to be. Not taking the place of Hedy’s mother but rather assuming a role of foster/adoptive mother and allowing her to feel ‘that she was moving forward once more, instead of being doggedly glued to the past’.
Part two details the onslaught of war and I found it wonderful to read of how all the different characters began to pull together and have the bookshop as a focus and a place where they could go during air raids and so the air raid book club is formed. As the bombs rain down upon London, they sit in the shelter and talk about the book of choice and open up many new worlds and endless conversation. ’All we can do is offer an escape to ourselves and to one another’ and this is all done through the power and stability that books offer. There are lots of characters introduced right from the beginning and even more so once the war begins. Too many to mention here but it never felt as if the book was overcrowded with people and their stories. For they had many stories to share and lots of interesting and heart-warming but also emotional and challenging things began to occur. A sense of community is forged and of pulling together and I loved all the various mini storylines that developed but fed so well into the main plot. A real sense of togetherness began to emerge and a new side to Gertie comes to the fore but that’s not to say that she is not tested and it’s all a bed of roses. No, in fact it’s far from it and she will need Hedy and her remarkable, kind and loyal friends and the bookshop itself to guide her through what the war is bringing right to their doorstep.
The Air Raid Book Club is a lovely book, perfect for fans of WW2 historical fiction. You will root for Gertie from beginning to end and fall in love with lots of other wonderful characters along the way. Yes the ending may have been a little rushed as I did think it tried to cover too many years and I would have liked a bit more fleshing out but apart from that I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with Gertie and co. A book with fantastic characters, a superb setting of the bookshop and lots of talk about books all set amidst the backdrop of WW2. I mean what more could you want? I’m already looking forward to reading much more from Annie Lyons in the near future.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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