Book Synopsis:
It’s 1945, and Corporal Valentine Vere-Thissett, aged 23, is on his way home.
But ‘home’ is Dimperley, built in the 1500s, vast and dilapidated, up to its eaves in debt and half-full of fly-blown taxidermy and dependent relatives, the latter clinging to a way of life that has gone forever.
And worst of all – following the death of his heroic older brother – Valentine is now Sir Valentine, and is responsible for the whole bloody place. To Valentine, it’s a millstone; to Zena Baxter, who has never really had a home before being evacuated there with her small daughter, it’s a place of wonder and sentiment, somewhere that she can’t bear to leave.
But Zena has been living with a secret, and the end of the war means she has to face a reckoning of her own…
Funny, sharp and touching, Small Bomb at Dimperley is both a love story and a bittersweet portrait of an era of profound loss, and renewal.
My Review:
Small Bomb At Dimperley is an absorbing read about life in Britain after the Second World War and a country on the brink of change.
I’ve been a huge fan of Lissa’s previous books so I was very excited to read this one. The story centres around Dimperley manor a crumbling mansion with an long, proud history. I enjoyed finding out more about the house and exploring it’s various parts alongside the characters. It was interesting to see what the house had been used for in the past as well as the difference between life there in the past and after the war.
The family living in the house were a fantastic mix or eccentric characters that I loved following throughout the book. Each one brought a different element to the story and helped the reader understand a different part of the story better. I grew fond of all of them but my favourites were definitely the two daughters as I liked their attitude and I felt sorry for them trying to negotiate life in Britain after spending the war in America.
I thought this book had a good pace to it and I soon found myself absorbed into the story. The story has some very emotional moments to it but also some hilarious one which made me laugh out loud – especially the origins of one of the dogs names that was very memorable.
If you are a fan of historical fiction then I highly recommend this book!
Huge thanks to Anne from Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Lissa Evans has written books for both adults and children, including the bestselling Old Baggage, Their Finest Hour and a Half, longlisted for the Orange Prize, Small Change for Stuart, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Book Awards amongst others, and Crooked Heart, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.
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