Author:Mary Wesley
Seventeen-year-old Juno Marlowe has just waved off to war the two young men she has loved for the best part of her life when the air raid sirens begin to wail out across London. She is rescued from this nightmare by a gaunt stranger called Evelyn, frail and older than his years, who offers her the protection of his house and his family before dying suddenly in the night.
Determined to avoid being sent to Canada to join her mother and new step-father, and still grieving for her lost lovers, Juno instead finds herself on a train to Cornwall in search of Evelyn's family. There she discovers the blossoming of an English spring into which the war only occasionally intrudes and finds at last a peace for herlself and a world in which she is more than simply part of the furniture.
A novel whose freshness of tone, energy of plotting and sweet nature make it exceptional by any standards
—— Sunday TelegraphFew novelists offer such a rich concoction of amoral spice and cleverness; but to judge her work exclusively on this level is to miss more subtle rewards
—— Mail on SundayWith its brilliant final twist, this is Mary Wesley's best yet
—— Evening StandardOnce again, Kennedy brilliantly interweaves over-wrought internal dialogue with external outrageous acts. The unfolding tenderness of nature and of amity blend superbly with the casualness of daily horror
—— Catherine Taylor , Independent on SundayDay is more than a novel, it is an investigations into the difficulties of being alive
—— Eileen Battersby , Irish TimesDay is a very good novel. It is largely about love, as most novels are, but the author's skill with language... makes the average cliché unique... Historical details become flesh and funny in her hand
—— Katy Guest , IndependentAL Kennedy has built a reputation as one of the fiercest, most bloody minded and thrilling British writers and her new novel more than backs that up... Day is an utterly engrossing read
—— MetroDay is a remarkable performance
—— Jane Shilling , Sunday TelegraphThis is a remarkably clean lined book, of highly literary construction, that still feels huge and wide ranging. Day is a forceful, wholly achieved piece of work by a writer of enormous power. It ought to win all the prizes going
—— Tim Martin , Daily TelegraphWell deserved to win the 2007 Costa book of the year award...sophisticated texture...Ms Kennedy manages to make every battle truism fresh
—— EconomistIt is quite outstanding, full of beauty, pain and truth... We are lucky to have this book
—— Anne Chisholm , Sunday TelegraphThe facts surrounding the discovery of this book are as remarkable as its contents are magnificent... A triumph of indomitability and a masterwork of literary accomplishment
—— Sunday TimesDeftly translated by Sandra Smith, this is possibly the most devastating indictment of French manners and morals since Madame Bovary, as hypnotic as Proust at the biscuit tin, as gruelling as Genet on the prowl. Irène Nemirovsky is, on this evidence, a novelist of the very first order, perceptive to a fault and sly in her emotional restraint
—— Evening StandardAn heroic attempt to write a novel about a nightmare in which the author is entirely embedded
—— Anita Brookner , SpectatorRead this haunting novel, then read [Nemirovsky’s] letters in this edition to feel the full force of the work
—— Fiona Wilson , The TimesWhile marked by poppy wearing and memorial ceremonies, the First World War is also sustained through family history, handed down from one generation to the next. No book better articulates the impact of this narrative than Stephen Faulks’ Birdsong.
—— Lucy Middleton , Reader's DigestA truly amazing read
—— Gail Teasdale , 24housingI’d never read such descriptive literature, and couldn’t sleep at night for thinking about what I’d just read. His [Faulks] portrayal of terror on the battlefield is so powerful
—— Anna Redman , Good HousekeepingMy all-time favourite book
—— Kate Garraway , Good Housekeeping