#simon block

The novel begins exactly where s2e6 leaves off, with Pat coming to a standstill in front of the house into which the Spitfire has just crashed. (Her home, let’s remember: she and Bob live on one side, the Campbells on the other.) We then get a lengthy recapitulation of the last couple of episodes; not until page 56 do we begin to move forward. The entire story unfolds in the six weeks following the crash.

For the sake of those who may want to read Keep the Home Fires Burning I’m reluctant to commit any spoilers, but it gives away very little to say that everyone in the house survives the crash (except for the pilot), although Will is in a very bad way afterwards. The big wartime historical issue in s3 was going to be “trekkers” - people from from the cities (Liverpool and Crewe, in this case) who drove or walked many miles into the country each evening to escape the air raids. There they camped in open ground, leaving themselves vulnerable to the elements and passing enemy aircraft, and sometimes doing damage to crops or other aspects of their surroundings, mostly because they didn’t know how to manage the campfires they built. Great Paxton now has a growing population of trekkers, some of whom are there during the day as well as at night. Frances wants the W.I. to find a way of helping these people; the opposition to this is led by Mrs. Talbot, Laura’s tormentor from s2.

Meanwhile: Pat - who becomes a Mass-Observation diarist, which is really rather perfect - has not been hearing from Marek, and she soon enough finds out the (not unexpected) reason for this; Frances accedes to Peter’s wishes and sends Noah off to boarding school, with near-disastrous consequences; and Teresa is trying her best to make a go of marriage to Nick, despite (a) apparently being constitutionally incapable of producing an edible cooked meal and (b) the continued presence of Annie, both in person and in Teresa’s head. (Nick is completely oblivious and blissfully happy.)

Part of what made this book so compelling was the novelty of reading what is essentially fan fiction (or so it seems to me) by the very person who created the characters and their setting. This wasn’t always comfortable: not unexpectedly, Block writes much better dialogue and internal monologue than narration, which is a bit of a problem for a conventional novel. Much worse, however, at least for a continuity freak such as yours truly, is that he contradicts his own canon in places: I certainly don’t recall Frances returning to the presidency of Great Paxford W.I. a couple of weeks prior to the end of the series, as we are told here, and the novel’s characterization of Joyce is much less sympathetic than Francesca Annis eventually made her. (We’re given a physical description of Joyce - “small,” with a “round” face and “beady eyes” - that doesn’t sound much like Francesca Annis, either.)

Some story threads that were left hanging at the end of s2 aren’t taken up here. Is Jenny at all changed by her experience on the day of the crash? Does David make any progress towards figuring out what he’s going to do with his life now that he can’t work as a butcher? What becomes of Joyce’s son? We don’t read a word about any of those characters, nor about any investigation into what caused the crash. We do, however, end with a cliffhanger once again, as Steph commits an act that’s bound to have repercussions of some kind. That’s just part of it, really. And since Block is planning to write two more Home Fires novels, presumably we’ll find out what happens.