The Air Raid Book Club A Novel

Widowed Gertie Bingham is ready to retire from the London bookshop she managed with her late husband for the last 30 years. When a longtime family friend asks Gertie if she'd be willing to take in a Jewish child who is evacuating from Germany, she agrees, even though it means pausing her retirement. Fifteen-year-old Hedy is shaken by the trauma of leaving her family behind, but her and Gertie's shared love of books helps them develop a tentative friendship. When war is declared, the bookshop becomes a hub of activity as community members seek solace and diversion. Hedy falls in with a group of teenagers who give her a sense of belonging, and Gertie rediscovers her purpose as she prepares care packages for soldiers on the front lines. The heartstring-tugging plot will be familiar to readers of WWII home front fiction, but Lyons (The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, 2020) engages readers with her well-developed characters and a dash of humor. Fans of Lisa Wingate and Madeline Martin will appreciate this uplifting story about a neighborhood banding together to support one another during the Blitz.