Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

ClareR (5674 KP) rated Light Perpetual in Books

Mar 13, 2021  
Light Perpetual
Light Perpetual
Francis Spufford | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
9
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Light Perpetual is a wonderful book that takes us on a journey of the alternative lives of five southeast London children. Alec, Ben, Vernon, Jo and Val are all queueing in Woolworths when a German bomb hits. This first chapter about the bomb dropping was stunning. I didn’t think I could read pretty much a whole chapter about the way that a bomb impacts and then explodes AND enjoy it - but it was mesmerising. Then, something changes, and it’s as if the bomb never happens. We are taken on an alternative future, alternative lives for the five children. It’s as if the bomb had never dropped. Life goes on, and these five young children are able to live their lives as teenagers, adults, and in to old age. And what varied lives they lead. Not only do we see what becomes of them, but we experience a significant chunk of the twentieth century with all of the huge changes and the impact on the people that lived through these times.

I loved everything about this book, and I can’t believe that I haven’t read any Francis Spufford before. I shall have to rectify that. In the meantime, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this - it’s just my kind of book.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for helping me out with my NetGalley list once again (it happens a lot!), and to Francis Spufford for reading along with us.