First published 2022
Emma and Audrey live in Belfast as April 1941 arrives with deceptive calm. The city has avoided the worst bombing so far, but that changes when German planes appear overhead. Emma prepares for her upcoming wedding while Audrey hides her relationship with another woman from their family and neighbors. The bombs fall night after night, turning familiar streets into rubble and forcing both sisters to question everything they thought they wanted. Emma believes survival must have meaning, but meaning becomes harder to find as the destruction mounts. Their mother worries, neighbors flee or take shelter, and a young girl down the road watches the world transform around her. The cultural rules that once seemed fixed now feel fragile against the reality of war. Both sisters must decide what parts of their old lives to preserve and what to abandon as Belfast burns around them.
Genres: drama, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, haunting, intimate, introspective, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family, hidden-identity, sisters-bond
Setting: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Period: April 1941, World War II
288 pages · Paperback · SJP Lit
Content warnings: death, violence, war