There is a distinct sense of anticipation at the beginning of Lucy Caldwell’s novel, These Days. The youngest member of the Bell family, Peter, wishes he was a few years older so that he could join the Royal Air Force or the Army and fight the Germans. His older sister, Audrey, is waiting to see if she’ll finally feel like an adult if she gets married. Oldest daughter Emmie is waiting to see if she can get someone to give her a chance to prove herself. They have no idea that a devastating series of air raids is headed their way.
These Days is set in Belfast slightly before and during the Belfast Blitz. Although the city had prepared emergency aid stations, signed up volunteers, and (sort of) prepared shelters in case of raids from the Luftwaffe, the Bells suspect that they are too far away from the Continent to be a real target. The first raid on the night of April 7-8, 1941 stuns them all. The next raid, on April 15, is even worse. By the time the four raids are over, around 1,000 people will be killed and entire blocks of Belfast leveled.
Emmie has always felt like no one takes her seriously. Volunteering to provide first aid in the case of a raid is the perfect opportunity to show everyone, especially her doctor father, that she is a smart, capable woman The problem, at least until the Belfast Blitz begins, is that her superiors keep sending her home because nothing is happening. Meanwhile, Audrey takes the first steps towards becoming a wife by accepting a lackluster proposal from her boyfriend, Richard. The problem is that Audrey isn’t sure she actually loves Richard, or that Richard loves or even understands her. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, the knowledge that one might be bombed concentrates the mind wonderfully. One very bad day and night during the Belfast Blitz provide that kind of concentration for the sisters.
Although the premise of These Days means that a lot of focus has to be on how the two Bell sisters cope during the bombings, I would have to answer anyone who asked me what this book was about by saying that, actually, I think this book is about love. Yes, Emmie and Audrey spend a lot of time either trying to stay safe or helping others who’ve been injured and bombed out of their homes but they also spend a lot of time thinking about the people they love or don’t love. Emmie finds a surprising passion with another first-aid volunteer, Sylvie. In another time and place, she’d be able to shout to the rafters about her lover. In Belfast, in 1941, she has to keep everything very quiet. Meanwhile, Audrey has a very socially acceptable fiance who, when the bombs arrive, leaves Audrey at a dance hall that has no shelter. This might be forgivable—and Audrey is more than willing to forgive this—if it weren’t for the fact that Richard doesn’t seem to want to do anything more than kiss her.
These Days ends with a curious blend of ambiguity and resolution. The Belfast Blitz had four major air raids over a month, while this book only spans a week. These characters are in a country that will be at war until 1945. So, while there is definitely a conclusion to the major questions Caldwell raises with her characters, with the possibility that they can find real happiness, any stability a more typical conclusion would provide is undermined by the knowledge that anything could happen to the Bell family before the war ends. Readers who like a hefty dose of realism in their historical fiction will find a lot of food for thought here.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.