Well, there is a difference between storytelling through television and storytelling through novels. Besides the engrossing story itself, of course, the core actresses especially carried the television series Home Fires and made it sharp, smart, human, and poignant. The ladies brought out the nuances of it all.

The novels continuing the story aren't as sharp or deft. There's very little in the way of subtlety, especially around the dialogue. Much in this novel is overtly spelled out, or drawn out through characters' redundant inward deliberations that don't always take the plot anywhere new.

There's also a good deal of head-hopping, the narration often bouncing between different characters' points of view within the same scenes and conversations without warning or smooth transitions. And nothing against Laura, but her character in the books has yet to interest me. Maybe she needs more time to shift from the screen to the page, as the main issue for her character in this novel feels like a forced idea from out of the blue simply to give her something to do—a sudden twist rather unrelated to much about her from earlier.

Still, there are some excellent turns of phrase that pop up in the writing, and I remain curious to see what will happen to most of the characters (even if there are a couple of them I wish I could shake some sense into already.) I still picture the cast as the actors from television, which helps, as does my overall love for historical and wartime fiction, and wow! What an ending!

I'm keeping my eyes open for the next book. ( )