I have read the previous books in this trilogy, but when I picked up this one, I didn't really remember anything about them. At the start, Elinor is staying with her sister, waiting for their mother to die. Waiting for her in London are the frequent bombings and driving ambulance to take bombing victims to hospital. Eventually it's her own house that's hit, and that shakes not just her but her marriage, to Paul.

I'm not sure I got that much out of this book. ( )

Noonday is the final installment in Barker's Life Class trilogy (the second book is Toby's Room. The first novel followed art school students Elinor Brooke, Paul Tarrant, and Kit Neville as they face the outbreak of World War I; the second continues as Kit and Elinor's brother Toby hit the front lines, Paul signs on as a medic, and Elinor employs her artistic talent to help shape new faces for war-damaged veterans. Noonday jumps ahead to the London Blitz. Elinor and Paul have married, both work as artists, and they have a house in London that Elinor loves. As the novel opens, she is staying with her sister Rachel in the country, attending her mother's death watch. Both Paul and Elinor have volunteered in the war efforts, she as an ambulance driver, he assisting in rescue efforts. Paul visits the country house on weekends and forms an attachment with Kenny, an odd ginger-haired boy, one of the many children sent away from the city for safety. As for Kit, he is employed by Kenneth Clark's War Artists Advisory Committee--and he is still in love with Elinor.

Barker paints a devastating picture of the Blitz and the damage it did to buildings, bodies, and psyches. Giving us insights into characters involved in the rescue efforts brings even more horrors to the fore. Kenny's story is particularly touching, and Barker gives us another interesting character in Bertha, an overweight medium fulfilling people's need to connect with lost sons, husbands, and fathers. She also explores the dynamics of Elinor's strained family relations and her less-than-perfect marriage.

I would recommend reading the first two novels before this one as it will help you to understand the relationships among the various characters. ( )

The final part of a wartime trilogy, revisiting Elinor, Paul and Kit twenty years later, during the Second World War. I only wish I'd known that before reading this novel first and failing to connect with any of the characters! And of course Pat Barker once again conjures up powerful and poignant imagery of the 'home front', from the destruction of air raids to the strained ordinariness of everyday life.

The story begins with a young London lad, Kenny, who is evacuated from the bomb-ravaged city to the country, staying with Elinor's sister Rachel. When he tries to runaway, fearful for his mother and younger siblings, Paul agrees to take him home. Reunited with his family, who have been bombed out of their home, Kenny finds temporary sanctuary in a school air raid shelter, along with hundreds of his neighbours. I knew what was coming, having seen a programme about Hallsville Junior School, and how the true number of those killed was hushed up for years after the war. A thrilling introduction, but unfortunately, the rest of the novel is more or less a series of wartime horror stories pinned together by three very dull characters - without having read the previous two instalments, anyway. Barker recounts enough of the backstory to allow Noonday to stand alone, but I wasn't really interested in Paul and Elinor's failing middle class marriage, or the odious Kit's longing for his friend's wife. Bertha the northern 'spuggie', or spiritualist, was quite interesting, but nothing really happens with that thread of the story.

I might go back and read Life Class and Toby's Room, because I enjoyed the Regeneration trilogy, but not for Paul, Kit or Elinor's sake. ( )

An odd mixture. Pat Barker's books are always interesting and populated by memorable characters, but I couldn't help finding this one a little disappointing, at least compared to the first two parts of this trilogy. This one takes the characters from Life Class and Toby's Room and moves them forward to their middle age in the London blitz. Much of the writing, particularly the descriptions of the bombing and its aftermath is very powerful, but I felt the book was a little let down by a subplot involving a "spuggie" (Geordie slang for a holder of seances) that was never entirely resolved, at least from a rationalist perspective. Still worth reading, but not quite her best work. ( )

Setting a personal love story amidst the chaos of the World War II London Blitz and making it believable shows the skill of Barker as an author. The dust, the grit, the fires, the fear are all there but so are the emotions and loves of a husband and wife who along with a good artist friend live in London during the Blitz. If nothing else, you finish the book with a sense of the tenacity of the British during the war, incorporating the fire bombings into their lives yet understand the words “Keep calm and carry on.” Personal tragedies and triumphs rise amidst the smoke and fire. ( )