Embers in the London Sky

Starred review from December 1, 2023
When air raid sirens sound in London, radio war correspondents like Hugh Collingwood bypass the safety of shelters and race toward the story in the streets. While pursuing his latest scoop, he meets Aleida Martens, a Dutch refugee searching for her missing son. As the city undergoes daily attacks, Aleida and Hugh witness the prejudices still simmering in a country defending humanitarian values, an inconvenient albeit important truth Hugh is forbidden to air. When a broadcast reveals too much and a murder suspect is on the loose, Hugh and Aleida must decide whether to speak out or keep silent. Embers in the London Sky is another masterful installment in Sundin's roster of WWII novels spotlighting sectors of war efforts and the ordinary people who confront extraordinary circumstances. The power of radio and the duty of the press take center stage in this tale set during the Blitz, and Sundin's exploration of paradoxical social constructs resonates historically and casts light on today's conflicts. Characters grapple with heartbreaking loss, question their own responsibility to and acknowledgement of the truth, and confront the divergence of affirmation and information in an era of subtle and overt politicization and censorship.

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Starred review from January 1, 2024

Readying to escape her abusive husband, Aleida Martens has prepared for every eventuality, but then the Nazis invade the Netherlands. Her husband uses the confusion of fleeing refugees to finally get rid of their three-year-old son, Theo, who was born with a congenital limb difference, and sends him across the Channel with a British family. Aleida is desperate to find Theo, but in the confusion of war, thousands of children are living in the English countryside separate from their loved ones. Aleida's job at the ministry of health uncovers neglect and abuse unseen by bureaucrats in London. This brings her into contact with Hugh Collingwood, a top BBC correspondent and secretly asthmatic aristocrat who is determined to tell the human stories of the Blitz, including Aleida's heartbreaking search for the missing Theo. When Hugh's uncle is murdered, Hugh and Aleida suspect there might be a connection between other deaths, the plight of refugees, and the censorship at the BBC. VERDICT Sundin (The Sound of Light) delivers another historical masterpiece, fraught with tension and humor and filled with a cast of eccentric supporting characters. This is a must-buy.

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