Set in the summer of 1945 between VE Day and VJ Day, the narrative follows the young female residents of the May of Teck Club, a boarding house for women of slender means in Kensington. The inhabitants, including the poised elocution teacher Joanna Childe and the beautiful socialite Selina Redwood, navigate poverty and courtship amidst the rubble of post-war London. Their daily concerns center on sharing a single Schiaparelli dress and squeezing through a narrow window to sunbathe on the roof. However, the discovery of an unexploded bomb in the garden leads to a fatal fire that forces the group to choose between communal survival and individual self-interest.
Readers who appreciate cynical wit and economical prose read this book for its unsentimental portrayal of human behavior under pressure. It appeals to those interested in the transition from wartime austerity to modern life, offering a historical look at class and female independence. The reader walks away with a sharp understanding of how easily surface level vanity dissolves into cruelty or tragedy when an environment shifts from peace to chaos. This story provides a cold, detached observation of moral failure and the randomness of death.
- Published
- 1963
- Language
- EN
