This Time Of Dying

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

It is October 1918 and London is gathering in its dead. For Henry Speake of Speake Son Undertakers laying to rest the shattered young bodies of those sent home from the Front to die has become a grimly familiar reality. But what he is seeing now, as influenza claims its victims with increasing speed and force, is something different; for the first time in his life, Henry feels afraid of death. Unable to share his fears with his waspish, disapproving sisters, Henry turns to Mrs Allen Thompson, a recently widowed school teacher, so beginning a friendship which gradually, stumblingly, pulls them in a direction neither has been prepared for.

Reviews

"'Rich and absorbing... a five-star weepie' The Times" 'Finely written and affecting.' Guardian 'A completely engrossing portrait of the relationships between some tantalisingly interesting characters - truly touching. I absolutely loved it.' Margaret Forster 'A moving novel about the persistence of the ordinary during extraordinary times.' Financial Times 'James builds her story with great skill, and, with the possibility of a new epidemic on the horizon, gives us a well-imagined vision of society facing a terrible calamity.' Publishing News, Book of the Month

Author Bio

REINA JAMES lost two grandparents to the 1918 Spanish flu. This is her first novel.