These Days

Literary fiction lovers with similar taste encouraged me to give this a try. I was intrigued by the promise of a relational drama (my catnip) set against the backdrop of a little-told chapter of history: the Belfast Blitz, a 1941 series of Luftwaffe air raids that devastated the city. The story focuses on two adult sisters and their mother, as they each privately struggle with confusion and longing in their romantic relationships, against the backdrop of WWII. I especially enjoyed the exceptional attention to historical detail: I lingered over characters' descriptions of their trinkets and diaries, and the way one popped a piece of coal into the crisper to revive tired lettuce.