458. The Heat of the Day

The Heat of the Day
Elizabeth Bowen
1948
Around 400 pages

Virginia Woolf has passed the baton to Elizabeth Bowen as the most overrepresented female author on this List. We are on our fourth of six Bowen entries. I am never really blown away, but she's not offensive or boring either. I think I just want her to be as good as Edith Wharton, since their styles are similar. But she's never quite as interesting.

We begin in the midst of World War II, in a London park where a concert is taking place. I enjoyed this opening, and how Elizabeth Bowen used the characters' reaction to the music as our introductions to their personalities. Very clever. Louie, a young woman whose husband is fighting in the war, unsuccessfully hits on Harrison, an English counterspy. Harrison rejects her, as he is deeply in love with Stella, who is in turn is in love with Robert. Harrison believes that Robert is a German spy, and attempts to use that knowledge to manipulate Stella into getting freaky with him. 

It seems crazy that not everybody would have been getting the fuck out of London at this point, but I suppose people always adjust to the new normal no matter how wild it seems. Like I said, this story wasn't as engaging as I wanted it to be. I felt like most of the exciting action took place off-screen and we were left with a melodrama with characters I heartily disliked.

So an intriguing setting but rather forgettable as far as this era goes.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Harold Pinter wrote a tv movie based on the novel directed by Christopher Morahan in 1989, starring Patricia Hodge as Stella, Michael York as Robert and Michael Gambon as Harrison. Gambon, get out of here.

UP NEXT: Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford