Everyone Brave Is Forgiven, Cleave - B-

                                               This is a superb WW2 novel recommended to me by Dennis Grindinger. It is set in London and Malta, involves a handful of intersecting lives, the Blitz and the siege of Malta. The lead character is a young woman, daughter of an MP, fiercely independent, and terribly witty school teacher. There's a well-done telling of the evacuation of children from London and the actual bombings that haunted the city in the second year of the war. Mary North teaches the down-and-out and later serves as an ambulance driver. The book effectively conveys the anguish of being constantly bombed for the year of the Blitz. Malta was under siege for two-and-a-half years. Through the eyes of Alistair Heath, London based restorer of pictures at the Tate and somewhat reluctant artillery officer,  we get a sense of what is like to starve on a rock in the middle of the sea and suffer the same incessant, endless bombing that was going on at home. Men are constantly killed, supplies are occasional  and for a very, very long time, there is no end in sight. This is a fine read.