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V for Victory

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

In this witty, charming follow-up to the acclaimed Crooked Heart, the life of lies a small time scammer and her adopted son have constructed in London becomes endangered during the tumultuous final months of World War II. 

It’s late 1944. Hitler’s rockets are raining down on London with vicious regularity and it’s the coldest winter in living memory. The Allies are gaining ground, but victory is certainly dragging its feet.

In a large house next to Hampstead Heath, Vee Sedge is barely scraping by with a herd of lodgers to feed and her young charge Noel, almost fifteen now, to clothe and educate. When she witnesses an accident and finds herself in court, the repercussions are both unexpectedly marvelous and potentially disastrous. Because Vee is not actually the person she’s pretending to be, and neither is Noel.

Victory is coming. Yet the end of the war won’t just mean peace, but discovery . . .  

With caustic wit and artful storytelling, Lissa Evans summons a time when the world could finally hope to emerge from the chaos of war. As witty as Old Baggage and poignant as Crooked Heart, V for Victory once again reveals Evans to be one of the most original and entertaining writers at work today.

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    • Booklist

      April 15, 2021
      This darkly comic novel is the third in a loose trilogy, following Crooked Heart (2015) and Old Baggage (2019), and the characters' backstories are revealed as the plot progresses. In 1944, London's neighborhoods lie battered from attacks by German bombers. Known as an efficient Hampstead landlady, Mrs. Margery Overs is actually an impostor whose real name is Vera (Vee) Sedge, and her 14-year-old "nephew," Noel, is a former child evacuee she has taken in. A charmingly sharp lad, Noel cooks for Vee's lodgers, who tutor him in various subjects. After Vee witnesses a traffic accident, and Noel meets someone who knew his beloved late godmother, their true identities are at risk of being exposed. Evans excels at portraying war-weary Londoners conducting their lives while death arrives with terrible randomness; among them is air-raid warden Winnie Crowther, whose husband is a prisoner of war. Many are forced to weigh the cost of keeping secrets. The eclectic characters are all uniquely human, and their interactions--there are no dull conversations--make the novel witty and moving.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from May 7, 2021

      Life did not improve much for Londoners in the last year of World War II. Rockets continued to fall and leave a path of destruction in their wake, while privations and food rationing played havoc with everyday survival. But things are looking up for Noel Bostock and Vera Sedge, the endearingly wily pair last seen in Evans's Crooked Heart. Vera, now posing as Noel's aunt Margery Overs, has acquired a veneer of respectability, running a boarding house in the large home left to Noel by his former guardian, the redoubtable Mattie Simpkin (last seen in Old Baggage). Also making a welcome return is Winnie Crowther, an air-raid warden, who once belonged to Mattie's Amazons, an outdoor education club for girls. Fortunes change again for Vera, whose favorable testimony spares an American GI from a possible jail sentence, and for Noel, who has a meeting with a sketchy character that provides a clue to his origins. VERDICT In our own troubled times, it can't hurt to be reminded of the spirit and resilience of those who endured a world at war. With warmth and humor to spare, this book is a balm.--Barbara Love, formerly with Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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