It's 1940. The blitz in London is at its noisiest and most destructive. But morale-boosting films must go on being made. So we meet a cast of characters who keep us entertained for 400 pages. A has-been actor who doesn't realise his glory-days are over, a sheltered-but-looking-for-life spinster in her 30s, a military adviser who's led a more than sheltered life, a young script writer from the Welsh valleys and her dyspeptic and wryly witty boss. Oh, and a simply awful dog. The action is pacy, the dialogue well-pitched and believable. Best of all though is this book's ability to transport us to war-ravaged London: its smells and sounds and all-pervading shabbiness and dust and gritty dirt.

The blurb's misleading. Young Welsh Catrin is no more centre-stage than Ambrose the actor or Edith the spinster or any of the other main characters. That's fine. We become interested and involved in the lives of each of them. I even felt sorry for Ambrose when that ghastly dog..... oooh, no sorry, spoiler alert. ( )

A young scriptwriter, a pompous middle-aged actor, a lance corporal and a historical costumes expert become involved in the making of a British propaganda film during WWII. Certainly an aspect of history I hadn’t seen addressed in fiction before! That was satisfying and fascinating.

And as if it had heard my criticisms of the novel I’d read *checks record* just the day before, very little here is readily resolved! Lots of nuance and complexity. But also lots of details of the discomforts and disappointments its characters endure, especially with the London Blitz. The effect is unexpectedly bleak, especially as these characters are all, in their varying ways, rather lonely. I enjoy stories about lonely people building positive relationships and support networks, but prefer more emphasis on the actual “building relationships” part.

I mostly liked the ending and certainly don’t regret reading this -- I read it all in an afternoon! -- but I came away feeling a bit flat. (And after the previous book I'd read by Evans, Old Baggage, was so delightful…)

“What I think,” said Buckley [...] “that we have to slide this Yank into the gaps -- we don’t want to tinker with the story too much, we’ve already got pretty girls and heroism and comedy and sacrifice and a dog.”
“All exits covered,” said Parfitt. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2020/03/2020026-their-finest-hour-and-half.html ( )

Well I saw the film and the book and film are close cousins but honestly the film engaged me more. It's an interesting read with interesting characters, but doesn't add anything to the film experience.

I never thought that a film about propaganda films during world war II would be such a good experience but it was, the cast did a good job of interacting well and bringing the story to life, I cared about the characters and wanted them to succeed and it was the same with the book. I did hear the actors talking in my head as I read dialogue. ( )

During the war an assortment of characters come together to make an uplifting film about a Dunkirk rescue. Lots of home front detail, and amusing characterisation of Ambrose, an egocentric ageing leading-man in this gentle novel. ( )