As the wireless crackled to life, conversation stopped and tension mounted. Maisie waited in the drawing room with her best friend, Priscilla, and Priscilla’s husband and boys. It was Sunday, September 3, 1939, and they were all prepared for what the Prime Minister was going to say. Even so, the announcement that the country was at war with Germany hurt deeply. Memories of the last war were still too fresh. And to cap a miserable day, Maisie returned home to find that the secret service once again wanted her to work for them. She was asked to find the killer of a man who fled Belgium as a boy during the First World War.

Jacqueline Winspear is masterful in setting the scene, recreating the atmosphere of England in 1939. The plot was interesting, with enough twists and turn to keep me turning pages. But it was the fear, the uncertainty, surrounding the reader that captivated me. I begin to understand the turmoil of the people.  Although this is part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone.

eGalley review                                  Publication date 3.14.17