Their Finest audiobook

This book is just about perfect: expertly written in a style reminiscent of the literary fashions of the 1940s; full of wonderful characters that begin as stereotypes and take on flesh in an extraordinary way; expertly plotted and paced, with each development and surprise perfectly timed; unsentimental yet full of feeling; painstakingly researched; and on top of all that, it tells an absolutely fascinating story.That story is set in 1940-41 and tells of the making of a British propaganda film about an incident that allegedly took place during the Allied withdrawal from Dunkirk. Three plot lines intertwine. The first features a fading former leading man in B-grade British films of the 1930s who has not yet realized that his career has tanked; he’s a typical second-rate thespian, all vanity and superficiality and contempt for humanity at large. The second follows the career of a plain, shy, lonely seamstress who works in the wardrobe department at Madame Tussauds, the famous London wax museum, and has a tendency to attract German bombs. The third storyline centres on a young, pretty Welsh woman, the taken-for-granted mistress of a famous painter, who quits her copywriter’s job at a moribund advertising agency to go and work for the Ministry of Information as a scriptwriter on propaganda films. It is her determination to turn the Dunkirk incident into a film that tells the ‘truth’ about it – not the factual truth, which turns out to be somewhat disappointing, but an emotional truth – which results in the making of the film on which the plot of the book centres. That film, incidentally, is shot on location on a Norfolk beach and in a somewhat dingy studio in South London. Each of these plot lines contains a love story, but the point of the story is not the progress of the love affair but the redemption or self-realization that results from it. Not all of the stories have happy endings.Finally, the book contains two really excellent canine characters who are quite as well-rounded and memorable as the human ones. No kiddie business here; the dogs are dogs, not humans in disguise, but anyone who knows dogs well will be able to vouch for the veracity of the character-drawing.All in all, an unqualified success. I tend to reserve my five-star ratings for world-changing or life-changing books, but this novel, while it certainly doesn’t fall into that category, probably deserves the extra star. It really is that good; my compliments to the talented and capable Ms. Evans.

Sometimes you read simply for the joy of being transported to a different time and place in the company of easy-to-get-on-with characters. If the book is amusing so much the better. On this basis Their Finest Hour and a Half ticks all the boxes. The insufferably self-absorbed actor is a special delight.The writing never over-reaches itself and is therefore satisfying and easily digestible - a chicken-soup of a book.A great holiday read that contains, according to my 92 year old Mum, the most realistic description of being in an air-raid that she has ever read.

Gloriously funny and touching in places, it shines a comic light on a little thought about corner of the war effort.

Usually books and movies about Dunkirk make me teary-eyed. But Lissa Evan’s book, Their Finest, made me laugh out loud several times. Catrin Cole is hired as a writer by the War Department to make propaganda films because of her talent in writing women’s dialog for advertisements. The War Department is anxious to get America’s support for the war and they are hoping a few good propaganda films may help. When it comes to light that 2 young women assisted at Dunkirk by taking their father’s boat out to help with the rescue, Catrin is sent to interview them and create a script based upon their adventures. Of course, the film is nothing like the true story! This is my second Lissa Evans book. The first book I read, Crooked Heart, was just outstanding and I noticed that she has a new book, Old Baggage that is being published later this month. She manages the perfect mixture of historical detail, drama and humor in her writing.

This felt a little like Sarah Waters' The Night Watch but with humour, and a dog. Not as good as Evans' Crooked Heart but very enjoyable nonetheless.

I absolutely loved this book. Although not born until after the war and therefore having no experience of it, I couldn't believe that Lissa Evans had not. And yet she is far too young to have lived through the blitz. An extraordinary feat, so subtly achieved. I couldn't agree less with a previous reviewer who felt there was too much research showing - I felt she wore her learning as lightly as gossamer. It was as though she was writing about NOW, for people who would know exactly what she was talking about because they were experiencing the same present. I could smell the cordite, the brick dust, the fishpaste sandwiches, the rather under-washed hair, see the seediness and feel the overwhelming weariness of it all. Despite all that, it was incredibly funny. I felt the characters were realistic and well-rounded - Ambrose was a joy and worth reading the book for on his own! Neither did I think it was overlong - I could have read another 100 pages happily. Why is Lissa Evans not better known? She deserves to be. An absolute joy.

A good well researched read but not as good as Crooked Heart.

Every night was serious: you crouched in the dark and the engines stuttered overhead, and then along came morning, and you were still alive, and once you’d got over that surprise you prepared the breakfast and accidentally dropped the only egg on the floor, and for a moment or two that was serious ... [loc. 1680]I enjoyed the recent movie version (review here) and bought the novel: have just got around to reading it, in my mini-season of Crisis Novels, and found it a pleasant read. Lissa Evans' story is light-hearted, comic and romantic, without trivialising or romanticising the Blitz, the Dunkirk evacuation or the sheer misery of wartime life. Catrin Cole comes from Wales, shows a talent for dialogue in her advertising work, and is recruited by the Ministry of Information during World War II. Together with her laconic colleague Tom Buckley, she produces the script for a propaganda film loosely -- very loosely -- based on two sisters who took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. As counterpart to Catrin's story, ageing star Ambrose Hilliard has to adjust his expectations and work with (ugh) amateurs. There's a sub-plot in the book that was omitted from the film version: the romance between Arthur, a soldier who was evacuated from Dunkirk (brought in to consult on the film), and Edith, a spinster who worked at Madame Tussauds, fled to the countryside after a bomb destroyed 'her' gallery, and is conscripted to age costumes. Their story is innocent and touching, and it highlights an aspect of the novel that's absent in the film. Many of the characters' lives have been affected by the First World War: Ambrose repeatedly recalls the trenches, Arthur nursed his badly-wounded father for years. Less than 25 years separated the two wars. Think back to 1997 ...There's more room for characterisation in a novel than in a film, and this novel didn't disappoint in that regard -- though I would have liked a bit more about Ellis, Catrin's feckless artist husband. There are also a lot of little details that bring the period to life: train delays due to bombs on the line, fund-raising for the War Effort, the difficulty of feeding and protecting a dog, the loitering soldiers and the protective sandbags and the war art in the National Gallery. The long forms a bombed-out householder would fill in, to get compensation when the war was over. A good read: I'll look out for more by Lissa Evans.

Another excellent homefront book about London during WWII. I saw the movie first and found it delightful, as is the book with the myriad perils of making a movie about an event--and how the actual story changes. Heartwarming.