When the Cherry Blossoms Fall

by Craig Brennan

May 1st 1941 the air raid sirens began to wail across the city of Liverpool and they would for the next 7 nights. Around the same time every year the Cherry Blossom Tree is in full bloom.
As the bombs fall, raining death and destruction upon the city, the community of Bootle, north of the city, is in danger of being wiped off the map of the nation. The local gardens of South Park become a sanctuary from the chaos as three families are drawn there by the beauty of the delicate pink petals of the Cherry Blossom as they float on the breeze and the gardens become a place where they reflect and reminisce.
Despite the nightly destruction wrought by the might of the Luftwaffe in an attempt to break the spirit of the civilian population, the Dempsey’s, the Rimmer’s and the Sullivan’s daily struggle for survival goes on.
At the end of a week of merciless bombing, their lives will have changed forever. Dreams and hopes will be shattered as the grim reality of war smashes into the once peaceful suburbs of Liverpool and the Cherry Blossom Trees will stand bare once more.
When the Cherry Blossoms Fall, it is a time to remember..........

313 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 12, 2012

About the author

I like to write about things that really capture my interest in order to throw myself whole heartedly into the subject matter and develop a story around it. I spent 12 months in Australia and it was there that I developed an interest in Australia's history. Inspired by what I discovered, I wrote 'Bound to Sarah'.
My second novel 'When the Cherry Blossoms Fall' is about the the seven day Blitz on Liverpool in May 1941.
I live in Liverpool with my wife and son and I'm currently working on another novel.

Reviews

[Herman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Craig Brennan's work I've read everything he has published so far it helps that this is only his second novel. The first one "Bound to Sarah" I liked even more than this effort probably because it felt more like a beginning middle and end narrative. "When the Cherry Blossoms Fall" a description of life in Liverpool during the Blitz in 1941 was actually a rather compressed story time-wise taking place over a period of days rather than years. So it was a little metaphorically speaking too upclose for my taste we jump right in with Sheila and Charlie and just as were getting use to that potboiler we're introduced into Billy Rimmer and Peter Dodson and Nell Dempsey, Kitty Rimmer, Bella Sullivan and Dan Dempsey, and George Sullivan you see it's large families and just when I start to understand who is who they start getting killed off in the bombing, rendered homeless or just suffering under worry, stress, and hunger. World War II without filters or heroics just the insanity of war. When the woman's son died I was moved by that it was terribly sad thing. Overall it's just a three and a half star Pathos novel emotionally it pulls at the heartstrings but it kind of fades out into some misty future of hoping for the war to end and people starting to rebuild their lives. You see Bound to Sarah had a really strong focus as indicated by the title. While when the cherry Blossoms Fall the title is more of an emotional appeal to consider our short frail life's as something beautiful to be cherished good thought but it didn't totally pull it off for me. Still not a bad book just not a great one, good research, and good effort look forward to the next book.

[Sandy McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heart-wrenching story .

In World War II, Liverpool was the most heavily bombed city in England outside of London. The nearby town of Bootle lost 85 - 90% of housing during the 7 day Blitz on Liverpool from 1st to 8th May 1941.
The author has written an incredibly detailed account of the horrors of this devastating week in this heart-wrenching story. His research is extremely thorough, and the book, well written.
I can highly recommend this book to readers who follow the events of World War II.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the cherry blossoms fall

What a thought provoking book, leaves you thinking about it long after you finished it, would read more form this author