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The Evening Chorus
Downed during his first mission, James Hunter is taken captive as a German POW. To bide the time, he studies a nest of redstarts at the edge of camp. Some prisoners plot escape; some are shot. And then, one day, James is called to the Kommandant’s office.
Meanwhile, back home, James’s new wife, Rose, is on her own, free in a way she has never known. Then, James’s sister, Enid, loses everything during the Blitz and must seek shelter with Rose. In a cottage near Ashdown forest, the two women jealously guard secrets, but form a surprising friendship. Each of these characters will find unexpected freedom amid war’s privations and discover confinements that come with peace.
Meanwhile, back home, James’s new wife, Rose, is on her own, free in a way she has never known. Then, James’s sister, Enid, loses everything during the Blitz and must seek shelter with Rose. In a cottage near Ashdown forest, the two women jealously guard secrets, but form a surprising friendship. Each of these characters will find unexpected freedom amid war’s privations and discover confinements that come with peace.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 26, 2015
47 people are currently reading
1923 people want to read
About the author
Helen Humphreys
31 books421 followersHelen Humphreys is the author of five books of poetry, eleven novels, and three works of non-fiction. She was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, and now lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Her first novel, Leaving Earth (1997), won the 1998 City of Toronto Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her second novel, Afterimage (2000), won the 2000 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her third novel, The Lost Garden (2002), was a 2003 Canada Reads selection, a national bestseller, and was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Wild Dogs (2004) won the 2005 Lambda Prize for fiction, has been optioned for film, and was produced as a stage play at CanStage in Toronto in the fall of 2008. Coventry (2008) was a #1 national bestseller, was chosen as one of the top 100 books of the year by the Globe & Mail, and was chosen one of the top ten books of the year by both the Ottawa Citizen and NOW Magazine.
Humphreys's work of creative non-fiction, The Frozen Thames (2007), was a #1 national bestseller. Her collections of poetry include Gods and Other Mortals (1986); Nuns Looking Anxious, Listening to Radios (1990); and, The Perils of Geography (1995). Her latest collection, Anthem (1999), won the 2000 Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry.
Helen Humphreys's fiction is published in Canada by HarperCollins, and in the U.S. by W.W. Norton. The Frozen Thames was published by McClelland & Stewart in Canada, and by Bantam in the U.S. Her work has been translated into many languages.
Her first novel, Leaving Earth (1997), won the 1998 City of Toronto Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her second novel, Afterimage (2000), won the 2000 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her third novel, The Lost Garden (2002), was a 2003 Canada Reads selection, a national bestseller, and was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Wild Dogs (2004) won the 2005 Lambda Prize for fiction, has been optioned for film, and was produced as a stage play at CanStage in Toronto in the fall of 2008. Coventry (2008) was a #1 national bestseller, was chosen as one of the top 100 books of the year by the Globe & Mail, and was chosen one of the top ten books of the year by both the Ottawa Citizen and NOW Magazine.
Humphreys's work of creative non-fiction, The Frozen Thames (2007), was a #1 national bestseller. Her collections of poetry include Gods and Other Mortals (1986); Nuns Looking Anxious, Listening to Radios (1990); and, The Perils of Geography (1995). Her latest collection, Anthem (1999), won the 2000 Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry.
Helen Humphreys's fiction is published in Canada by HarperCollins, and in the U.S. by W.W. Norton. The Frozen Thames was published by McClelland & Stewart in Canada, and by Bantam in the U.S. Her work has been translated into many languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 375 reviews
February 25, 2015
I am hoping to write an amazing review for this one to try to explain how fantastically this author writes. So I need to think about what I want to say and will finish this review tomorrow.
A relatively simple story about three people, James who will spend five years as a prisoner of war in a German camp, his wife Rose, left alone in a small cottage in Ashton Forest and James's sister, Enid, who will lose her house, job and lover during the London Blitz. Yet, in this simple story told in straightforward but wonderful prose, lies the magic of Humphrey's writing. In the beginning reading this, I found a story that was just interesting enough to entice me to keep reading, especially if one likes nature, and I do. But before long I found myself totally immersed in these characters lives, ordinary lives of people caught in extraordinary circumstances. This author has the ability to slowly draw you in and using many tidbits and interesting information about the fauna and natural life found within the forest, keep the reader interested.
Although this is a quiet story, about three lives and one reluctant commandant, changed irrevocably during the war, I wanted to know what happened to these people after the war. How did they pick up the pieces and continue on? Where did they end up and what did they do? I cared for all three of them. Her writing offered such insights, on relationships, family and memory that the sentences sometimes seemed to literally take my breath away and I had to stop, think and then re-read the lines. That so much can be contained in a book this size is surely a work of magic. And that is just how I feel about her writing and this book, rather magical and awe stuck.
That this novel is partially based on three actual events makes it even more special.
A relatively simple story about three people, James who will spend five years as a prisoner of war in a German camp, his wife Rose, left alone in a small cottage in Ashton Forest and James's sister, Enid, who will lose her house, job and lover during the London Blitz. Yet, in this simple story told in straightforward but wonderful prose, lies the magic of Humphrey's writing. In the beginning reading this, I found a story that was just interesting enough to entice me to keep reading, especially if one likes nature, and I do. But before long I found myself totally immersed in these characters lives, ordinary lives of people caught in extraordinary circumstances. This author has the ability to slowly draw you in and using many tidbits and interesting information about the fauna and natural life found within the forest, keep the reader interested.
Although this is a quiet story, about three lives and one reluctant commandant, changed irrevocably during the war, I wanted to know what happened to these people after the war. How did they pick up the pieces and continue on? Where did they end up and what did they do? I cared for all three of them. Her writing offered such insights, on relationships, family and memory that the sentences sometimes seemed to literally take my breath away and I had to stop, think and then re-read the lines. That so much can be contained in a book this size is surely a work of magic. And that is just how I feel about her writing and this book, rather magical and awe stuck.
That this novel is partially based on three actual events makes it even more special.
July 21, 2018
Helen Humphreys is one of those quiet, understated writers. She starts out just telling a fairly simple story. James Hunter is a prisoner of war. He has been shot down in his first bombing raid over Germany. His new wife, Rose, is left alone with barely enough time spent with him to forge a real memory. His sister, Enid, bombed out of her apartment in London. What Humphreys does with this simple, perhaps common, set of circumstances, is remarkable. She opened the lives of these people for inspection so masterfully that I scarcely realize what had been done before I was lamenting that the narrative had come to an end.
In a clever, but subtle, manner, Humphreys builds her book around an observation of birds. James is a birdwatcher and uses his hobby to keep himself sane while held in prison. References to birds occur throughout the book and nature is present everywhere as a kind of glue that holds the otherwise chaotic world together. When man has lost his way, nature lives and thrives.
This is my third Humphrey’s and I can see that she is a new favorite author for me. As in The Forgotten Garden, I kept marking passages that I didn’t want to forget.
It struck me that life at any time and in any guise comes with the same complications. Loneliness and faded memories and rash decisions are always there.
This is the problem with time, thinks Rose. It doesn’t follow its own rules. It stretches or compresses at will. It’s either a lingering house guest or an escape artist.
We are always pressed to choose.
It’s so hard to get life right, she thinks, pulling the blanket tight around her shoulders. All the small balances are impossible to strike most of the time. And then there are the larger choices.
And often we make the wrong choice. And who is to say that the choice that is right for us is not the one that destroys someone else?
Another time might be easier than this one, but there’s only the time you’re in, thinks Enid. And it’s always going to be lacking somehow. Best to spend some of your moments here on earth noticing what else is here with you instead of concentrating solely on your own misery.
Humphreys understands life as a journey, and one that cannot always be controlled or directed. She understands love as well, and that it isn’t always static or predictable.
It’s not only love that isn’t the same again but every moment of a life. And just as one doesn’t love two people the same way, one feels that some moments are much more important than others, but that isn’t apparent from the vantage point of the moment itself.
I highly recommend this book and I’m off to find another Humphreys. So nice to know I have several to go before I am caught up and, blessing for me, she is still writing, so there will be more to come.
In a clever, but subtle, manner, Humphreys builds her book around an observation of birds. James is a birdwatcher and uses his hobby to keep himself sane while held in prison. References to birds occur throughout the book and nature is present everywhere as a kind of glue that holds the otherwise chaotic world together. When man has lost his way, nature lives and thrives.
This is my third Humphrey’s and I can see that she is a new favorite author for me. As in The Forgotten Garden, I kept marking passages that I didn’t want to forget.
It struck me that life at any time and in any guise comes with the same complications. Loneliness and faded memories and rash decisions are always there.
This is the problem with time, thinks Rose. It doesn’t follow its own rules. It stretches or compresses at will. It’s either a lingering house guest or an escape artist.
We are always pressed to choose.
It’s so hard to get life right, she thinks, pulling the blanket tight around her shoulders. All the small balances are impossible to strike most of the time. And then there are the larger choices.
And often we make the wrong choice. And who is to say that the choice that is right for us is not the one that destroys someone else?
Another time might be easier than this one, but there’s only the time you’re in, thinks Enid. And it’s always going to be lacking somehow. Best to spend some of your moments here on earth noticing what else is here with you instead of concentrating solely on your own misery.
Humphreys understands life as a journey, and one that cannot always be controlled or directed. She understands love as well, and that it isn’t always static or predictable.
It’s not only love that isn’t the same again but every moment of a life. And just as one doesn’t love two people the same way, one feels that some moments are much more important than others, but that isn’t apparent from the vantage point of the moment itself.
I highly recommend this book and I’m off to find another Humphreys. So nice to know I have several to go before I am caught up and, blessing for me, she is still writing, so there will be more to come.
December 20, 2014
The Evening Chorus is a contemplative book, sparingly written, without a false or an extra word. Although it’s set primarily in 1940s war time, it is not a war book; it’s more of a primer about how we fit into the grand scheme of things and what it means to live a meaningful life. In terms of tone, I would compare it to the late, great Kent Haruf – confident yet quiet prose.
First, we meet James, shot down by the Germans during his first mission. As the endless war wages on outside the POW camp, James seeks his own meaning, keeping a journal on a family of redstart birds. In that pursuit, he has an unlikely supporter: the Kommandant, a fellow nature lover and former classics professor whose heart is not in the brutality of the war.
The other two characters are Rose, James young wife, who married him in haste and – if truth be known – does not really love him anymore. Enid, his sister, is bombed out of London and bunks with her sister-in-law out of necessity. She, too, is at a crossroads.
Each of the three are in his or her own prison: in James case, literally…in the case of the women, figuratively. Each needs to search inside to find out what it takes to get life right. As Enid reflects, “All the small balances are impossible to strike most of the time. And then there are the larger choices. It’s hopeless.”
Yet this is a hopeful book. James thinks, “How beautiful that one mallard’s voice is carried aloft by the flight of his companions.” All of us play our own role in the natural environment and the tapestry of life itself. The metaphor of the birds – the redstarts and others – can sometimes be just a wee bit too obvious.
The fictional novel is based on three actual events, including the story of the German Kommandant. It’s a lovely book that, without striving too hard, restores faith in humanity.
First, we meet James, shot down by the Germans during his first mission. As the endless war wages on outside the POW camp, James seeks his own meaning, keeping a journal on a family of redstart birds. In that pursuit, he has an unlikely supporter: the Kommandant, a fellow nature lover and former classics professor whose heart is not in the brutality of the war.
The other two characters are Rose, James young wife, who married him in haste and – if truth be known – does not really love him anymore. Enid, his sister, is bombed out of London and bunks with her sister-in-law out of necessity. She, too, is at a crossroads.
Each of the three are in his or her own prison: in James case, literally…in the case of the women, figuratively. Each needs to search inside to find out what it takes to get life right. As Enid reflects, “All the small balances are impossible to strike most of the time. And then there are the larger choices. It’s hopeless.”
Yet this is a hopeful book. James thinks, “How beautiful that one mallard’s voice is carried aloft by the flight of his companions.” All of us play our own role in the natural environment and the tapestry of life itself. The metaphor of the birds – the redstarts and others – can sometimes be just a wee bit too obvious.
The fictional novel is based on three actual events, including the story of the German Kommandant. It’s a lovely book that, without striving too hard, restores faith in humanity.
October 25, 2020
Cani e uccelli
Benché naturalizzata canadese (Canada dove, trasferitasi da bambina, ha trascorso la vita e svolto tutta la carriera di poetessa e narratrice ottenendo vari riconoscimenti letterari) Helen Humphreys è solita ambientare la maggior parte delle sue storie nella natìa Inghilterra.
In tutti i quattro romanzi dell’autrice che finora ho letto, anche la presenza degli animali (nonché della flora) che l’autrice affronta con evidente passione e approfondita conoscenza catalogatrice quasi da studiosa, è una fonte di ispirazione che permea il racconto ancor più delle umane vicende.
A tale proposito è quasi emblematico il dettaglio che i primi capitoli di “Il canto del crepuscolo” siano intitolati con i nomi dei personaggi principali per poi lasciare il posto, man mano che la storia procede, a denominazioni di specie botaniche od ornitologiche che i protagonisti osservano, studiano, trascrivono in appunti di lavoro destinati a riviste specializzate o al puro piacere intellettuale.
Cani ed uccelli sono qui gli animali maggiormente rappresentati: i cani come emblema del calore domestico, della compagnia alle persone che vivono isolate in campagna, della protezione del focolare. Quanto agli uccelli, sembrano simboleggiare la libertà nel volo senza barriere, la varietà e la bellezza della natura in tutte le sue forme e colori, il fascino che induce le persone più impensabili, persino il comandante di un campo di prigionia tedesco, a soffermarsi con lo sguardo rivolto al cielo e a dedicarsi allo studio e all’osservazione del loro dipingere il cielo in traiettorie variegate.
E’ il fascino che promanano anche i libri della Humphreys, che in quest’opera indugia più che altrove (“Cani selvaggi”, il suo romanzo più riuscito ci proiettava fin dalle prime pagine oltre la linea di separazione fra animali e uomini, attingendo alla parte selvaggia del loro essere) prima di trovare il suo percorso narrativo e il ritmo adeguato.
Dopo una prima parte più convenzionale che riprende il tema del logoramento del rapporto fra il soldato prigioniero di guerra, e la giovane moglie rimasta in patria, nella seconda parte i destini si inoltrano per le direzioni più diverse, ma accomunate dall’inatteso recupero di una serenità interiore, perfino da parte di coloro che parevano avviati alla disperazione o all’oblio; una serenità che, quasi sotto traccia, conduce ogni personaggio ad uno sguardo amorevole o scientifico verso gli animali e le piante e che le pagine della Humphreys riescono a comunicare a chi ha il piacere di leggerle.
Benché naturalizzata canadese (Canada dove, trasferitasi da bambina, ha trascorso la vita e svolto tutta la carriera di poetessa e narratrice ottenendo vari riconoscimenti letterari) Helen Humphreys è solita ambientare la maggior parte delle sue storie nella natìa Inghilterra.
In tutti i quattro romanzi dell’autrice che finora ho letto, anche la presenza degli animali (nonché della flora) che l’autrice affronta con evidente passione e approfondita conoscenza catalogatrice quasi da studiosa, è una fonte di ispirazione che permea il racconto ancor più delle umane vicende.
A tale proposito è quasi emblematico il dettaglio che i primi capitoli di “Il canto del crepuscolo” siano intitolati con i nomi dei personaggi principali per poi lasciare il posto, man mano che la storia procede, a denominazioni di specie botaniche od ornitologiche che i protagonisti osservano, studiano, trascrivono in appunti di lavoro destinati a riviste specializzate o al puro piacere intellettuale.
Cani ed uccelli sono qui gli animali maggiormente rappresentati: i cani come emblema del calore domestico, della compagnia alle persone che vivono isolate in campagna, della protezione del focolare. Quanto agli uccelli, sembrano simboleggiare la libertà nel volo senza barriere, la varietà e la bellezza della natura in tutte le sue forme e colori, il fascino che induce le persone più impensabili, persino il comandante di un campo di prigionia tedesco, a soffermarsi con lo sguardo rivolto al cielo e a dedicarsi allo studio e all’osservazione del loro dipingere il cielo in traiettorie variegate.
E’ il fascino che promanano anche i libri della Humphreys, che in quest’opera indugia più che altrove (“Cani selvaggi”, il suo romanzo più riuscito ci proiettava fin dalle prime pagine oltre la linea di separazione fra animali e uomini, attingendo alla parte selvaggia del loro essere) prima di trovare il suo percorso narrativo e il ritmo adeguato.
Dopo una prima parte più convenzionale che riprende il tema del logoramento del rapporto fra il soldato prigioniero di guerra, e la giovane moglie rimasta in patria, nella seconda parte i destini si inoltrano per le direzioni più diverse, ma accomunate dall’inatteso recupero di una serenità interiore, perfino da parte di coloro che parevano avviati alla disperazione o all’oblio; una serenità che, quasi sotto traccia, conduce ogni personaggio ad uno sguardo amorevole o scientifico verso gli animali e le piante e che le pagine della Humphreys riescono a comunicare a chi ha il piacere di leggerle.
May 5, 2015
4.5 stars
What a beautifully written book! Under normal circumstances, I avoid books about World War II like the plague. By and large, they do not appeal to me. But how could I resist a book in which one of the main characters, James, a POW in Germany, studies a pair of Redstarts (those are birds, for the non-birders out there) as a way to see himself through the war.
Birds are one of the ways to my heart and this book wiggled its way in quickly. I found it amazing how well I felt I knew the various characters and how strongly I felt for each of them despite the sparseness of the writing. There are no extraneous words, no awkward phrases, just gracefulness.
There were so many contrasts: James watching the birds while the German guards watched him. The freedom of the Redstarts compared with the confinement of the prisoners. The misinterpreted kindness of the Kommandant with the brutality of some of his men. The real lives of both Germans and POWs compared with their current posting.
The women, Rose and Enid, are no less interesting and all of them find some solace in the natural world. Since the outdoors and bird watching have been responsible for healing many of my own wounds, I guess I am predisposed to find this book uplifting. Because I could see something wonderful the next time I go out looking—and isn’t that something worth living for?
What a beautifully written book! Under normal circumstances, I avoid books about World War II like the plague. By and large, they do not appeal to me. But how could I resist a book in which one of the main characters, James, a POW in Germany, studies a pair of Redstarts (those are birds, for the non-birders out there) as a way to see himself through the war.
Birds are one of the ways to my heart and this book wiggled its way in quickly. I found it amazing how well I felt I knew the various characters and how strongly I felt for each of them despite the sparseness of the writing. There are no extraneous words, no awkward phrases, just gracefulness.
There were so many contrasts: James watching the birds while the German guards watched him. The freedom of the Redstarts compared with the confinement of the prisoners. The misinterpreted kindness of the Kommandant with the brutality of some of his men. The real lives of both Germans and POWs compared with their current posting.
The women, Rose and Enid, are no less interesting and all of them find some solace in the natural world. Since the outdoors and bird watching have been responsible for healing many of my own wounds, I guess I am predisposed to find this book uplifting. Because I could see something wonderful the next time I go out looking—and isn’t that something worth living for?
April 24, 2015
"... The miracle of birds is not that they can fly, but that they touch down."
Helen Humphreys is a wonderful author. Her books are not written on a grand scale for mass audiences of readers and they do not get the recognition they richly deserve. What Humphreys is able to accomplish is to capture humans in specific times and specific places and turn these small and seemingly silent spots of time into moments of brilliant insight. I could not help but hear Blake's desire for us all "to see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower."
The book presents us with three central characters. The first is James Hunter, an airman who is shot down on his first mission and is sent to a prisoner of war camp. The second is James's wife Rose who struggles with the separation from James, the attraction to another airman still in England and her demanding and disfunctional parents. The third character is Enid, James's sister, who comes to live with Rose after her home in London is bombed and she loses her job. The interplay among these characters, the deft strokes that turn their lives into multi-layered meanings for the reader to discover are all examples of Humphreys' s powerful insightful writing.
The first section of the novel spends much time with James who in order to pass the time in the prisoner camp decides to study a pair of birds called a Redstarts who are nesting near the camp. The parallel worlds of bird and prisoner are drawn with sensitivity and grace; at the same time Rose finds herself imprisoned within a weak marriage to James, a strong attraction to Toby, another flyer, and an ongoing attempt to escape the bonds of her parents. The motifs of freedom, captivity, love, desire and honesty all weave throughout this novel. They are gentle like hummingbirds, not screeching as gulls.
The mystery of life and love is, as Humphreys says, that "even though you might not find it if you look, you should look all the same - because if you do find it , there is nothing more beautiful."
In the novel a character poses the question "what good are words, then? The answer is simple; with words this book was written.
Helen Humphreys is a wonderful author. Her books are not written on a grand scale for mass audiences of readers and they do not get the recognition they richly deserve. What Humphreys is able to accomplish is to capture humans in specific times and specific places and turn these small and seemingly silent spots of time into moments of brilliant insight. I could not help but hear Blake's desire for us all "to see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower."
The book presents us with three central characters. The first is James Hunter, an airman who is shot down on his first mission and is sent to a prisoner of war camp. The second is James's wife Rose who struggles with the separation from James, the attraction to another airman still in England and her demanding and disfunctional parents. The third character is Enid, James's sister, who comes to live with Rose after her home in London is bombed and she loses her job. The interplay among these characters, the deft strokes that turn their lives into multi-layered meanings for the reader to discover are all examples of Humphreys' s powerful insightful writing.
The first section of the novel spends much time with James who in order to pass the time in the prisoner camp decides to study a pair of birds called a Redstarts who are nesting near the camp. The parallel worlds of bird and prisoner are drawn with sensitivity and grace; at the same time Rose finds herself imprisoned within a weak marriage to James, a strong attraction to Toby, another flyer, and an ongoing attempt to escape the bonds of her parents. The motifs of freedom, captivity, love, desire and honesty all weave throughout this novel. They are gentle like hummingbirds, not screeching as gulls.
The mystery of life and love is, as Humphreys says, that "even though you might not find it if you look, you should look all the same - because if you do find it , there is nothing more beautiful."
In the novel a character poses the question "what good are words, then? The answer is simple; with words this book was written.
January 3, 2016
I can't quite put my finger on why I liked this book so much. It might be that it is not typical of books set during the war. It's not all drama, and heightened emotions. It's the other side of war. A prisoner in a German camp fills five years of long days studying a pair of redstarts. His wife back home carves a life for herself without him but it is not all straightforward. His sister pursues a lonely and complicated life in London. And the Kommandant of the camp resents being dragged away from his life as a Classics Professor for a second war and just wants to go home. This was a great choice for a new year read. It was oddly easy and enjoyable.
May 18, 2017
A topnotch, engrossing historical romance.
There are three main characters and their stories unfold during WWII and later in the 50's.
To be honest, part of me sometimes felt like I was seventeen again, reading a short story about a love triangle. Or riveted to an episode of my favorite soap-opera back in the day, All My Children.
I celebrate those memories. I enjoyed those experiences, and so I enjoyed them again with this book.
Along the way, I picked up little historical details about WWII that I had not thought of before. I also learned things about some species of birds.
One criticism: sometimes the storyline would suddenly shift. A new detail would come up that wasn't there before, and yet had been there, but just not known to the reader. So, on one page, or during one chapter, life would be "A" for one of the characters. Then suddenly, a fact would be revealed making life actually "B" for that character. It had always been B, but the reader was not in on this fact until the sudden revelation.
I will end with a compliment: I loved how Humphreys painted a picture about the three characters with such sparse words. I could get inside the shoes of Rose, Enid, and James and imagine how they felt.
There are three main characters and their stories unfold during WWII and later in the 50's.
To be honest, part of me sometimes felt like I was seventeen again, reading a short story about a love triangle. Or riveted to an episode of my favorite soap-opera back in the day, All My Children.
I celebrate those memories. I enjoyed those experiences, and so I enjoyed them again with this book.
Along the way, I picked up little historical details about WWII that I had not thought of before. I also learned things about some species of birds.
One criticism: sometimes the storyline would suddenly shift. A new detail would come up that wasn't there before, and yet had been there, but just not known to the reader. So, on one page, or during one chapter, life would be "A" for one of the characters. Then suddenly, a fact would be revealed making life actually "B" for that character. It had always been B, but the reader was not in on this fact until the sudden revelation.
I will end with a compliment: I loved how Humphreys painted a picture about the three characters with such sparse words. I could get inside the shoes of Rose, Enid, and James and imagine how they felt.
July 9, 2015
This is a beautiful read that explores the healing power of nature even during war. James "escapes" the German POW camp by his intense study of a redstart family and makes a surprising connection with the camp Kommandant because of it. His new and young wife Rose misinterprets his bird fixation in his letters home as lack of interest in her. As she veers off into a passionate love affair, James's sister Enid who is raid-stricken moves in with her from London. Despite herself, Enid finds solace in the countryside, although the relationship with Rose goes badly. Ten years after the war, the characters still bear scars from the war, yet healing is possible. This story seeped into my cells slowly and completely.
December 4, 2025
James Hunter is a British RAF officer shot down on his first mission in 1940 and imprisoned in a German POW camp. With permission from the camp’s kommandant, he studies a pair of redstarts nesting near the fence and keeps a journal of his observations. James writes letters home to his new wife Rose, who (unbeknownst to him) has met another soldier stationed near their cottage. James's sister Enid loses her London flat in the Blitz and takes refuge with Rose, where the two women form an unexpected friendship, despite keeping secrets. The storyline then shifts to 1950, and we learn what happened to everyone in the aftermath of WWII. This novel portrays how small miscommunications can lead to bigger problems. It is about regular people caught up in wartime turmoil and the healing effects of nature. It is certainly not your typical WWII novel, with the vast majority taking place away from combat zones. It will appeal to readers who enjoy contemplative stories with psychological depth and spare but beautiful writing.
May 20, 2024
Excellent. I haven't read Humphreys in years and I'd forgotten just how good a writer she is.
January 28, 2017
Beautiful novel, simply written. Heartbreakingly emotional honesty. In WWII, James Hunter, in a German POW Camp, finds his way of coping with camp life; he studies meticulously a family of redstarts. The Kommandant, Christoph, shows him a bit of kindness regarding birds. Meanwhile, wife Rose, back home in England copes with her lonely life. James's sister Enid is bombed out in the Blitz and lives with Rose for awhile, the two becoming friends. But after the war we see what has happened with each of them. The book is a meditation on love, loss, grief, how we bear the consequences of our actions, and how Nature binds us. Lovely prose; strong pacing; the author delves into the heart of each person's feelings.
Most highly recommended.
Most highly recommended.
July 9, 2017
Engaging, engrossing, thoughtful, and wonderfully human.
December 13, 2015
Stunning prose, elegantly composed imagery, characters to fall in love with... every choice that Helen Humphreys made in telling this elevating story was made with clear intention and was impactful. The type of book that makes a reader occasionally pause, exhale and sigh, "wow, that's perfect".
Without a doubt, one of the best Canadian novels of 2015.
4.5/5
Without a doubt, one of the best Canadian novels of 2015.
4.5/5
July 25, 2015
Quietly beautiful
May 17, 2015
The Evening Chorus on Twitter – and promptly pre-ordered a copy. I started it within days of its arrival – such was my anticipation – and I really wasn’t disappointed.
The novel is set in 1940 and 1950 – and explores with delicate, subtlety how lives and relationships were torn apart by the war.
James Hunter is a prisoner of war, held with other officers in a German Army camp. The officers are not required to work and so must find other ways of occupying themselves. Among James’s fellow prisoners are: The Reader, The Gambler, The Gardener and The Actor, James is The Birdman. For as the letters from James’s wife Rose become rarer, James has found something to take his mind far outside the brutal confines of the camp; a family of redstarts are nesting nearby, and James begins to make a daily, detailed study of them. While other men read endlessly, garden small plots outside the lice ridden huts, plan daring escapes or dig tunnels; James positions himself near the barbed wire fence faithfully watching and recording the progress of the redstart family. The camp Kommandant – surprises James twice – first with the gift of a German bird book – that James cannot read but treasures anyway – and then with a deeply touching trip (which fills James with terror at first) to see some Cedar waxwings.
full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/...
The novel is set in 1940 and 1950 – and explores with delicate, subtlety how lives and relationships were torn apart by the war.
James Hunter is a prisoner of war, held with other officers in a German Army camp. The officers are not required to work and so must find other ways of occupying themselves. Among James’s fellow prisoners are: The Reader, The Gambler, The Gardener and The Actor, James is The Birdman. For as the letters from James’s wife Rose become rarer, James has found something to take his mind far outside the brutal confines of the camp; a family of redstarts are nesting nearby, and James begins to make a daily, detailed study of them. While other men read endlessly, garden small plots outside the lice ridden huts, plan daring escapes or dig tunnels; James positions himself near the barbed wire fence faithfully watching and recording the progress of the redstart family. The camp Kommandant – surprises James twice – first with the gift of a German bird book – that James cannot read but treasures anyway – and then with a deeply touching trip (which fills James with terror at first) to see some Cedar waxwings.
full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/...
March 17, 2019
Secrets, we all have secrets. How and IF we reveal our secrets is another thing.
James Hunter has secrets, his new wife Rose has secrets, his sister Enid has secrets. The Kommandant has secrets, although his secrets are not revealed unto the very conclusion of the book.
Secrets can lead to devastating consequences, the reader has been granted a "bird's eye view" into the lives of James, Rose, and Enid, and their secrets.
James has been shot down somewhere over Germany, taken prisoner and placed in a POW camp. The Kommandant of the POW camp is lenient towards James, as James is studying a pair of nesting redstarts - to the point of taking him out of the camp, but why?????
Rose is unable to maintain her newly acquired "position" of being a wife, her loneliness leads her down the path of...…
Enid is fleeing London after losing her lover and her home, she comes to stay with Rose hoping for...….
Once again, at the conclusion of the book, Helen makes note that a Wellington bomber did indeed crash on (her word) the Ashdown Forest during WWII. There was a German Kommandant who took a prisoner out of the camp, there were birdwatchers in POW Camps and a John Buxton did indeed write a book about redstarts - which she states "that is still regarded by many as one of the most comprehensive single-species studies ever under taken."
James Hunter has secrets, his new wife Rose has secrets, his sister Enid has secrets. The Kommandant has secrets, although his secrets are not revealed unto the very conclusion of the book.
Secrets can lead to devastating consequences, the reader has been granted a "bird's eye view" into the lives of James, Rose, and Enid, and their secrets.
James has been shot down somewhere over Germany, taken prisoner and placed in a POW camp. The Kommandant of the POW camp is lenient towards James, as James is studying a pair of nesting redstarts - to the point of taking him out of the camp, but why?????
Rose is unable to maintain her newly acquired "position" of being a wife, her loneliness leads her down the path of...…
Enid is fleeing London after losing her lover and her home, she comes to stay with Rose hoping for...….
Once again, at the conclusion of the book, Helen makes note that a Wellington bomber did indeed crash on (her word) the Ashdown Forest during WWII. There was a German Kommandant who took a prisoner out of the camp, there were birdwatchers in POW Camps and a John Buxton did indeed write a book about redstarts - which she states "that is still regarded by many as one of the most comprehensive single-species studies ever under taken."
April 25, 2015
A small jewel of a book. War affects all the characters in the book with loss and unrecognizable patterns of life. Nature and birds, the most ethereal of beings, give hope that the people will endure and find their way back to life. The story between James the captured soldier and the kommendant of his prison camp is truly touching. They come together in their affection for birds. The authors prose is scarce and beautiful.
April 2, 2015
Quiet, sad and, in places, beautiful.
July 20, 2016
Helen Humphreys writes the most perfect books. I know this isn't a proper review, but it's how I feel every time I read one.
February 19, 2020
I love WWII novels. I also knew I’d love this book because Humphreys is a poet. I was still surprised by the freshness of the telling. Of course, there are still bombs, death, food shortages, and Nazis, but Humphreys manages to whisper us along, to give us an introspective view of World War II and the ways different people cope with the daily stress and grief. After reading so many novels set in concentration camps, it was a bit of a relief to see how things differed (and not) for British officers in German prisoner of war camps.
In less than 300 pages, Humphreys takes us from 1941-1950, through a series of vignettes. The characters are less than honest with themselves and the people around them, but readers get to form their own view of what is happening. The themes of birds and nature have a calming effect amid the manmade chaos. Once you reach the author’s note at the end, you’ll learn that the author chose three actual events of the war and wove a story around them. I plan to read more of her novels and poetry soon.
In less than 300 pages, Humphreys takes us from 1941-1950, through a series of vignettes. The characters are less than honest with themselves and the people around them, but readers get to form their own view of what is happening. The themes of birds and nature have a calming effect amid the manmade chaos. Once you reach the author’s note at the end, you’ll learn that the author chose three actual events of the war and wove a story around them. I plan to read more of her novels and poetry soon.
March 30, 2023
"...the collective is the echo of the individual."
On the surface this is a simple story, three real events woven into a novel set during World War II and the years immediately after. In reality this is a beautifully told story of three people - James a POW, Rose his wife, and Enid his sister - and the way that war affects their lives, not just in the immediate but in the deeply personal realisation of who they are and what the acts of living, losing and loving are all about.
Humphrey's is such a wonderful writer. Without long descriptions and explanations she brings characters, settings and in particular the natural world, to life. She has the ability to capture me from the first sentence, to make me feel a part of the characters lives, to welcome me into the story in such a personal way. I read this book in one sitting and time just flew. A quiet, contemplative novel that says so much.
On the surface this is a simple story, three real events woven into a novel set during World War II and the years immediately after. In reality this is a beautifully told story of three people - James a POW, Rose his wife, and Enid his sister - and the way that war affects their lives, not just in the immediate but in the deeply personal realisation of who they are and what the acts of living, losing and loving are all about.
Humphrey's is such a wonderful writer. Without long descriptions and explanations she brings characters, settings and in particular the natural world, to life. She has the ability to capture me from the first sentence, to make me feel a part of the characters lives, to welcome me into the story in such a personal way. I read this book in one sitting and time just flew. A quiet, contemplative novel that says so much.
January 3, 2015
This war-time (and its aftermath) story is broken into two parts: 1940 (the larger part) and 1950. There aren't many chapters within each part, but flow of the story works well, and even without marked places to stop, there are places in the story where it feels natural to pause and breathe. When a voice changes, a new chapter, fittingly named, emerges. Three voices tell the story: James, who in the first part in 1940 is being held as a prisoner of war in a German camp; Enid, James' older sister who finds herself bombed out of her apartment; and Rose, James's wife and the one who Enid decides to approach for a place to stay.
The story is mostly about connections found and lost and remembered many years later. Ideas (such as betrayal, suicide, villains who really aren't, and all kinds of relationships) are explored in fresh, non-traditional ways that make a reader consider alternative conclusions to what he or she may ordinarily conclude. I liked this practice of thinking outside the box the best. It's a sort of "things often aren't as they seem," but with a twist of "life is not ever easy to explain or understand, but it's still worth living (and loving)."
I liked all the characters and felt as if I got a good glimpse into their thoughts and hearts - they're deftly written as complex characters who I wouldn't be able to guess at their next actions, but they also have something about them I could understand, even if I couldn't quite relate (and other times I could relate quite easily). I liked most of the twists in the story and found the ending to be satisfying and something that wrapped up the story well without being predictable or ordinary. I also loved the trivia about birds and how even the one character who was bored by this kind of study found herself surprised (and interested) by another character's way of explaining what she's observed and learned. An engaging, enjoyable read.
The story is mostly about connections found and lost and remembered many years later. Ideas (such as betrayal, suicide, villains who really aren't, and all kinds of relationships) are explored in fresh, non-traditional ways that make a reader consider alternative conclusions to what he or she may ordinarily conclude. I liked this practice of thinking outside the box the best. It's a sort of "things often aren't as they seem," but with a twist of "life is not ever easy to explain or understand, but it's still worth living (and loving)."
I liked all the characters and felt as if I got a good glimpse into their thoughts and hearts - they're deftly written as complex characters who I wouldn't be able to guess at their next actions, but they also have something about them I could understand, even if I couldn't quite relate (and other times I could relate quite easily). I liked most of the twists in the story and found the ending to be satisfying and something that wrapped up the story well without being predictable or ordinary. I also loved the trivia about birds and how even the one character who was bored by this kind of study found herself surprised (and interested) by another character's way of explaining what she's observed and learned. An engaging, enjoyable read.
January 18, 2015
This is a book about some very unsettling themes. However, the author delivers her story in a meditative, poignant and almost soft manner. She leaves it to the reader to discern what is behind the words. She never tells us what to think or how to judge. I appreciate that immensely in a novel.
The book starts out with Jim Hunter, a British RAF pilot, being shot down, surviving the war in a German POW camp. While there, he studies Redstarts, a type of bird, and ends up writing a book about them that is later published. The reader is privy to attempted escapes, murders, and even kindnesses by the Kommandant. He has a wife that rarely writes to him and when he writes to her, he mostly avoids intimacies and tells her about the birds he is studying. He and Rose married after a short courtship prior to Jim's entering the war.
While Jim is a POW, Rose is alone in her small cottage, carrying on a torrid affair with a man she loves. She barely remembers Jim as time proceeds without him in her life. Complicating matters is the fact that Enid, Jim's sister, comes to live with her after Enid's apartment is bombed out in London. Enid had been involved in a relationship with her married boss and he died in her apartment during the bombing. She no longer has a home or a job.
The stories of these three characters are told in alternating chapters and the reader grows to like and appreciate each of them. We are given a deep feeling for who they are and the author's characterizations are excellent. I highly recommend this novel.
The book starts out with Jim Hunter, a British RAF pilot, being shot down, surviving the war in a German POW camp. While there, he studies Redstarts, a type of bird, and ends up writing a book about them that is later published. The reader is privy to attempted escapes, murders, and even kindnesses by the Kommandant. He has a wife that rarely writes to him and when he writes to her, he mostly avoids intimacies and tells her about the birds he is studying. He and Rose married after a short courtship prior to Jim's entering the war.
While Jim is a POW, Rose is alone in her small cottage, carrying on a torrid affair with a man she loves. She barely remembers Jim as time proceeds without him in her life. Complicating matters is the fact that Enid, Jim's sister, comes to live with her after Enid's apartment is bombed out in London. Enid had been involved in a relationship with her married boss and he died in her apartment during the bombing. She no longer has a home or a job.
The stories of these three characters are told in alternating chapters and the reader grows to like and appreciate each of them. We are given a deep feeling for who they are and the author's characterizations are excellent. I highly recommend this novel.
July 5, 2015
I think the most reasonable reaction to this book is that it is bitter- sweet. Much of the novel progresses at a leisurely, organized pace, but much exists below the surface for the characters gripped by the chaos and insecurities of war.
Humphreys writes of three people, who forced from prewar lives, adapt to great losses in World War II and the results following the conflicts. James, a science teacher and air force officer,shot down and captured by the Germans,in attempts to preserve his peace of mind, develops an involved study of birds near the camps. Rose, his young wife, is profoundly confused by James's letters, which in attempts to protect her,focus completely on bird research. In loneliness and doubt, she turns to the attentions of another airman.James' sister, Enid, in the short space of one night, loses her lover and her apartment during a bombing in London. She then travels to the countryside to live with Rose.She develops an intense interest in the profuse growth of flowers there.
Humphreys has written a poignant, brutally honest story, told in mesmerizing, lyrical prose. Despite her stories of different individuals, she has seamlessly and adeptly interlinked their tales and conveyed her profound messages.
Humphreys writes of three people, who forced from prewar lives, adapt to great losses in World War II and the results following the conflicts. James, a science teacher and air force officer,shot down and captured by the Germans,in attempts to preserve his peace of mind, develops an involved study of birds near the camps. Rose, his young wife, is profoundly confused by James's letters, which in attempts to protect her,focus completely on bird research. In loneliness and doubt, she turns to the attentions of another airman.James' sister, Enid, in the short space of one night, loses her lover and her apartment during a bombing in London. She then travels to the countryside to live with Rose.She develops an intense interest in the profuse growth of flowers there.
Humphreys has written a poignant, brutally honest story, told in mesmerizing, lyrical prose. Despite her stories of different individuals, she has seamlessly and adeptly interlinked their tales and conveyed her profound messages.
January 22, 2015
A lovely novel, about war and how it changes everyone, whether they are in the war or living on the home front. Helen Humphreys' prose is delightful. Her voice is clear and simple, yet include details that truly invoke the time and place. This is the story of four people and the effects of their war time experiences. Two of the people, both women, were home in England, and two o them are in a German prisoner of war camp filled with British soldiers.
This is not a lengthy novel, but Humphreys is able to fit all these stories into the confines of novel that is less than 300 pages. Each character has connections to the natural world around them that make huge differences in their outcomes, particularity with birds, but there are other animal and wildlife connections as well.
I enjoy World War Two fiction, and this was truly an outstanding book. I am so glad to have discovered a new author as well. I look forward to reading more of her books.
This is not a lengthy novel, but Humphreys is able to fit all these stories into the confines of novel that is less than 300 pages. Each character has connections to the natural world around them that make huge differences in their outcomes, particularity with birds, but there are other animal and wildlife connections as well.
I enjoy World War Two fiction, and this was truly an outstanding book. I am so glad to have discovered a new author as well. I look forward to reading more of her books.
December 8, 2015
Not one unnecessary word in this touching,exquisite novel.
While this book takes place primarily during the second world war and
in 1950 in the UK it is not a war story. These times serve merely as
a catalyst that causes the characters to act or react to the circumstances
it puts them into.
We are drawn into the interior lives of a small group of ordinary human beings
who are just trying to carry on carrying on!!!!
There are small acts of kindness along the way for some that actually brought
tears to the eyes of this hard hearted Hannah!
I read this book on my iPhone but will buy it to re-read in the future.
Jill on Goodreads listed some of the good quotes from this book in her review!
While this book takes place primarily during the second world war and
in 1950 in the UK it is not a war story. These times serve merely as
a catalyst that causes the characters to act or react to the circumstances
it puts them into.
We are drawn into the interior lives of a small group of ordinary human beings
who are just trying to carry on carrying on!!!!
There are small acts of kindness along the way for some that actually brought
tears to the eyes of this hard hearted Hannah!
I read this book on my iPhone but will buy it to re-read in the future.
Jill on Goodreads listed some of the good quotes from this book in her review!
February 22, 2015
This was a simply & elegantly written book about people who let life happen to them.
The first portion, where James is in the camp, was a bit slow going and lacking in any of the tension I would expect of life in a POW camp. But once the story shifted back to England, to Rose & Enid's stories, I quickly became engaged and fully immersed in the novel. I found everyone's passivity and acceptance of what life handed them a bit frustrating but not unrealistic and I thought the ending was quite lovely and well handled. All in all, a slim slice of life worth reading.
The first portion, where James is in the camp, was a bit slow going and lacking in any of the tension I would expect of life in a POW camp. But once the story shifted back to England, to Rose & Enid's stories, I quickly became engaged and fully immersed in the novel. I found everyone's passivity and acceptance of what life handed them a bit frustrating but not unrealistic and I thought the ending was quite lovely and well handled. All in all, a slim slice of life worth reading.
August 30, 2017
I was bummed bc I thought this book would have the "husband goes away so sister looks after wife and then they fall in love" trope, but it didnt.
October 13, 2015
Seventy years after VE Day, I think an author needs to have something new to say about WWII in order to go to the bother. With Coventry I thought that Helen Humphreys did a wonderful job of memorialising the German bombing of that cathedral city – a less wonderful job of splicing a coincidence-rich human interest story onto the grit and horror of that bombing – but with The Evening Chorus, Humphreys revisits wartime England and focuses on the human interest angle while ignoring (for the most part) the grit and horror of WWII. To what end?
We begin with James Hunter: a thirty-something school teacher who joined the RAF in order to avoid up-close combat and actually witnessing death. His plane is shot down on its first run and James is taken to a German POW camp, ensuring that the reluctant soldier never sullies his hands with enemy blood. As the Germans follow the Geneva Convention and its rules against forced labour for captured officers, James is bored – uninterested in the debate clubs and other hobbies of his fellow inmates – and when he spies a pair of singing redstarts on the other side of the camp's barbed-wire fence, he decides to begin a scientific study of their behaviour. James is able to observe as the more attractive of these two original males finds a mate, as this pair builds a nest, and although he is too far from them to see how many eggs are laid or how many chicks hatch, he does record how many trips the adult birds make to fetch food for their young. James isn't present when the fledglings leave their nest, and although the camp is soon sent on a forced relocation march (and we never hear from James again while in captivity), we are to believe that based on the few weeks of notes he made, James will eventually publish the definitive book on redstart behaviour. This is loosely based on the wartime experience of John Buxton, but if Humphrey's purpose was to tell Buxton's story, I think she ought to have told Buxton's story.
In the POW camp, we also meet its Kommandant: a Classics professor who is supportive of James' scientific efforts. Not only does the Kommandant give James a German fieldguide, but he also brings the POW to a wooded area to see a wayward flock of cedar waxwings (and this is apparently also based on a true story). We even meet the Kommandant ten years later, where he has rejoined his former life and reminisces about his loathsome time as a Nazi officer, but I found this plotline to be the worst of modern moral equivalence: I have no doubt that there were many, many good Germans who were swept up in the Nazi machine, but as we collectively decided at the Nuremberg Trials, the “I was only following orders” defense is no defense at all. By trying to make a sympathetic character out of the man under whose watch escapees were executed, Humphreys seems to be trying to undermine the accepted history of the last good war: we on the Allied side were the good guys and fiction that attempts to find nuances in that position is of questionable value to me. To be clear: this isn't a Schindler's List type storyline about a Yad Vashem who proved himself to be a righteous man above concern for his own safety, but the insertion of a “good Nazi” for questionable fictional purposes. Seventy years after VE Day, as the eyewitnesses are all but gone, there ought to be a valid literary purpose for such a character.
There is a separate storyline from the point-of-view of James' young wife Rose: ten years younger than her husband, Rose appears to have married him after the briefest of courtships in order to escape the clutches of her controlling and nasty mother. Happily playing house in her husband's absence, the fact that he is safely kept away from danger in a POW camp seems to contribute to Rose's lack of guilt in starting up a romance with another young RAF officer, which provides the opportunity to insert a third historical anecdote. Ten years later, Rose is back living with her nasty mother, wistfully recalling how much nicer life had been during the war years. As if that isn't bad enough, I happen to agree with her mother: if Rose is now 33 and has never had a job or tried to support herself, it might be about time.
Lastly, there are sections from the point-of-view of James' sister, Enid, and this was my favourite character: I totally believed and empathised with everything that happens to her, from losing her lover in the Blitz to having her professional aspirations curtailed by the returning male workforce after the war was finally over. I even believed that, after ten years, Enid's view of Rose would have softened.
I've seen reviewers describe Humphrey's prose here as “limpid” and “restrained”, but to me, it just came off as shallow; as though most thoughts were left unfinished. At under 300 pages (small pages, with a largish font and wide margins), The Evening Chorus feels slight and gestural; like an outline for a more hefty work. There's something very obvious about a POW enjoying freedom vicariously through the birds he sees flying overhead but to have every other character connecting to themselves through nature seems to belabour that main theme, leading to some strange philosophy:
So, no, I didn't really like The Evening Chorus, and as short as it is, I found myself impatient to finish it. To return to my original question: To what end was this book written? It added nothing to my understanding of WWII, or to my understanding of people in general, and to the extent that it might be a story about two blameless men who find themselves on opposite ends of a conflict but who nevertheless discover their shared humanity over a mutual love of nature, well, blah: seventy years after VE Day, it's important to remember that freedom and democracy were worth fighting for; the fight for Europe was not a grey area, ripe for reexamination.
We begin with James Hunter: a thirty-something school teacher who joined the RAF in order to avoid up-close combat and actually witnessing death. His plane is shot down on its first run and James is taken to a German POW camp, ensuring that the reluctant soldier never sullies his hands with enemy blood. As the Germans follow the Geneva Convention and its rules against forced labour for captured officers, James is bored – uninterested in the debate clubs and other hobbies of his fellow inmates – and when he spies a pair of singing redstarts on the other side of the camp's barbed-wire fence, he decides to begin a scientific study of their behaviour. James is able to observe as the more attractive of these two original males finds a mate, as this pair builds a nest, and although he is too far from them to see how many eggs are laid or how many chicks hatch, he does record how many trips the adult birds make to fetch food for their young. James isn't present when the fledglings leave their nest, and although the camp is soon sent on a forced relocation march (and we never hear from James again while in captivity), we are to believe that based on the few weeks of notes he made, James will eventually publish the definitive book on redstart behaviour. This is loosely based on the wartime experience of John Buxton, but if Humphrey's purpose was to tell Buxton's story, I think she ought to have told Buxton's story.
In the POW camp, we also meet its Kommandant: a Classics professor who is supportive of James' scientific efforts. Not only does the Kommandant give James a German fieldguide, but he also brings the POW to a wooded area to see a wayward flock of cedar waxwings (and this is apparently also based on a true story). We even meet the Kommandant ten years later, where he has rejoined his former life and reminisces about his loathsome time as a Nazi officer, but I found this plotline to be the worst of modern moral equivalence: I have no doubt that there were many, many good Germans who were swept up in the Nazi machine, but as we collectively decided at the Nuremberg Trials, the “I was only following orders” defense is no defense at all. By trying to make a sympathetic character out of the man under whose watch escapees were executed, Humphreys seems to be trying to undermine the accepted history of the last good war: we on the Allied side were the good guys and fiction that attempts to find nuances in that position is of questionable value to me. To be clear: this isn't a Schindler's List type storyline about a Yad Vashem who proved himself to be a righteous man above concern for his own safety, but the insertion of a “good Nazi” for questionable fictional purposes. Seventy years after VE Day, as the eyewitnesses are all but gone, there ought to be a valid literary purpose for such a character.
There is a separate storyline from the point-of-view of James' young wife Rose: ten years younger than her husband, Rose appears to have married him after the briefest of courtships in order to escape the clutches of her controlling and nasty mother. Happily playing house in her husband's absence, the fact that he is safely kept away from danger in a POW camp seems to contribute to Rose's lack of guilt in starting up a romance with another young RAF officer, which provides the opportunity to insert a third historical anecdote. Ten years later, Rose is back living with her nasty mother, wistfully recalling how much nicer life had been during the war years. As if that isn't bad enough, I happen to agree with her mother: if Rose is now 33 and has never had a job or tried to support herself, it might be about time.
Lastly, there are sections from the point-of-view of James' sister, Enid, and this was my favourite character: I totally believed and empathised with everything that happens to her, from losing her lover in the Blitz to having her professional aspirations curtailed by the returning male workforce after the war was finally over. I even believed that, after ten years, Enid's view of Rose would have softened.
I've seen reviewers describe Humphrey's prose here as “limpid” and “restrained”, but to me, it just came off as shallow; as though most thoughts were left unfinished. At under 300 pages (small pages, with a largish font and wide margins), The Evening Chorus feels slight and gestural; like an outline for a more hefty work. There's something very obvious about a POW enjoying freedom vicariously through the birds he sees flying overhead but to have every other character connecting to themselves through nature seems to belabour that main theme, leading to some strange philosophy:
• The shearwaters that fly on course and the ones that get thrown about by the wind mostly end up in the same place, so perhaps effort doesn't matter, isn't what ensures survival.
• This is why James likes birds – because they are all possibility. They make a line in the air, the invisible line of their flight, and this line can join up with other lines or lead somewhere entirely new. All you have to do is believe that the line exists and learn how to follow it.
So, no, I didn't really like The Evening Chorus, and as short as it is, I found myself impatient to finish it. To return to my original question: To what end was this book written? It added nothing to my understanding of WWII, or to my understanding of people in general, and to the extent that it might be a story about two blameless men who find themselves on opposite ends of a conflict but who nevertheless discover their shared humanity over a mutual love of nature, well, blah: seventy years after VE Day, it's important to remember that freedom and democracy were worth fighting for; the fight for Europe was not a grey area, ripe for reexamination.
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