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The Report
A stunning first novel that is an evocative reimagining of a World War II civilian disaster. Jessica Francis Kane paints a vivid portrait of London at war.
On a March night in 1943, on the steps of a London Tube station, 173 people die in a crowd seeking shelter from what seemed to be another air raid. When the devastated neighborhood demands an inquiry, the job falls to magistrate Laurence Dunne. As Dunne investigates, he finds the truth to be precarious, even damaging. When he is forced to reflect on his report several decades later, he must consider whether the course he chose was the right one.
The Report is a provocative, beautifully crafted novel and a commentary on the way all tragedies are remembered and endured.
On a March night in 1943, on the steps of a London Tube station, 173 people die in a crowd seeking shelter from what seemed to be another air raid. When the devastated neighborhood demands an inquiry, the job falls to magistrate Laurence Dunne. As Dunne investigates, he finds the truth to be precarious, even damaging. When he is forced to reflect on his report several decades later, he must consider whether the course he chose was the right one.
The Report is a provocative, beautifully crafted novel and a commentary on the way all tragedies are remembered and endured.
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First published August 31, 2010
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About the author
Jessica Francis Kane
16 books388 followersJessica Francis Kane’s new novel, FONSECA, will be published by Penguin Press on August 12, 2025. It is based on the mysterious trip to northern Mexico made by English writer Penelope Fitzgerald in 1952 and took Kane eight years to write. It has been named a most-anticipated book of 2025 by the Los Angeles Times, LitHub, Publisher's Weekly and others.
Her previous novel, RULES FOR VISITING, was a 2019 Indie Next Pick and became a national bestseller. It was named one of the best books of the year by Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Vulture, The Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Southern Living, Real Simple, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. In the UK it was published by Granta Books and was a finalist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.
Her first novel, THE REPORT, was published by Graywolf Press in the US (2010) and Granta Books in the UK (2011). It was a finalist for the First Novel Prize from the Center for Fiction and a Barnes & Noble Discover pick. In 2015 it was adapted and staged as a play in New York City.
Her story collection, THIS CLOSE, was published by Graywolf Press in 2013. It was long-listed for The Story Prize, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize, and named a best book of the year by NPR.
Jessica’s stories and essays have appeared many places including, the New York Times, Slate, Virginia Quarterly Review, Zyzzyva, The Yale Review, A Public Space, and Granta. She is the recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
She lives in New York City and Connecticut.
Her previous novel, RULES FOR VISITING, was a 2019 Indie Next Pick and became a national bestseller. It was named one of the best books of the year by Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Vulture, The Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Southern Living, Real Simple, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. In the UK it was published by Granta Books and was a finalist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize.
Her first novel, THE REPORT, was published by Graywolf Press in the US (2010) and Granta Books in the UK (2011). It was a finalist for the First Novel Prize from the Center for Fiction and a Barnes & Noble Discover pick. In 2015 it was adapted and staged as a play in New York City.
Her story collection, THIS CLOSE, was published by Graywolf Press in 2013. It was long-listed for The Story Prize, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize, and named a best book of the year by NPR.
Jessica’s stories and essays have appeared many places including, the New York Times, Slate, Virginia Quarterly Review, Zyzzyva, The Yale Review, A Public Space, and Granta. She is the recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
She lives in New York City and Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 226 reviews
October 31, 2019
Like Jessica Francis Kane’s recent book, Rules for Visiting, The Report has a controlled energy that slowed my own. In the beginning I stopped reading after each short chapter, not because I wasn’t interested—on the contrary, I was mesmerized—but because I was sated. I needed to metabolize and not think. But as the tension built, I found myself reading beyond satiation, and somehow I handled it.
The Report is the story of the workings of crowds through a horrific historic event. A very different book than Rules for Visiting, yet it shares a motif: both books are essentially reports. The events play out, they are reported, the facts accrue into a story. And the art of this writing makes them into an experience that is hard to explain. But let me try.
The cover of The Report (designed by Kyle G. Hunter) gives a metaphor for what happened to me as a reader, but for the longest time I didn’t even notice it: The picture is a dark AP photo. Whether it is of the actual incident of people in an underground bomb shelter in the East End of London (Bethnal Green) during WWII doesn’t matter. It is what I envisioned. But so subtle that you don’t even see it unless the cover happens to be tilted up so the light hits it in just the right way is typeface superimposed onto the photo—the report of this incident. That is a perfect depiction of Kane’s style.
There is nothing flashy, no sentences you can quote to illustrate poetic beauty, no obvious “writer’s technique.” Nevertheless, the writing enters your psyche, commanding that you slow down and see and feel every detail; I swear my heartbeat synced with something larger that I surmise directs Kane’s writing. Likewise the elegance—a meticulous elegance to every word and sentence—is so understated you might miss it.
I am obsessed with the responsibility of people in crowds and crowd movements, so I love the content of this book. And I love this writing!
The Report is the story of the workings of crowds through a horrific historic event. A very different book than Rules for Visiting, yet it shares a motif: both books are essentially reports. The events play out, they are reported, the facts accrue into a story. And the art of this writing makes them into an experience that is hard to explain. But let me try.
The cover of The Report (designed by Kyle G. Hunter) gives a metaphor for what happened to me as a reader, but for the longest time I didn’t even notice it: The picture is a dark AP photo. Whether it is of the actual incident of people in an underground bomb shelter in the East End of London (Bethnal Green) during WWII doesn’t matter. It is what I envisioned. But so subtle that you don’t even see it unless the cover happens to be tilted up so the light hits it in just the right way is typeface superimposed onto the photo—the report of this incident. That is a perfect depiction of Kane’s style.
There is nothing flashy, no sentences you can quote to illustrate poetic beauty, no obvious “writer’s technique.” Nevertheless, the writing enters your psyche, commanding that you slow down and see and feel every detail; I swear my heartbeat synced with something larger that I surmise directs Kane’s writing. Likewise the elegance—a meticulous elegance to every word and sentence—is so understated you might miss it.
I am obsessed with the responsibility of people in crowds and crowd movements, so I love the content of this book. And I love this writing!
November 28, 2018
After putting off this book for almost a year I finally decided to give this one a go.
This is such a gripping novel about a horrific incident that took place in 1943 in Bethnal Green tube station. 173 people were crushed to death but nobody knew who or what caused it.
Although the characters in this novel are fictionalised the story is real.
I literally finished it in two hours because I could not put it down as it's so interesting and really beautifully written.
This is such a gripping novel about a horrific incident that took place in 1943 in Bethnal Green tube station. 173 people were crushed to death but nobody knew who or what caused it.
Although the characters in this novel are fictionalised the story is real.
I literally finished it in two hours because I could not put it down as it's so interesting and really beautifully written.
July 29, 2014
The greatest experience you can have as a reader is to entrust yourself to an author you have never heard of before, to read a book about which you know nothing, and to be rewarded for this leap of faith with a glorious read. I have no idea why I put this book on my to read list nor indeed any memory of how it actually reached my bookshelf. I suspect my wife despite her denials sneaked it in the to read bookshelf in an ongoing quest to widen my blinkered horizons.
The story is a sparse and understated account of the Bethnal Green Tube disaster where a stampede occured in 1943, when a crowd surged into the station seeking protection from German bombers. In the ensuing inquiry the magistrate initially seeks to apportion responsibility but is forced into making decisions based not on the facts but on what he judges as the most healing of answers.
I loved this book for so so many reasons. The style is so crisp, a clinic on how to let the images conveyed deliver the emotional force without resorting to cheap gimmicks or purple prose. I cannot remember a book since "Alone in Berlin" by falleda which so exposes the gut wrenching misery of war stripped of the faux heroics in the desperation of the civilian population. The questions, of love, redemption, responsibility and class are posed freshly. Ultimately what made this book such a meanigful read for me (and so very uncomfortable)is that it unflinchingly explores my greatest fear in life, losing my child. The price I have paid for becoming a parent is that the flip side of all the love is a crippling fear that something will happen to your child. The author uses this empathy to make the world all so vivid and the characters struggles became my struggles in a way that only a good book can bring to life.
The story is a sparse and understated account of the Bethnal Green Tube disaster where a stampede occured in 1943, when a crowd surged into the station seeking protection from German bombers. In the ensuing inquiry the magistrate initially seeks to apportion responsibility but is forced into making decisions based not on the facts but on what he judges as the most healing of answers.
I loved this book for so so many reasons. The style is so crisp, a clinic on how to let the images conveyed deliver the emotional force without resorting to cheap gimmicks or purple prose. I cannot remember a book since "Alone in Berlin" by falleda which so exposes the gut wrenching misery of war stripped of the faux heroics in the desperation of the civilian population. The questions, of love, redemption, responsibility and class are posed freshly. Ultimately what made this book such a meanigful read for me (and so very uncomfortable)is that it unflinchingly explores my greatest fear in life, losing my child. The price I have paid for becoming a parent is that the flip side of all the love is a crippling fear that something will happen to your child. The author uses this empathy to make the world all so vivid and the characters struggles became my struggles in a way that only a good book can bring to life.
August 9, 2022
This is the story of an accident that claimed the lives of one hundred seventy-three Londoners at the entrance to an air-raid shelter on the evening of March 3, 1943 and of how individuals, a community, and a government dealt with its aftermath. It is a novel based on an actual incident during World War II. Kane leads us to an understanding of the accident by following the conduct of the official inquiry into its causes and the preparation of a documentary on "The Report" of the inquiry thirty years afterward. In coming to this understanding, we also begin to see that events of a disastrous or catostrophic nature are seldom the result of a single cause and thus defy the justification of laying the blame at any one individual's or group's feet despite the desire of some to find who's ass to kick. The story also highlights the fact that, after such an incident, almost everyone involved wishes to hide some aspect of it - whether for selfish reasons or noble; whether for actual guilt or merely imagined.
Despite the somewhat dark subject matter of the book, Kane's simple but direct prose makes the story very compelling. Her characters are portrayed at their best and their worst. The result is our beginning to wonder where on that spectrum we as individuals and a community would fall under similar circumstances.
Despite the somewhat dark subject matter of the book, Kane's simple but direct prose makes the story very compelling. Her characters are portrayed at their best and their worst. The result is our beginning to wonder where on that spectrum we as individuals and a community would fall under similar circumstances.
October 11, 2019
I took a chance with an author I’d never heard of and a book that wasn’t a bestseller while wandering around strand bookstore. I wasn’t disappointed.
This book was a poignant reminder that when a tragedy happens there is no black and white. The public wants a villain but there’s always more than meets the eye. This was a very different, suspenseful tale (based on a true story of a bomb shelter mishap) that tells us that the truth is always complicated and a single source of blame is tempting but unfair in most senseless tragedies. Even though this took place in 1943 I felt like this could have happened today.
This book was a poignant reminder that when a tragedy happens there is no black and white. The public wants a villain but there’s always more than meets the eye. This was a very different, suspenseful tale (based on a true story of a bomb shelter mishap) that tells us that the truth is always complicated and a single source of blame is tempting but unfair in most senseless tragedies. Even though this took place in 1943 I felt like this could have happened today.
April 12, 2011
“The Bethnal Green Tube shelter disaster took place on the evening of Wednesday March 3, 1943.
173 people died in a terrifying crush as panic spread through the crowds of people trying to enter the station's bomb shelter in the East End of London.
However, no bomb struck and not a single casualty was the direct result of military aggression, making it the deadliest civilian incident of World War Two.”
Jessica Francis Kane, read the full historical transcript of the enquiry into this, the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War, and she used what she read as the basis of her debut novel, a wonderfully vivid picture of people living through the event and its aftermath.
She tells her story through a number of characters:
A mother who lost her younger daughter; her elder daughter, who survived but would not speak; the warden of the shelter, devastated by what has happened; a young man who was delayed, who wonders if he might have been able to make a difference; a vicar, looking for answers, wanting to offer comfort and support...
All of their stories are beautifully observed, with just the right details picked to illuminate those lives. A hand held too tightly. A wireless turned up to mask a conversation. A breakfast left untouched. The picture is clear, and it is moving without ever becoming sentimental.
It falls to Lawrence Dunne, the local magistrate, to investigate and report on what happened. A fundamentally good man, he wanted to understand, he wanted lessons to be learned, and he wanted to show understanding of what people had been through, of what they had to endure in wartime conditions.
His story added another dimension. Much is said about the human instinct to find someone to blame, about how those who are ready to accept blame often accept more than they should, and about how apportioning blame is not really a resolution.
And, maybe most importantly, I saw the lives of Jessica Kane's characters. I understood their words and their actions, their strengths and their weaknesses. They were flawed, vulnerable human beings.
I saw the world they lived in, the terrible event they lived through and had to live with. And I learned from it.
Thirty years after the event a young filmmaker, whose family was affected by the tragedy, interviews Sir Lawrence Dunne for a documentary about the tragedy.
Another dimension, it brought a different perspective, and it tied things together nicely, with a devastating final revelation.
The Report is such a vivid human story, a beautifully written book that made me feel and made me think.
And it is a story that will stay with me.
173 people died in a terrifying crush as panic spread through the crowds of people trying to enter the station's bomb shelter in the East End of London.
However, no bomb struck and not a single casualty was the direct result of military aggression, making it the deadliest civilian incident of World War Two.”
Jessica Francis Kane, read the full historical transcript of the enquiry into this, the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War, and she used what she read as the basis of her debut novel, a wonderfully vivid picture of people living through the event and its aftermath.
She tells her story through a number of characters:
A mother who lost her younger daughter; her elder daughter, who survived but would not speak; the warden of the shelter, devastated by what has happened; a young man who was delayed, who wonders if he might have been able to make a difference; a vicar, looking for answers, wanting to offer comfort and support...
All of their stories are beautifully observed, with just the right details picked to illuminate those lives. A hand held too tightly. A wireless turned up to mask a conversation. A breakfast left untouched. The picture is clear, and it is moving without ever becoming sentimental.
It falls to Lawrence Dunne, the local magistrate, to investigate and report on what happened. A fundamentally good man, he wanted to understand, he wanted lessons to be learned, and he wanted to show understanding of what people had been through, of what they had to endure in wartime conditions.
His story added another dimension. Much is said about the human instinct to find someone to blame, about how those who are ready to accept blame often accept more than they should, and about how apportioning blame is not really a resolution.
And, maybe most importantly, I saw the lives of Jessica Kane's characters. I understood their words and their actions, their strengths and their weaknesses. They were flawed, vulnerable human beings.
I saw the world they lived in, the terrible event they lived through and had to live with. And I learned from it.
Thirty years after the event a young filmmaker, whose family was affected by the tragedy, interviews Sir Lawrence Dunne for a documentary about the tragedy.
Another dimension, it brought a different perspective, and it tied things together nicely, with a devastating final revelation.
The Report is such a vivid human story, a beautifully written book that made me feel and made me think.
And it is a story that will stay with me.
April 14, 2011
I was intrigued as to what an American author's take on this English wartime tragedy would be. Her source material was a government-commissioned inquiry, later published by HMSO in book form.
At first it seemed too dry, but actually her approach works very well. The main character is JP Laurie Dunne, author of the report, but it also focuses on others involved in the case.
Without resorting to 'Spirit of the Blitz' cliche, Jessica Francis Kane achieves a thoughtful and moving, if unsettling look at the lives of ordinary people during World War II.
At first it seemed too dry, but actually her approach works very well. The main character is JP Laurie Dunne, author of the report, but it also focuses on others involved in the case.
Without resorting to 'Spirit of the Blitz' cliche, Jessica Francis Kane achieves a thoughtful and moving, if unsettling look at the lives of ordinary people during World War II.
March 26, 2011
A compelling read. Like following a thread you can't take your eyes from-- as slowly Kane builds tension. Beautifully written with passages that are so good you have to read them again for the pure pleasure of the language. I highly recommend it!
October 16, 2014
The Report is a fictional version of the events leading up to, and the inquiry into, the Bethnal Green Tube Station disaster which occurred on 3rd March 1943, when 173 people died.
The novel looks into the lives of some of the people involved in the disaster, focussing particularly on the Magistrate Laurence Dunne who was appointed to handle the inquiry, a local family who lost one of their children in the disaster, a Clerk working for the Council, one of the wardens whose job it was to maintain the shelter, and a local clergyman.
Most of the novel is set in 1943, dealing with the events immediately after the disaster (which is covered only briefly towards the start of the novel and in quite a subdued manner), and in the days following the tragedy. It is interspersed with an interview between a young reporter called Paul and the now very elderly Laurence Dunne, in 1973, in preparation for a television documentary retrospective on the 30th anniversary of the disaster.
I thought the author handled a very sensitive subject well - it is, after all, still well within living memory for many people. I particularly liked the way she gently unfolded the layers of the story through the different characters. Especially poignant were the scenes between Rev McNeely and the survivors, some of which made for uncomfortable reading, and not all with a good outcome.
All in all a very accomplished novel, and which has inspired me to find out more about this terrible tragedy.
The novel looks into the lives of some of the people involved in the disaster, focussing particularly on the Magistrate Laurence Dunne who was appointed to handle the inquiry, a local family who lost one of their children in the disaster, a Clerk working for the Council, one of the wardens whose job it was to maintain the shelter, and a local clergyman.
Most of the novel is set in 1943, dealing with the events immediately after the disaster (which is covered only briefly towards the start of the novel and in quite a subdued manner), and in the days following the tragedy. It is interspersed with an interview between a young reporter called Paul and the now very elderly Laurence Dunne, in 1973, in preparation for a television documentary retrospective on the 30th anniversary of the disaster.
I thought the author handled a very sensitive subject well - it is, after all, still well within living memory for many people. I particularly liked the way she gently unfolded the layers of the story through the different characters. Especially poignant were the scenes between Rev McNeely and the survivors, some of which made for uncomfortable reading, and not all with a good outcome.
All in all a very accomplished novel, and which has inspired me to find out more about this terrible tragedy.
May 19, 2010
I recieved an early printing of the book "The Report" by Jessica Francis Kane. I really enjoyed reading this account of a civilian tragedy that took place during WWII. Ms. Kane has taken a true incident and added fictional characters to tell the story. She does a wonderful job of showing both the faults and strengths of the people in the story. I was impressed by tha fact that she didn't make any of her characters seem unrealistically sentimantal. Rather, the honest human frailities which we all can relate to are woven into her dialogue.
April 15, 2019
This book is about a tragedy that happened during the Blitz in London where 173 people lost their lives in an underground shelter due to a crushing surge by people trying to enter. This book is about the report that was written during the war but was suppressed by the government.
February 9, 2014
So, I have sat on writing this review for a little bit, and I'm not sure what to do about it. My problem is something like: this book disappointed me a little, but I still have nothing but good feelings for it, so I don't want to give the wrong impression.
I'm glad I read this, even though I didn't love it. And I'm going to keep it around, because it means a lot to me as a project. I really spend quite a lot of time thinking about the problem of fictionalizing nonfiction. My favorite format is fiction, because it's usually the medium that delivers the greatest thematic impact to me. However, actually: my favorite stories are true.
So perhaps I haven't written anything about this all week because I've never drawn my conclusions well enough to really explore why fiction made this way — dramatizing real events and people, based on historical record — often seems to me to be missing something. I would love to crack the code, but I haven't, so I worry about sounding dismissive to the good work of others. This is by way of explaining that there isn't anything wrong with the writing in this book, at all… but it lacked something unnameable that I want.
The subject of the book is the investigation conducted into a 1943 disaster in a London underground tube station. Subway stations were converted into bomb shelters for citizens to use during air raids, which is RIDICULOUSLY FASCINATING to me. The description of the transformed station is amazing: making it bright, adding in bunks, using the train tracks, setting up a nursery room and a library. And all the while: no official was ever certain that the tube stations were suitable air raid protection, according to this book. Boggling. But… you can totally see that happening! I can imagine it happening today, where I live. No question. There is never, never enough motivation or resource to really, really take care of people when tough things happen, and in a way that is the real subject of the book.
Actually, it wasn't the shelter itself that was a problem when the disaster occurred, but the odd thing is that no one exactly knew what the problem had in fact been. 173 people died in the space of a minute or so, after a pileup on the stairs of the entryway. It was referred to as "the crush." There wasn't trampling or a stampede, no broken bones even, just that somehow everyone landed in a tangled pile after someone fell, and then no one could breathe. So the main question was: were people pushing? And why? Was one person culpable for that, or was the crowd mentality culpable, or was the (lack of) government oversight culpable? Or did people simply have to bury this inside their ongoing rage for Germany, their unresolved grief for the war, which was already ruining their lives?
So, perhaps what's unusual here is that the book is literally about a report, rather than an event. We watch several perspectives on the event, and we learn more bits as the investigation goes on, but this book is indeed the story of how the government's actual report came to be written. For instance, a fair amount of it is given in scenes of disconnected dialogue based on testimony transcript. It's handled perfectly fine, but… it isn't the best way to reach me as a reader. I definitely understand why the author is interested in the report — exploring the aftermath in a community, and the inadequacies of government to heal those problems, and the issues of propaganda and morale in wartime. The subject is smart, but to me the novel did not fully succeed in plumbing the raw feeling from these problems. I wanted more to rise from this.
Going in, I also didn't know that there was a dual narrative, which was an interesting way to frame this. A second story is taking place in 1973, on the tragedy's 30th anniversary, and a documentarian is interviewing Laurie Dunne, the report's author. We spend a lot of time in Laurie's head in 1973, being now an old man who mostly thinks about fishing and the declining quality of lunch at his club. But he lost a lot in the war, and has some pathos to bring to its legacy. Paul, the 30-year-old documentarian, also has a few things to share that link us back to the characters we are following in 1943. But in truth, these connections were not (I apologize for this but) bombshells; I sensed the structure of the story coming early on, and though I liked it perfectly well, for me it didn't lend itself to dramatic revelations.
For what it's worth, the actual report, Tragedy at Bethnal Green , and a couple dozen other primary-source historical documents have been published in a paperback series called "Uncovered Editions." The full list of publications is an interesting one! I think.
Now — a nerdy sidebar that is COMPLETELY UNIMPORTANT to the book, but something I was looking into while I read because it crosses my own interests of history and sewing:
While Dunne is working on the investigation, his wife frequently discusses a project she is working on that is essentially an organized quilting assignment to sew topographical maps of German cities. Each quilter in the sewing circle is assigned a block, and together the blocks make a map of the land. They are described as "heavily textured" and thick, sometimes with cardboard boxes presumably to show city buildings. The stated purpose is that "the pilots study them from scaffolding up to the ceiling" before RAF missions, to increase their comfort level with the terrain and prevent "creep-back," a phenomenon rather shaking the confidence of them all.
How fascinating! I wanted to read more about these quilts, and of course see what they looked like. But Google has not uncovered much of anything about it and I would love to find more references. I believe they were real, but it's awful surprising that there are no photos from collectors or museum exhibits displaying these things. I wondered, basically, why specifically quilting was used. What advantages did it give to studying those maps? You're able to create three dimensions in that medium, more or less. But they are also described as "flexible landscapes," which links up with the maps I could find photos of: terrain maps printed on fabrics, known as evasion maps, which allowed soldiers to rumple them up, get them wet, and review them behind enemy lines without crinkling noisy paper. THAT'S cool, too! How related were those to the quilts, I wonder?
(It's possible this is an extremely specific interest of mine and that I own one of these map quilting kits for rainy days.)
I'll never get tired of learning new things about history. And the more personal the details are, the better, because that is just how I learn history best. I remember what a real or imagined person experienced, what they did — what they sewed — to cope with the events of their lives. I'll always be happy to read about these things, and I'm proud of any writer that can explore them.
I'm glad I read this, even though I didn't love it. And I'm going to keep it around, because it means a lot to me as a project. I really spend quite a lot of time thinking about the problem of fictionalizing nonfiction. My favorite format is fiction, because it's usually the medium that delivers the greatest thematic impact to me. However, actually: my favorite stories are true.
So perhaps I haven't written anything about this all week because I've never drawn my conclusions well enough to really explore why fiction made this way — dramatizing real events and people, based on historical record — often seems to me to be missing something. I would love to crack the code, but I haven't, so I worry about sounding dismissive to the good work of others. This is by way of explaining that there isn't anything wrong with the writing in this book, at all… but it lacked something unnameable that I want.
The subject of the book is the investigation conducted into a 1943 disaster in a London underground tube station. Subway stations were converted into bomb shelters for citizens to use during air raids, which is RIDICULOUSLY FASCINATING to me. The description of the transformed station is amazing: making it bright, adding in bunks, using the train tracks, setting up a nursery room and a library. And all the while: no official was ever certain that the tube stations were suitable air raid protection, according to this book. Boggling. But… you can totally see that happening! I can imagine it happening today, where I live. No question. There is never, never enough motivation or resource to really, really take care of people when tough things happen, and in a way that is the real subject of the book.
Actually, it wasn't the shelter itself that was a problem when the disaster occurred, but the odd thing is that no one exactly knew what the problem had in fact been. 173 people died in the space of a minute or so, after a pileup on the stairs of the entryway. It was referred to as "the crush." There wasn't trampling or a stampede, no broken bones even, just that somehow everyone landed in a tangled pile after someone fell, and then no one could breathe. So the main question was: were people pushing? And why? Was one person culpable for that, or was the crowd mentality culpable, or was the (lack of) government oversight culpable? Or did people simply have to bury this inside their ongoing rage for Germany, their unresolved grief for the war, which was already ruining their lives?
So, perhaps what's unusual here is that the book is literally about a report, rather than an event. We watch several perspectives on the event, and we learn more bits as the investigation goes on, but this book is indeed the story of how the government's actual report came to be written. For instance, a fair amount of it is given in scenes of disconnected dialogue based on testimony transcript. It's handled perfectly fine, but… it isn't the best way to reach me as a reader. I definitely understand why the author is interested in the report — exploring the aftermath in a community, and the inadequacies of government to heal those problems, and the issues of propaganda and morale in wartime. The subject is smart, but to me the novel did not fully succeed in plumbing the raw feeling from these problems. I wanted more to rise from this.
Going in, I also didn't know that there was a dual narrative, which was an interesting way to frame this. A second story is taking place in 1973, on the tragedy's 30th anniversary, and a documentarian is interviewing Laurie Dunne, the report's author. We spend a lot of time in Laurie's head in 1973, being now an old man who mostly thinks about fishing and the declining quality of lunch at his club. But he lost a lot in the war, and has some pathos to bring to its legacy. Paul, the 30-year-old documentarian, also has a few things to share that link us back to the characters we are following in 1943. But in truth, these connections were not (I apologize for this but) bombshells; I sensed the structure of the story coming early on, and though I liked it perfectly well, for me it didn't lend itself to dramatic revelations.
For what it's worth, the actual report, Tragedy at Bethnal Green , and a couple dozen other primary-source historical documents have been published in a paperback series called "Uncovered Editions." The full list of publications is an interesting one! I think.
Now — a nerdy sidebar that is COMPLETELY UNIMPORTANT to the book, but something I was looking into while I read because it crosses my own interests of history and sewing:
While Dunne is working on the investigation, his wife frequently discusses a project she is working on that is essentially an organized quilting assignment to sew topographical maps of German cities. Each quilter in the sewing circle is assigned a block, and together the blocks make a map of the land. They are described as "heavily textured" and thick, sometimes with cardboard boxes presumably to show city buildings. The stated purpose is that "the pilots study them from scaffolding up to the ceiling" before RAF missions, to increase their comfort level with the terrain and prevent "creep-back," a phenomenon rather shaking the confidence of them all.
How fascinating! I wanted to read more about these quilts, and of course see what they looked like. But Google has not uncovered much of anything about it and I would love to find more references. I believe they were real, but it's awful surprising that there are no photos from collectors or museum exhibits displaying these things. I wondered, basically, why specifically quilting was used. What advantages did it give to studying those maps? You're able to create three dimensions in that medium, more or less. But they are also described as "flexible landscapes," which links up with the maps I could find photos of: terrain maps printed on fabrics, known as evasion maps, which allowed soldiers to rumple them up, get them wet, and review them behind enemy lines without crinkling noisy paper. THAT'S cool, too! How related were those to the quilts, I wonder?
(It's possible this is an extremely specific interest of mine and that I own one of these map quilting kits for rainy days.)
I'll never get tired of learning new things about history. And the more personal the details are, the better, because that is just how I learn history best. I remember what a real or imagined person experienced, what they did — what they sewed — to cope with the events of their lives. I'll always be happy to read about these things, and I'm proud of any writer that can explore them.
August 14, 2023
Meryl Bookclub 2024 … 2023 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ … what an astonishingly well written novel. I can feel the creep of anxiety as I try to craft a review that will match the brilliance of what I’ve just read.
The Report was, like all accidentally discovered gems found in second hand book stores, a complete surprise.
It’s a novel about a little known London war time disaster with a loss of 173 lives but it reads so convincingly as truth (or more precisely, a range of human truths) that you have to keep reminding yourself that it’s a work of fiction. I suspect the careful publishers also wanted to retain this distinction as the words “A Novel” are strongly printed on the front cover under the title.
The story moves between 1943 and 1973, nearing the 30 year anniversary of the disaster, establishing the richness and continued brokenness of both worlds through a handful of memorable characters.
1943 examines a London exhausted by the fear of bombings, the weariness of insufficient sleep, inadequate food and the quiet terror of receiving bad news from the war.
The citizens of Bethnal Green are experiencing the same annoyances as everyone else, a boredom of potatoes, the overzealous adherence to blackout coverings, the lack of flowers as the government refuses to let them absorb railway transport.
This is the new normal, flowers come from bomb sites and children have never seen the moon.
Bethnal Green is also experiencing an influx of refugees, predominantly Jews, it’s a “refugee problem” some report, others contending that it’s fine, communities are adapting. Authorities are at pains to report that the East End is not splintering, no stones have been thrown, no businesses burnt and the river of the blended sides come together to enter shelters nightly, mainly calmly and with neighbourly accomodation.
But in the spring of 1943, there is a crush but not obviously a panic or disturbance.
The siren went off but no actual bombs fell, so what was the strange noise some people heard and others didn’t?
Who was the first woman who fell and blocked the stairs? Why did the crowd surge? Why was the stair light out? Why were the recommendations for alterations of the shelter entrance ignored? Where was the constable who was supposed to be on duty?
Was any one of these factors critical or part of a Swiss cheese of events that lined up perfectly to create the horror of 173 dying in a matter of minutes?
In 1973, a young survivor of that night, now a documentary film maker, chases down the magistrate who delivered the report to the Government 30 years ago and asks and receives answers that flummox him.
He discovers an old man who still thinks he did his best. The worst human instincts to apportion blame were avoided he says, individual responsibility was skirted, not settled upon. The magistrate defends his work trying to open up the eyes of the ashen boy who knows so much but not quite enough. We didn’t need a riot. We needed recommendations to avoid this happening again. There was already enough guilt to go around. You weren’t there.
As the threads come together we realise that we the reader are still the only ones who know what happened, as far as anyone can know for certain. We grieve for the families affected and understand why some words were written and some omitted.
But none of that quells the cold fear we all have of this enormous loss. How can anyone carry on after the loss of a child? Who do we blame? There must be someone to blame.
Powerful, enormously moving and occasionally unbearable to read, The Report was a poignant narrative with obvious parallels for our societies today.
1883 Victoria Hall
1943 Bethnal Green
1989 Hillsborough
1993 Hong Kong
2022 Indonesia
2022 Seoul
The Report was, like all accidentally discovered gems found in second hand book stores, a complete surprise.
It’s a novel about a little known London war time disaster with a loss of 173 lives but it reads so convincingly as truth (or more precisely, a range of human truths) that you have to keep reminding yourself that it’s a work of fiction. I suspect the careful publishers also wanted to retain this distinction as the words “A Novel” are strongly printed on the front cover under the title.
The story moves between 1943 and 1973, nearing the 30 year anniversary of the disaster, establishing the richness and continued brokenness of both worlds through a handful of memorable characters.
1943 examines a London exhausted by the fear of bombings, the weariness of insufficient sleep, inadequate food and the quiet terror of receiving bad news from the war.
The citizens of Bethnal Green are experiencing the same annoyances as everyone else, a boredom of potatoes, the overzealous adherence to blackout coverings, the lack of flowers as the government refuses to let them absorb railway transport.
This is the new normal, flowers come from bomb sites and children have never seen the moon.
Bethnal Green is also experiencing an influx of refugees, predominantly Jews, it’s a “refugee problem” some report, others contending that it’s fine, communities are adapting. Authorities are at pains to report that the East End is not splintering, no stones have been thrown, no businesses burnt and the river of the blended sides come together to enter shelters nightly, mainly calmly and with neighbourly accomodation.
But in the spring of 1943, there is a crush but not obviously a panic or disturbance.
The siren went off but no actual bombs fell, so what was the strange noise some people heard and others didn’t?
Who was the first woman who fell and blocked the stairs? Why did the crowd surge? Why was the stair light out? Why were the recommendations for alterations of the shelter entrance ignored? Where was the constable who was supposed to be on duty?
Was any one of these factors critical or part of a Swiss cheese of events that lined up perfectly to create the horror of 173 dying in a matter of minutes?
In 1973, a young survivor of that night, now a documentary film maker, chases down the magistrate who delivered the report to the Government 30 years ago and asks and receives answers that flummox him.
He discovers an old man who still thinks he did his best. The worst human instincts to apportion blame were avoided he says, individual responsibility was skirted, not settled upon. The magistrate defends his work trying to open up the eyes of the ashen boy who knows so much but not quite enough. We didn’t need a riot. We needed recommendations to avoid this happening again. There was already enough guilt to go around. You weren’t there.
As the threads come together we realise that we the reader are still the only ones who know what happened, as far as anyone can know for certain. We grieve for the families affected and understand why some words were written and some omitted.
But none of that quells the cold fear we all have of this enormous loss. How can anyone carry on after the loss of a child? Who do we blame? There must be someone to blame.
Powerful, enormously moving and occasionally unbearable to read, The Report was a poignant narrative with obvious parallels for our societies today.
1883 Victoria Hall
1943 Bethnal Green
1989 Hillsborough
1993 Hong Kong
2022 Indonesia
2022 Seoul
October 12, 2022
A very clinical look at a very clinical document somehow manages to come across as one of the most compelling books I have read this year. It is remarkable how much pathos and compassion is stuffed into this little book describing a wartime tragedy in WWII England. Like most readers, I have read countless novelizations of WWII events (especially British) but this book comes across as wholly unique. Devastating and heart-wrenching, this book should not be overlooked.
September 7, 2024
I’ve been interested in this tragedy since seeing something about the Stairway to Heaven Memorial, the book weaves the story of true events very well.
November 7, 2010
Based on a true story, The Report is a novel centered on an event which happened on March 3, 1943 at the Bethnal Green Tube station, which at the time also served as the local bomb shelter. Sir Laurence Dunne, the magistrate who wrote the report on the incident noted that “the stairway was converted from a corridor to a charnel house in ten to 15 seconds,” when one hundred seventy-three people died in a human crush on the stairs near the entrance to the shelter, asphyxiated to death. There were no bombs heading for or exploding in London, so how did this happen? The author, Jessica Frances Kane, has created a fictional account of that day and its aftermath in this splendid novel, which not only recreates this event, but asks some tough questions along the way that are in many ways still pertinent today.
The story begins with the arrival of a young man who has been trying to arrange an interview with Dunne for a 30-year retrospective documentary on the Bethnal Green incident. It then moves backward in time and the major characters who are involved in the tragedy are introduced. These characters are all too real, making it easy for the reader to become deeply involved in the story on a very human level as events proceed up to March 3rd and then afterward. The way the author has written this novel also provides a glimpse of the wartime problems and frustrations of those at the London homefront – the mistrust of refugees, the food shortages, the years of ongoing blackouts (one character remarked that her beloved baby sister had never even seen the moon in the night sky), the sheer endurance involved in trying to hold on until the war is over, etc., and the differences made simply based on where you lived in the city. As events are slowly revealed and unraveled, the characters become much more developed and come into their own and their motivations behind their actions also become clearer. They move on from that fateful night on to the aftermath, when individuals, families and the community are left to cope with their grief or other feelings about the tragedy, along with the progress of the inquiry led by Magistrate Dunne. Interspersed with the core story of the event, the story also moves in and out of the present of 1973, where people have definitely not forgotten, and where many of them are still dealing with the impact of this singular event, especially Dunne.
There are many realistic observations made by the characters that exemplify Kane’s excellent writing. For example, in a scene set in 1973, Dunne notes of the young man who came to interview him:
" …talking to him was like talking to any young person about the war years; they spoke from a background of black-and-white pictures, while your memories were very much in color. They asked about the rationing, while you saw coupons. They spoke about the public morale, when what you remembered were the faces. Try as they might, they only heard a chord or two, while the whole symphony still roared in your head."
The author became interested in the story when she discovered Tragedy at Bethnal Green, 1943: Report on an Inquiry into the Accident at Bethnal Green Tube Station Shelter (Uncovered Editions) at the British Library bookshop, and then went on to read the full transcript of the inquiry into the incident at the National Archives. She relates in the Author’s Note at the end of the book that news of the terrible event was “kept secret for days” and that magistrate Laurence Dunne pursued an investigation, published a report, and then the government suppressed it until the war’s end.
The Report is (unbelievably) this writer’s first novel and you would be hard pressed as a reader to read this book and not end up forming your own conclusions as to what really happened on that fateful night. It draws you in from the start and does not lessen its hold until the very end, not only because of the subject matter, but also because it is beautifully constructed. I most definitely recommend this book – and I hope it does well with readership. It is easily one of the best novels I’ve read this year. If you want to read a compelling work of historical fiction, this book is one that should not be missed.
The story begins with the arrival of a young man who has been trying to arrange an interview with Dunne for a 30-year retrospective documentary on the Bethnal Green incident. It then moves backward in time and the major characters who are involved in the tragedy are introduced. These characters are all too real, making it easy for the reader to become deeply involved in the story on a very human level as events proceed up to March 3rd and then afterward. The way the author has written this novel also provides a glimpse of the wartime problems and frustrations of those at the London homefront – the mistrust of refugees, the food shortages, the years of ongoing blackouts (one character remarked that her beloved baby sister had never even seen the moon in the night sky), the sheer endurance involved in trying to hold on until the war is over, etc., and the differences made simply based on where you lived in the city. As events are slowly revealed and unraveled, the characters become much more developed and come into their own and their motivations behind their actions also become clearer. They move on from that fateful night on to the aftermath, when individuals, families and the community are left to cope with their grief or other feelings about the tragedy, along with the progress of the inquiry led by Magistrate Dunne. Interspersed with the core story of the event, the story also moves in and out of the present of 1973, where people have definitely not forgotten, and where many of them are still dealing with the impact of this singular event, especially Dunne.
There are many realistic observations made by the characters that exemplify Kane’s excellent writing. For example, in a scene set in 1973, Dunne notes of the young man who came to interview him:
" …talking to him was like talking to any young person about the war years; they spoke from a background of black-and-white pictures, while your memories were very much in color. They asked about the rationing, while you saw coupons. They spoke about the public morale, when what you remembered were the faces. Try as they might, they only heard a chord or two, while the whole symphony still roared in your head."
The author became interested in the story when she discovered Tragedy at Bethnal Green, 1943: Report on an Inquiry into the Accident at Bethnal Green Tube Station Shelter (Uncovered Editions) at the British Library bookshop, and then went on to read the full transcript of the inquiry into the incident at the National Archives. She relates in the Author’s Note at the end of the book that news of the terrible event was “kept secret for days” and that magistrate Laurence Dunne pursued an investigation, published a report, and then the government suppressed it until the war’s end.
The Report is (unbelievably) this writer’s first novel and you would be hard pressed as a reader to read this book and not end up forming your own conclusions as to what really happened on that fateful night. It draws you in from the start and does not lessen its hold until the very end, not only because of the subject matter, but also because it is beautifully constructed. I most definitely recommend this book – and I hope it does well with readership. It is easily one of the best novels I’ve read this year. If you want to read a compelling work of historical fiction, this book is one that should not be missed.
September 29, 2016
The Report is Jessica Francis Kane’s first novel. It fictionalises the true story of the Bethnal Green disaster during March 1943, in which 173 people were killed when they tried to enter the air raid shelter which had been set up in the tube station.
The Report begins with a section entitled ‘Retrospective’, which is told thirty years after the tragedy occurred. Tilly Barber is the first character which we are introduced to. She is ‘eight years older than the tragedy and remembers it well’. This retrospective narrative mainly focuses upon a television ‘special’ which details the night of the disaster, and the journalist who is interviewing survivors for the programme. The story then moves back in time to 1943, opening in a crowded cinema in Bethnal Green. The retrospective runs concurrently with the main story, a technique which works well in places but gives the book a slightly stilted feel in others.
The third person narrative perspective which Kane has used focuses on different characters in turn. As well as meeting Tilly, the reader is introduced to her mother Ada, father Robby and little sister Emma. There are also brief sections which follow Constables and shelter wardens working in the tube station. At first it seems as though the majority of the characters have nothing to do with one another aside from living in the same geographical area, but as the story progresses it is clear that the disaster brings them all together. Every character has a part to play, if not in the crush itself then in the aftermath. Although the narrative does involve others, it is the Barber family who are most prominent throughout.
The novel itself has been well-researched. Wartime details, such as the removal of all street signs and the strict clothing regulations which the population had to follow, have been woven into the narrative voice. This is a nice touch, particularly as Kane has not used the most obvious facts and figures she could have plucked out of the general consciousness. Instead, it feels as though she has dug deeper, scratching the well-known surface of World War Two’s rules and regulations in order to find statistics that are both fresh and surprising.
Although the narrative style works well in focusing on some of the people affected, Kane’s style of writing makes her focus on various characters seem a little impersonal at times. We as readers are somewhat detached from those involved, particularly with regard to their thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, the dialogue throughout The Report lets the story down somewhat. The exchanges do not always read as true-to-life conversations, and consequently serve to remove vital three-dimensionality from the characters. Many of them end up lacklustre and rather lifeless as a result.
The report of the novel’s title refers to what was written about the disaster by magistrate Laurence Dunne, following a public inquiry into the tragedy. Although interesting in parts, it feels as though Kane has made far too much of this as an element of the story. No character names have been used for the most part when the inquiry is dealt with, and it is unclear as to who said what in each exchange. This adds another layer of detachment to the story.
The narrative itself does sometimes have a choppy feel about it, merely due to the sheer number of commas used throughout. This makes the book seem a little fragmented at times and it does not flow as well as it could.
The Report would perhaps have been a more heartrending novel had it been told from the first person narrative perspective. This would have built up the emotions of the characters, enabling us as readers to fully grasp and understand what they are going through, rather than merely being detached observers. I also feel that the book would be a far more moving account had it been written as a continuous narrative of the evening, rather than also being looked at in retrospective. The sections which dealt with looking back on the disaster were a little repetitive and really took focus away from the often strong retelling of the tragedy. It is certainly an interesting event to base a novel on, but as an overall novel, it feels as though it is not quite done the justice which it deserves.
The Report begins with a section entitled ‘Retrospective’, which is told thirty years after the tragedy occurred. Tilly Barber is the first character which we are introduced to. She is ‘eight years older than the tragedy and remembers it well’. This retrospective narrative mainly focuses upon a television ‘special’ which details the night of the disaster, and the journalist who is interviewing survivors for the programme. The story then moves back in time to 1943, opening in a crowded cinema in Bethnal Green. The retrospective runs concurrently with the main story, a technique which works well in places but gives the book a slightly stilted feel in others.
The third person narrative perspective which Kane has used focuses on different characters in turn. As well as meeting Tilly, the reader is introduced to her mother Ada, father Robby and little sister Emma. There are also brief sections which follow Constables and shelter wardens working in the tube station. At first it seems as though the majority of the characters have nothing to do with one another aside from living in the same geographical area, but as the story progresses it is clear that the disaster brings them all together. Every character has a part to play, if not in the crush itself then in the aftermath. Although the narrative does involve others, it is the Barber family who are most prominent throughout.
The novel itself has been well-researched. Wartime details, such as the removal of all street signs and the strict clothing regulations which the population had to follow, have been woven into the narrative voice. This is a nice touch, particularly as Kane has not used the most obvious facts and figures she could have plucked out of the general consciousness. Instead, it feels as though she has dug deeper, scratching the well-known surface of World War Two’s rules and regulations in order to find statistics that are both fresh and surprising.
Although the narrative style works well in focusing on some of the people affected, Kane’s style of writing makes her focus on various characters seem a little impersonal at times. We as readers are somewhat detached from those involved, particularly with regard to their thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, the dialogue throughout The Report lets the story down somewhat. The exchanges do not always read as true-to-life conversations, and consequently serve to remove vital three-dimensionality from the characters. Many of them end up lacklustre and rather lifeless as a result.
The report of the novel’s title refers to what was written about the disaster by magistrate Laurence Dunne, following a public inquiry into the tragedy. Although interesting in parts, it feels as though Kane has made far too much of this as an element of the story. No character names have been used for the most part when the inquiry is dealt with, and it is unclear as to who said what in each exchange. This adds another layer of detachment to the story.
The narrative itself does sometimes have a choppy feel about it, merely due to the sheer number of commas used throughout. This makes the book seem a little fragmented at times and it does not flow as well as it could.
The Report would perhaps have been a more heartrending novel had it been told from the first person narrative perspective. This would have built up the emotions of the characters, enabling us as readers to fully grasp and understand what they are going through, rather than merely being detached observers. I also feel that the book would be a far more moving account had it been written as a continuous narrative of the evening, rather than also being looked at in retrospective. The sections which dealt with looking back on the disaster were a little repetitive and really took focus away from the often strong retelling of the tragedy. It is certainly an interesting event to base a novel on, but as an overall novel, it feels as though it is not quite done the justice which it deserves.
October 5, 2010
galley from BEA / Publisher
Many thanks goes out to Graywolf Press for allowing me a copy of this book for review. I have mentioned in a past review that I tend to steer clear of books that deal in and around war, however @totesmarisa swore by Jessica Francis Kane's novel and talked me into giving it a shot. And I am so thankful that I did.
While The Report does partially take place during World War II, it's focus is solely on the Bethnal Green London Tube Disaster, in which 173 civilians died in a horrific accident on the steps of an air raid shelter.
Jessica does a brilliant job of creating a fictional version of the events that took place on that terrible night in March 1943.
She draws us in using sparse, specific prose to guide us through the panicked London streets as that fateful air siren went off, ushering the townspeople towards the shelter, and onto the crowded staircase... enabling us to visualize the slip and crush of bodies on the steps of the tube entrance, the suffocating death of those unfortunate souls who were unable to escape the twisted mess of bodies that piled one on top of the other in an effort to get under cover from the bombs they thought were coming.
She allowed us to listen to the interviews that were conducted, the survivors and shelter volunteers recounting what they remembered of that night, where they were, what they thought was going on, how they attempted to help, or walk away alive. We understood the frustration that Magistrate Laurence Dunne felt when each testimony seemed to contradict the one that came before.
She introduces us to the cover-up, the true details of the event that took place on those steps in the stairwell, the real story spoken to him by an innocent eight year old girl, a truth that Dunne knew should never be revealed to the public.
She plagues her characters with guilt, and shame, crippling loss, and a fierce determination to make things right.
To think that people once had to live in a state of blackout - heavy curtains drawn over windows, no lights allowed after dark - and struggle with food and flower bans, to live every moment in fear of the enemy dropping bombs on their town, rushing to the nearest shelter when the air raid sirens went off, scurrying and cramming into underground tube stations until given the all clear... To think that this was once a normal way to live.
I could not imagine living a life like that, let alone raising a child through it all. My generation is so far removed from that type of fear. We have been spoiled by free wi-fi, and gourmet coffee, and designer sunglasses. We cry and pout if we can't have what we want the moment we want it.
Jessica's novel helped me to gain a greater appreciation of the life I am living today, and opened my eyes to the way the world used to be. Her book encouraged me to research a moment in time that, up until I began reading The Report, I never even knew existed.
http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...
Many thanks goes out to Graywolf Press for allowing me a copy of this book for review. I have mentioned in a past review that I tend to steer clear of books that deal in and around war, however @totesmarisa swore by Jessica Francis Kane's novel and talked me into giving it a shot. And I am so thankful that I did.
While The Report does partially take place during World War II, it's focus is solely on the Bethnal Green London Tube Disaster, in which 173 civilians died in a horrific accident on the steps of an air raid shelter.
Jessica does a brilliant job of creating a fictional version of the events that took place on that terrible night in March 1943.
She draws us in using sparse, specific prose to guide us through the panicked London streets as that fateful air siren went off, ushering the townspeople towards the shelter, and onto the crowded staircase... enabling us to visualize the slip and crush of bodies on the steps of the tube entrance, the suffocating death of those unfortunate souls who were unable to escape the twisted mess of bodies that piled one on top of the other in an effort to get under cover from the bombs they thought were coming.
She allowed us to listen to the interviews that were conducted, the survivors and shelter volunteers recounting what they remembered of that night, where they were, what they thought was going on, how they attempted to help, or walk away alive. We understood the frustration that Magistrate Laurence Dunne felt when each testimony seemed to contradict the one that came before.
She introduces us to the cover-up, the true details of the event that took place on those steps in the stairwell, the real story spoken to him by an innocent eight year old girl, a truth that Dunne knew should never be revealed to the public.
She plagues her characters with guilt, and shame, crippling loss, and a fierce determination to make things right.
To think that people once had to live in a state of blackout - heavy curtains drawn over windows, no lights allowed after dark - and struggle with food and flower bans, to live every moment in fear of the enemy dropping bombs on their town, rushing to the nearest shelter when the air raid sirens went off, scurrying and cramming into underground tube stations until given the all clear... To think that this was once a normal way to live.
I could not imagine living a life like that, let alone raising a child through it all. My generation is so far removed from that type of fear. We have been spoiled by free wi-fi, and gourmet coffee, and designer sunglasses. We cry and pout if we can't have what we want the moment we want it.
Jessica's novel helped me to gain a greater appreciation of the life I am living today, and opened my eyes to the way the world used to be. Her book encouraged me to research a moment in time that, up until I began reading The Report, I never even knew existed.
http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...
March 15, 2012
Jessica Francis Kane has managed a remarkable feat.
The tragic accident that occurred on 3rd March 1943 when 173 ordinary civilians lost their lives trying to enter Bethnal Green air raid shelter is one of the least acknowledged and known tragedies of World War Two. As a self confessed history lover I have researched lots of aspects of World War Two and its impact on life in the UK. Indeed, there are countless books focussing purely on the Blitz and wartime London but even these tend to overlook the incident at Bethnal Green. What makes this event quite so heartbreaking and harrowing is that on this particular night, no German bombs fell on London. All those who died trying to get in to the shelter need not have. They could have all stayed home that night and been perfectly safe with their families.
Kane has taken this tragic event and crafted a stunning yet simple novel, which effortlessly blends fact with fiction. Focussing mainly on the report that was written by magistrate Laurence Dunne after the event to try and bring peace and resolution to the community, she shows the complexities of the human need for understanding, blame, the search for and role of truth, the depths of grief and how tragedy affects a community.
A multitude of characters are called upon for this: a young girl who just makes it out of the beginnings of the crush losing her younger sister and her voice; a local vicar who must deal with the devastation caused to the community; an employee of the town council who is a part of the crowd on the night of the crush and most document the belongings of all the deceased; the warden in charge of the shelter who feels weighted down and responsible for the tragedy of the night, a young reporter with ties to the incident trying to complete a documentary on the report and the incident thirty years later and Laurie Dunne who must try and make sense of the events of the night and find an answer to ease the people’s pain. Kane’s characters are all beautifully drawn out, detailed, flawed and real.
Lots of very real questions that emerge in the event of a tragedy are raised and Kane shows the dilemmas of trying to resolve them, as well as the limits to ever assigning a scapegoat to a tragedy. The Report is a stunning debut novel, with a very real insight in to human nature, needs and motivators and could teach us all about tragedy, trauma, devastation and a particular event of the war that should not be forgotten. It has definately made me think and will be probably one day be deserving of a re-read.
“Well it’s my practice always to hope people aren’t as bad as the worst thing they do”
The tragic accident that occurred on 3rd March 1943 when 173 ordinary civilians lost their lives trying to enter Bethnal Green air raid shelter is one of the least acknowledged and known tragedies of World War Two. As a self confessed history lover I have researched lots of aspects of World War Two and its impact on life in the UK. Indeed, there are countless books focussing purely on the Blitz and wartime London but even these tend to overlook the incident at Bethnal Green. What makes this event quite so heartbreaking and harrowing is that on this particular night, no German bombs fell on London. All those who died trying to get in to the shelter need not have. They could have all stayed home that night and been perfectly safe with their families.
Kane has taken this tragic event and crafted a stunning yet simple novel, which effortlessly blends fact with fiction. Focussing mainly on the report that was written by magistrate Laurence Dunne after the event to try and bring peace and resolution to the community, she shows the complexities of the human need for understanding, blame, the search for and role of truth, the depths of grief and how tragedy affects a community.
A multitude of characters are called upon for this: a young girl who just makes it out of the beginnings of the crush losing her younger sister and her voice; a local vicar who must deal with the devastation caused to the community; an employee of the town council who is a part of the crowd on the night of the crush and most document the belongings of all the deceased; the warden in charge of the shelter who feels weighted down and responsible for the tragedy of the night, a young reporter with ties to the incident trying to complete a documentary on the report and the incident thirty years later and Laurie Dunne who must try and make sense of the events of the night and find an answer to ease the people’s pain. Kane’s characters are all beautifully drawn out, detailed, flawed and real.
Lots of very real questions that emerge in the event of a tragedy are raised and Kane shows the dilemmas of trying to resolve them, as well as the limits to ever assigning a scapegoat to a tragedy. The Report is a stunning debut novel, with a very real insight in to human nature, needs and motivators and could teach us all about tragedy, trauma, devastation and a particular event of the war that should not be forgotten. It has definately made me think and will be probably one day be deserving of a re-read.
“Well it’s my practice always to hope people aren’t as bad as the worst thing they do”
October 10, 2012
"The Report" is a debut novel by American writer Jessica Francis Kane. It is a mixture of fact and fiction about the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War. If the extracts from professional reviews printed on the book's inside cover are anything to go by, it received wide critical praise when it was published. I don't think it's quite as good as those reviews seem to suggest. Nonetheless, it is a competent and sometimes fascinating novel about an incident that deserves much wider attention than it appears to have been given.
During the Blitz, London underground stations were used as air-raid shelters. On the evening of 3 March 1943, there was no German air raid on the city. However, the sirens went off. As a result, the people of Bethnal Green in east London rushed to their local underground station for safety. Someone tripped while descending the stairs and, in the ensuing crush and panic, 173 people lost their lives. They were either crushed to death or were asphyxiated. The details of this horrific accident were hushed up, for a variety of reasons. A report of the incident was written, but it was not published until the war was over. This novel is about the accident and its aftermath, in particular the loss felt by the local community and by the individual families who suffered a bereavement and also about the search for blame and the need for the people affected to be able to make sense of what appears to have been such a needless tragedy.
I applaud the relatively restrained writing style of Jessica Francis Kane. She does not try to sensationalise the events she describes. "The Report" is an intriguing and sensitive novel. However, the author's somewhat sober approach does sometimes introduce an element of dullness into what is otherwise a compelling and thought-provoking story. There were a few occasions when I became a bit bored with the book. Ms Kane is very good at getting across to the reader a sense of what things must have been like in east London during the Blitz. She makes us realise, for example, that anti-semitic feelings were more widespread in the local community at that time than one might imagine.
It may perhaps have been slightly overpraised, but there can be no doubt that "The Report" is a good novel that is worth reading. It also provides a valuable service in bringing to wider public attention the details of an incident that, I suspect, many readers will not have been aware of before starting the book. 7/10.
During the Blitz, London underground stations were used as air-raid shelters. On the evening of 3 March 1943, there was no German air raid on the city. However, the sirens went off. As a result, the people of Bethnal Green in east London rushed to their local underground station for safety. Someone tripped while descending the stairs and, in the ensuing crush and panic, 173 people lost their lives. They were either crushed to death or were asphyxiated. The details of this horrific accident were hushed up, for a variety of reasons. A report of the incident was written, but it was not published until the war was over. This novel is about the accident and its aftermath, in particular the loss felt by the local community and by the individual families who suffered a bereavement and also about the search for blame and the need for the people affected to be able to make sense of what appears to have been such a needless tragedy.
I applaud the relatively restrained writing style of Jessica Francis Kane. She does not try to sensationalise the events she describes. "The Report" is an intriguing and sensitive novel. However, the author's somewhat sober approach does sometimes introduce an element of dullness into what is otherwise a compelling and thought-provoking story. There were a few occasions when I became a bit bored with the book. Ms Kane is very good at getting across to the reader a sense of what things must have been like in east London during the Blitz. She makes us realise, for example, that anti-semitic feelings were more widespread in the local community at that time than one might imagine.
It may perhaps have been slightly overpraised, but there can be no doubt that "The Report" is a good novel that is worth reading. It also provides a valuable service in bringing to wider public attention the details of an incident that, I suspect, many readers will not have been aware of before starting the book. 7/10.
April 2, 2011
It was not until I was sent a copy of The Report by Jessica Francis Kane via the Amazon Vine programme that I became aware of the terrible disaster that happened at Bethnal Green Tube Station in March 1943. The station was being used as an air-raid shelter and that night 173 people were crushed to death as they were making their way down to the shelter.
Jessica Francis Kane's The Report is her fictional version of the events of that night, and of the following inquiry carried out by local magistrate Laurence Dunne.
The book begins in 1973, around the 30th anniversary of the disaster and Paul Barber is keen to make a commemorative TV documentary about the events of that night. He approaches the now retired Dunne to seek an interview with him, to ask if he can shed any light on how he completed the inquiry report so quickly and why it was not published immediately.
The novel goes back and forth - the build up of the actual event itself, and the terrible impact that the disaster had on the local people - the loss and the guilt and the feelings of a need for some sort of redemption.
The novel tells the facts but it's not a re-telling of the incident in the traditional way, it's a story that relays the feelings of that night, the panic, the fear, the terror and the tears. Characters are built up and become so realistic that I struggle now to imagine just who in the story was real and who has been created to enhance the story. I cared for the characters, I could almost feel their pain and their confusion and their anger and despair - wondering why this had happened, and how they would cope.
A book that makes you think about the blame culture that has grown in this world, about how people see events and how they perceive their own part in it.
An excellent debut novel and I look forward to reading more from this author.
Jessica Francis Kane's The Report is her fictional version of the events of that night, and of the following inquiry carried out by local magistrate Laurence Dunne.
The book begins in 1973, around the 30th anniversary of the disaster and Paul Barber is keen to make a commemorative TV documentary about the events of that night. He approaches the now retired Dunne to seek an interview with him, to ask if he can shed any light on how he completed the inquiry report so quickly and why it was not published immediately.
The novel goes back and forth - the build up of the actual event itself, and the terrible impact that the disaster had on the local people - the loss and the guilt and the feelings of a need for some sort of redemption.
The novel tells the facts but it's not a re-telling of the incident in the traditional way, it's a story that relays the feelings of that night, the panic, the fear, the terror and the tears. Characters are built up and become so realistic that I struggle now to imagine just who in the story was real and who has been created to enhance the story. I cared for the characters, I could almost feel their pain and their confusion and their anger and despair - wondering why this had happened, and how they would cope.
A book that makes you think about the blame culture that has grown in this world, about how people see events and how they perceive their own part in it.
An excellent debut novel and I look forward to reading more from this author.
October 1, 2011
It's a risky, unexpected move for a novel about a historical tragedy to focus not on the "action" of the event, but rather the bureaucratic reconstruction and presentation of it, but Jessica Francis Kane pulls it off. It's impressive how smoothly The Report balances direct engagement of questions about historical construction, textuality, and authorship with a keen, humane, but never sentimental focus on the lives at stake in how the Bethnal Green tragedy gets remembered.
I've probably made it sound terribly academic with that description, because of how softly the novel's self-awareness lay on the page. There are multiple reminders that this "history" is constructed, fiction rather than fact, but it's always organic to the character's experience rather than didactic authorial insertions. For instance, a character is asked why she has taken up drawing, and replies that,
There are sparrows maimed by bombs but rebuilding their nest, and there's a quilt of the German landscape sewn by many hands all over city so RAF bombers can practice their raids. Whether it's the report and its verdict on the Bethnal Green tragedy, or the nest or the quilt or even the potatoes that seem to be the only available food, this is a novel in which lives and stories are made from both what is available and what is needed. The fact that those things aren't the same for everyone all the time is what makes the story so compelling.
I've probably made it sound terribly academic with that description, because of how softly the novel's self-awareness lay on the page. There are multiple reminders that this "history" is constructed, fiction rather than fact, but it's always organic to the character's experience rather than didactic authorial insertions. For instance, a character is asked why she has taken up drawing, and replies that,
since the bombing had started, people had spent a lot of time saying, "It's unimaginable," but she thought they meant, "I hadn't imagined it before this."
Her blue eyes steady and dry, she said, "I will. I'll draw and remember and I won't be surprised again."
There are sparrows maimed by bombs but rebuilding their nest, and there's a quilt of the German landscape sewn by many hands all over city so RAF bombers can practice their raids. Whether it's the report and its verdict on the Bethnal Green tragedy, or the nest or the quilt or even the potatoes that seem to be the only available food, this is a novel in which lives and stories are made from both what is available and what is needed. The fact that those things aren't the same for everyone all the time is what makes the story so compelling.
August 27, 2010
I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway. I always enjoy material based in the WW2 era but this book was a little different as it doesn't really deal with anything on the war front.
This story alternates between two different timelines: one based in 1943 and one that occurs about 30 years later. It goes into an accident at a bomb shelter in London and deals with the aftermath and investigation that occurs.
What's surprising is that the accident occurs fairly early in the book which would make you think that the rest of the novel is anti-climatic but I still found it to be pretty gripping. The story jumps around a lot and deals with a large cast of characters similar to the movie Crash. While a lot of the characters might not have much or anything in common aside from their presence at the accident, I think all of their narratives flowed well together to give you a full picture of what really happened.
At first I found that the later timeline was a bit distracting but it does pay off in the end. There is one criticism I need to make about the book and that deals with the first person sequence of one of the victims at the very end of the book. I really felt that this wasn't necessary and that it was more of a cheap tacky thing that was added on to try to elicit some emotional response from the reader. For a book that deals in subtleties this really destroyed the mood of the book for me and it's a shame it happened at the end as there was no point to recover.
I still would highly recommend this book just keep in mind that you might want to skip that last piece that only covers about a page of the story.
This story alternates between two different timelines: one based in 1943 and one that occurs about 30 years later. It goes into an accident at a bomb shelter in London and deals with the aftermath and investigation that occurs.
What's surprising is that the accident occurs fairly early in the book which would make you think that the rest of the novel is anti-climatic but I still found it to be pretty gripping. The story jumps around a lot and deals with a large cast of characters similar to the movie Crash. While a lot of the characters might not have much or anything in common aside from their presence at the accident, I think all of their narratives flowed well together to give you a full picture of what really happened.
At first I found that the later timeline was a bit distracting but it does pay off in the end. There is one criticism I need to make about the book and that deals with the first person sequence of one of the victims at the very end of the book. I really felt that this wasn't necessary and that it was more of a cheap tacky thing that was added on to try to elicit some emotional response from the reader. For a book that deals in subtleties this really destroyed the mood of the book for me and it's a shame it happened at the end as there was no point to recover.
I still would highly recommend this book just keep in mind that you might want to skip that last piece that only covers about a page of the story.
August 1, 2011
I first heard about The Report when Jessica Francis Kane was interviewed on the radio, which was also the first time I had heard about the Bethnal Green tragedy; a crush which killed almost 200 people on a night where there wasn't a single bomb dropped on London. My Dad, who is really interested in WWII, bought the book and read it in about two days; and I too raced through it surprisingly quickly.
Essentially, The Report is split in two; bouncing between 1943 and 1973. In 1973, Paul Barber, a young filmmaker, tracks down Laurence Dunne who was in charge of the inquiry to ask him questions; whilst Kane also describes the real events of the tragedy, in addition to exploring the lives of people affected by the disaster; Laurence Dunne himself; Ada, a mother who lost one of her daughters in the crush; Warden Low a warden in charge of the shelter who blames himself for the crush and Bertram Lodge, a young gentleman who feels in someway responsible as he was involved in the crush.
It's not necessarily a traditional novel; there isn't a massive plot driving through it, although we do discover more about the life of Paul Barber and the inquiry itself is certainly interesting when Kane writes would-be exchanges between Dunne and the various witnesses. However, Kane's writing is well-paced and the 250-odd pages fly by quite quickly. It's also really interesting to learn about the lives of the less well-off Londoners during the Second World War; in particular the casual racism towards the refugees from Eastern Europe, namely the Jewish.
The Report is a really interesting, well-paced story of the very human search for an easy explanation in horrible circumstances.
Essentially, The Report is split in two; bouncing between 1943 and 1973. In 1973, Paul Barber, a young filmmaker, tracks down Laurence Dunne who was in charge of the inquiry to ask him questions; whilst Kane also describes the real events of the tragedy, in addition to exploring the lives of people affected by the disaster; Laurence Dunne himself; Ada, a mother who lost one of her daughters in the crush; Warden Low a warden in charge of the shelter who blames himself for the crush and Bertram Lodge, a young gentleman who feels in someway responsible as he was involved in the crush.
It's not necessarily a traditional novel; there isn't a massive plot driving through it, although we do discover more about the life of Paul Barber and the inquiry itself is certainly interesting when Kane writes would-be exchanges between Dunne and the various witnesses. However, Kane's writing is well-paced and the 250-odd pages fly by quite quickly. It's also really interesting to learn about the lives of the less well-off Londoners during the Second World War; in particular the casual racism towards the refugees from Eastern Europe, namely the Jewish.
The Report is a really interesting, well-paced story of the very human search for an easy explanation in horrible circumstances.
November 18, 2012
Bethnal Green wartime 1943 there was a ban on wartime weather forecasts. Some of the images from this book are horrific; there was a painting of a woman who had been blown into a tree by a bomb blast. The shrapnel from anti aircraft guns killed more than the bombers? Large poles where placed in all the parks to stop German aircraft from landing. The report following the accident was written by Laurence Dume worth following up about him. Ada had two children Emma and lily she could be labelled as the person who started the tragedy but with the loss of one of her daughters literally and metaphorically the other she paid a heavy price. Talking about Laurence Dunne’s father he was reported as “I don’t think he ever answered a question without asking one”. “How do you catch a trout dad? What do you suggest Paul?”
Ada knew her grief was ugly, bloated. It bulged and spilled out of her. He was good at asking lots of questions, until he died. Conversational warmth. Death demands a ceremony. An inquiry is just a kind of ceremony. To label as panic such imaginations lacks empathy. A crowd thinks in images. It is my hope that people aren’t as bad as the worst things they do.
The report is available via HMSO and was written by Laurence Dunne. The government suppressed the report until after the war, the rest is fiction.
The plaque at Bethnal Green reads Site of the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War. In memory of the 173 men, women and children who lost their lives on the evening of Wednesday 3rd March 1943 descending these steps to Bethnal Green underground air raid shelter. Not forgotten.
Ada knew her grief was ugly, bloated. It bulged and spilled out of her. He was good at asking lots of questions, until he died. Conversational warmth. Death demands a ceremony. An inquiry is just a kind of ceremony. To label as panic such imaginations lacks empathy. A crowd thinks in images. It is my hope that people aren’t as bad as the worst things they do.
The report is available via HMSO and was written by Laurence Dunne. The government suppressed the report until after the war, the rest is fiction.
The plaque at Bethnal Green reads Site of the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War. In memory of the 173 men, women and children who lost their lives on the evening of Wednesday 3rd March 1943 descending these steps to Bethnal Green underground air raid shelter. Not forgotten.
July 4, 2012
I read this book in two days, unusually quickly for me. I had some other things I was supposed to be doing during those two days, but once I began reading this book, I had to neglect everything else in order to get to the end of the story.
THE REPORT is a mystery, in a way. Early in the novel, a tragedy takes place. It's a real event that occurred during World War II: As residents in a London neighborhood entered a Tube station air raid shelter, a sudden crush of bodies led to 173 deaths. Kane learned of the incident when she came across the report by the magistrate who led the investigative inquiry. That report leaves many questions unresolved, and there's never been a complete explanation of what happened that evening, so Kane was inspired to write a work of fiction to offer some answers, as she discusses in this Beyond the Margins interview.
The resulting novel has two storylines. In one, Kane's cast of fictional characters, plus a fictionalized version of the real magistrate, get caught up in the tragedy and its immediate aftermath. In the other, several characters consider the event from a distance of thirty years. The two timelines are carefully woven together in a way that gradually exposes the secrets of the plot.
If you like historical fiction, unusual narrative structure, and mostly just a strong, compelling story, pick up a copy of THE REPORT.
THE REPORT is a mystery, in a way. Early in the novel, a tragedy takes place. It's a real event that occurred during World War II: As residents in a London neighborhood entered a Tube station air raid shelter, a sudden crush of bodies led to 173 deaths. Kane learned of the incident when she came across the report by the magistrate who led the investigative inquiry. That report leaves many questions unresolved, and there's never been a complete explanation of what happened that evening, so Kane was inspired to write a work of fiction to offer some answers, as she discusses in this Beyond the Margins interview.
The resulting novel has two storylines. In one, Kane's cast of fictional characters, plus a fictionalized version of the real magistrate, get caught up in the tragedy and its immediate aftermath. In the other, several characters consider the event from a distance of thirty years. The two timelines are carefully woven together in a way that gradually exposes the secrets of the plot.
If you like historical fiction, unusual narrative structure, and mostly just a strong, compelling story, pick up a copy of THE REPORT.
December 17, 2012
I enjoyed this fictional account of the Bethnal Green disaster of 1943. The underground station that was under construction at the time was used as an air raid shelter during the WWII.
On the night of 3rd March, 1943 a suspected air raid was taking place the air raid sirens had gone off and the Eastenders made there way to the underground station. As the crowd heard what they thought were bombs being dropped, panic set in and the crowd surged forwards causing people to fall. In the ensuing madness as more people fell the ones at the bottom died due to lack of oxygen and the weight of people on top of them.
I felt that the Author had brought to life in her fictional retelling of the story an event that could so easily have caused the disaster to occur. It's so easy in a moment of madness to do what Ada Baker did, she was trying to protect her own daughters and get into the shelter as quickly as she could. Ada did try to put right some of the wrongs by adopting one of the orphaned children and it's due to this child that the Report is given another airing in the 70's as he researches the truth behind what happened for a TV documentary that he's involved in.
This story is well written and is a moving account of the disaster, it draws you in. I will be looking for more books by this Author.
This reminded me in some ways of the madness that happened at Hillsborough in 1989, when a similar tragedy occurred.
On the night of 3rd March, 1943 a suspected air raid was taking place the air raid sirens had gone off and the Eastenders made there way to the underground station. As the crowd heard what they thought were bombs being dropped, panic set in and the crowd surged forwards causing people to fall. In the ensuing madness as more people fell the ones at the bottom died due to lack of oxygen and the weight of people on top of them.
I felt that the Author had brought to life in her fictional retelling of the story an event that could so easily have caused the disaster to occur. It's so easy in a moment of madness to do what Ada Baker did, she was trying to protect her own daughters and get into the shelter as quickly as she could. Ada did try to put right some of the wrongs by adopting one of the orphaned children and it's due to this child that the Report is given another airing in the 70's as he researches the truth behind what happened for a TV documentary that he's involved in.
This story is well written and is a moving account of the disaster, it draws you in. I will be looking for more books by this Author.
This reminded me in some ways of the madness that happened at Hillsborough in 1989, when a similar tragedy occurred.
November 15, 2016
The Report is a novel based upon the tragic events at Bethnal Green Tube station, an unfinished station in 1943, when it was used as a shelter with bunks lining the walls, for the local inhabitants to spend time sheltering from the air raids. Out of the 173 people who died in the crush the majority were women and children.
The book goes back to the events of the day as we get an insight into how Laurence Dunne wrote the report for the government in the weeks following the tragedy. The book explores via some of the survivors the different emotions that they experienced. Interspersed with this is a young man who wishes to interview Laurence Dunne in order to interview him as part of a film about the disaster 30 years after the event.
The book is well structured and well written we see how reporting of events like this during the war was heavily censored in the belief that it would be damaging to morale. I got a real feeling of how people's lives had been totally changed during the war years.
This book although not long deals with so many different issues, how many wanted someone to blame, how those who felt guilty or inadequate managed to live with those feelings and how being a survivor changes your life forever.
I am so glad I read this book, I remember my Grandmother showing me the plaque at the tube station when I was a young girl, this book gave a well rounded insight into what life was like for the inhabitants of Bethnal Green after the disaster.
The book goes back to the events of the day as we get an insight into how Laurence Dunne wrote the report for the government in the weeks following the tragedy. The book explores via some of the survivors the different emotions that they experienced. Interspersed with this is a young man who wishes to interview Laurence Dunne in order to interview him as part of a film about the disaster 30 years after the event.
The book is well structured and well written we see how reporting of events like this during the war was heavily censored in the belief that it would be damaging to morale. I got a real feeling of how people's lives had been totally changed during the war years.
This book although not long deals with so many different issues, how many wanted someone to blame, how those who felt guilty or inadequate managed to live with those feelings and how being a survivor changes your life forever.
I am so glad I read this book, I remember my Grandmother showing me the plaque at the tube station when I was a young girl, this book gave a well rounded insight into what life was like for the inhabitants of Bethnal Green after the disaster.
May 31, 2012
Good but should be great...
No, it does not merit the rave reviews. But it is a competent book that ( oh, and here I go AGAIN) if an agent or publisher's editor had taken the time to point out the flaws...could have been great.
The tube disaster is not unknown...there are documentaries...but it is fertile and moving ground for a novel about East End life and a world now gone.
No..we don't get this...yet again we get one of these first person, present and past to and fro books ( publishers PLEASE. Move. On.)...and it takes three chapters to engage.
When we get to the enquiry it is truly gripping. Truly. And at that point you feel the book is worth reading just for this. It is flawlessly done and beautifully constructed.
But, that is only one part of the book: this writer has a little to learn about engaging our sympathy and pace and structure. Several times I nearly gave up and turned pages and we don't like so many of the characters or care.
If we'd had a build up to the horror that had more suspense, this could have been brillaint but we practically get the disaster before we care about anyone involved.
Not sure I'd buy another...
No, it does not merit the rave reviews. But it is a competent book that ( oh, and here I go AGAIN) if an agent or publisher's editor had taken the time to point out the flaws...could have been great.
The tube disaster is not unknown...there are documentaries...but it is fertile and moving ground for a novel about East End life and a world now gone.
No..we don't get this...yet again we get one of these first person, present and past to and fro books ( publishers PLEASE. Move. On.)...and it takes three chapters to engage.
When we get to the enquiry it is truly gripping. Truly. And at that point you feel the book is worth reading just for this. It is flawlessly done and beautifully constructed.
But, that is only one part of the book: this writer has a little to learn about engaging our sympathy and pace and structure. Several times I nearly gave up and turned pages and we don't like so many of the characters or care.
If we'd had a build up to the horror that had more suspense, this could have been brillaint but we practically get the disaster before we care about anyone involved.
Not sure I'd buy another...
June 30, 2013
This novel is inspired by the wartime disaster at Bethnal Green tube station when 173 people died and many were injured in a crush to get down the steps to safety during an air raid. The book looks at what happened through the stories of a family caught up in the disaster, people affected by it, the individual carrying out an enquiry into its causes and, some years later, a documentary maker researching a TV programme on the events.
This is a short novel, very simply written, which takes the reader into the minds of those involved in the tragedy and shows the long-term effects of such an event. Wartime London is evoked without the need for many pages of descriptions and I thought the exhausted, emotionally-withdrawn characters of those under near-permanent siege were well-drawn. I was also interested in the political aspect of the enquiry and the Government reaction to it.
I read the book in virtually one sitting and was very involved in it while reading. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this period in history and in the effect of war on ordinary people.
This is a short novel, very simply written, which takes the reader into the minds of those involved in the tragedy and shows the long-term effects of such an event. Wartime London is evoked without the need for many pages of descriptions and I thought the exhausted, emotionally-withdrawn characters of those under near-permanent siege were well-drawn. I was also interested in the political aspect of the enquiry and the Government reaction to it.
I read the book in virtually one sitting and was very involved in it while reading. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this period in history and in the effect of war on ordinary people.
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