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Their Finest Hour and a Half
It's 1940. In a small advertising agency in Soho, London, Catrin Cole writes snappy lines for Vida Elastic and So-Bee-Fee gravy browning. But the nation is in peril, all skills are transferable and there's a place in the war effort for those who have a knack with words.
Catrin is conscripted into the world of propaganda films. After a short spell promoting the joy of swedes for the Ministry of Food, she finds herself writing dialogue for 'Just an Ordinary Wednesday', a heart-warming but largely fabricated 'true story' about rescue and romance on the beaches of Dunkirk. And as bombs start to fall on London, she discovers that there's just as much drama, comedy and passion behind the scenes as there is in front of the camera ...
Catrin is conscripted into the world of propaganda films. After a short spell promoting the joy of swedes for the Ministry of Food, she finds herself writing dialogue for 'Just an Ordinary Wednesday', a heart-warming but largely fabricated 'true story' about rescue and romance on the beaches of Dunkirk. And as bombs start to fall on London, she discovers that there's just as much drama, comedy and passion behind the scenes as there is in front of the camera ...
415 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
272 people are currently reading
2620 people want to read
About the author
Lissa Evans
20 books482 followersAfter a brief career in medicine, and an even briefer one in stand-up, Lissa Evans became a comedy producer, first in radio and then in television. Her first novel, Spencer's List, was published in 2002, and since then she has written three more books for adults (two of them longlisted for the Orange/Baileys Prize) and two for children (the first of them shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal). Her two most recent books for adults were set in London during the Second World War; one of them, 'Their Finest Hour and a Half' has now been made into a film entitled 'Their Finest', starring Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 298 reviews
March 7, 2016
Their Finest Hour is about the making of a movie during the blitz. Initially I was struck by the lovely subtle wit of the voice of this. Such a smooth gliding surface to her prose like a layer of freshly fallen snow. Evans did a fine job of setting up the novel, evoking the atmosphere and telling little details of the times really well. The research seamlessly stitched into the fabric and adding a great deal of vitality of colour. However it began to become apparent that this novel is too long. At least 100 pages too long. And the subject and characters just didn’t have enough vitality to sustain a 400 pg. novel. The characters, not the most inspired cast to begin with, began to become tiresome. Ambrose, the ageing narcissistic actor whose vanity is repeatedly punctured, got away with being a cliché for a while but he kept repeating the same routine to the point where you could predict his every self-important and misanthropic response. The rather dowdy and unassuming Edith (scenes when she worked at Madame Taussaud’s were however brilliant) and the shell-shocked and anaemically formal Albert were touching for a while but hardly original or inspired as characters. The best character Catlin, the young female who finds a greater sense of autonomy and self-assurance during and because of the war, though again clichéd, begin to disappear from the novel just when she’s needed to support it. The vaudeville humour too began to become a bit too slapstick. Even the research began to become overwhelming. A kind of blitzkrieg of period detail as if Evans was determined to shoehorn in every little piece of fascinating data she had picked up while researching. There’s some really good comic writing. But unfortunately the long dragged out nature of this novel and its clichéd characters ended up diminishing this book from a four star affair to a barely three star one.
October 31, 2016
3.5 stars.
Set in England during World War II, this is a character driven story about the making of a movie under the most stressful of circumstances. Writers, actors, directors, crew and their accompanying egos all muddle in together to tell the story of two sisters who took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. Equal parts hilarity and pathos ensue.
I loved most of the characters, with the exception of Ambrose. I spent a good part of the book wishing a bomb would land on him. I see what you did there Lissa Evans!
This book is being made into a movie and I can see why. Lissa Evans is a talented writer with a special gift for creating memorable characters and evoking an era. Although I think that her book Crooked Heart, also set during World War II, is superior to this one, I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.
Set in England during World War II, this is a character driven story about the making of a movie under the most stressful of circumstances. Writers, actors, directors, crew and their accompanying egos all muddle in together to tell the story of two sisters who took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. Equal parts hilarity and pathos ensue.
I loved most of the characters, with the exception of Ambrose. I spent a good part of the book wishing a bomb would land on him. I see what you did there Lissa Evans!
This book is being made into a movie and I can see why. Lissa Evans is a talented writer with a special gift for creating memorable characters and evoking an era. Although I think that her book Crooked Heart, also set during World War II, is superior to this one, I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.
September 3, 2017
Dunkirk at the Odeon
I so loved Lissa Evans' recent novel Crooked Heart, about a precocious boy and crafty woman making common cause in the London Blitz, that I immediately ordered this earlier book, set in the same period. Besides, I was tickled by the title and its cheeky rewriting of Churchill's famous phrase about the Battle of Britain heroes. Only it is not so cheeky as it sounds, for Evans' subject is the making of a patriotic movie about Dunkirk, and ninety minutes in those days was the standard running time.
Evans credits Norman Longmate's How We Lived Then for sparking her interest in the home front in WW2. But she has clearly absorbed a lot of novels, movies, and magazines of the period, for she has got the language and stock types down pat. It is the same seam that Kate Atkinson mined in Life After Life, the popular literature of my own childhood. Evans has just about as many plot shifts and rapid gear changes as Atkinson, but she uses them for comedy. This is, after all, the world of make-believe: advertising, propaganda, entertainment, what's the difference? And just about anyone can come along and stick their oar in. So the story of two twin girls who stole their father's boat to assist in the rescue at Dunkirk gets made whether the basic facts are true or not. But they have to add a gallant Tommy boyfriend, the rescue of an abandoned French dog, a drunken uncle who nonetheless manages to save the day despite being mortally wounded—and, oh yes, at the last-minute insistence of the War Office, a handsome American journalist, wished upon the all-Brit Dunkirk in the hopes of persuading the United States to enter the war.
All this is very funny, actually, and the typed sections of screenplay that pepper the pages look pretty authentic. They are the work of a lonely bachelor named Buckley, his colleague Parfitt who supplies the gags, and, increasingly, a twenty-year old girl named Catrin just up from Wales who gets recruited to do the women's dialogue, otherwise known as "slop." Catrin, who has many more resources than first appears, is the nearest thing to a protagonist the book has, and the story is always interesting when she is on screen. But she is only one of a large number of characters, among them an "aging, enormously conceited, moderately talented" (and tiresome) actor, his hard-pressed agent, an unmarried woman who works for Madame Tussaud's and gets roped in to the wardrobe department, and a mild-mannered male virgin in his thirties who somehow becomes military adviser on the film. Of course the large cast of lovable or at least bizarre comic types is also typical for films of this era, as is the addition of a spoonful or two of pathos and a pinch of tragedy to the general comedy, so Evans is right on the money. But I still prefer the tighter focus of her more recent novel.
======
[2017] Two movies have recently brought this back into focus. One is the blockbuster Dunkirk, a big-screen look at the evacuation, technically brilliant, but almost totally lacking the human touches that—Evans is right—would have been essential to a film at that time. I found it dry and emotionally unaffecting. The other is the movie adaptation of this novel, called simply Their Finest. I liked this even more than Evans's original. It reduced the number of characters and incidents, but made them more realistic, less blatantly comic. The result was a finer balance between comedy and drama, still a minor film perhaps, but often quite moving.
I so loved Lissa Evans' recent novel Crooked Heart, about a precocious boy and crafty woman making common cause in the London Blitz, that I immediately ordered this earlier book, set in the same period. Besides, I was tickled by the title and its cheeky rewriting of Churchill's famous phrase about the Battle of Britain heroes. Only it is not so cheeky as it sounds, for Evans' subject is the making of a patriotic movie about Dunkirk, and ninety minutes in those days was the standard running time.
Evans credits Norman Longmate's How We Lived Then for sparking her interest in the home front in WW2. But she has clearly absorbed a lot of novels, movies, and magazines of the period, for she has got the language and stock types down pat. It is the same seam that Kate Atkinson mined in Life After Life, the popular literature of my own childhood. Evans has just about as many plot shifts and rapid gear changes as Atkinson, but she uses them for comedy. This is, after all, the world of make-believe: advertising, propaganda, entertainment, what's the difference? And just about anyone can come along and stick their oar in. So the story of two twin girls who stole their father's boat to assist in the rescue at Dunkirk gets made whether the basic facts are true or not. But they have to add a gallant Tommy boyfriend, the rescue of an abandoned French dog, a drunken uncle who nonetheless manages to save the day despite being mortally wounded—and, oh yes, at the last-minute insistence of the War Office, a handsome American journalist, wished upon the all-Brit Dunkirk in the hopes of persuading the United States to enter the war.
All this is very funny, actually, and the typed sections of screenplay that pepper the pages look pretty authentic. They are the work of a lonely bachelor named Buckley, his colleague Parfitt who supplies the gags, and, increasingly, a twenty-year old girl named Catrin just up from Wales who gets recruited to do the women's dialogue, otherwise known as "slop." Catrin, who has many more resources than first appears, is the nearest thing to a protagonist the book has, and the story is always interesting when she is on screen. But she is only one of a large number of characters, among them an "aging, enormously conceited, moderately talented" (and tiresome) actor, his hard-pressed agent, an unmarried woman who works for Madame Tussaud's and gets roped in to the wardrobe department, and a mild-mannered male virgin in his thirties who somehow becomes military adviser on the film. Of course the large cast of lovable or at least bizarre comic types is also typical for films of this era, as is the addition of a spoonful or two of pathos and a pinch of tragedy to the general comedy, so Evans is right on the money. But I still prefer the tighter focus of her more recent novel.
======
[2017] Two movies have recently brought this back into focus. One is the blockbuster Dunkirk, a big-screen look at the evacuation, technically brilliant, but almost totally lacking the human touches that—Evans is right—would have been essential to a film at that time. I found it dry and emotionally unaffecting. The other is the movie adaptation of this novel, called simply Their Finest. I liked this even more than Evans's original. It reduced the number of characters and incidents, but made them more realistic, less blatantly comic. The result was a finer balance between comedy and drama, still a minor film perhaps, but often quite moving.
September 16, 2014
This book is just about perfect: expertly written in a style reminiscent of the literary fashions of the 1940s; full of wonderful characters that begin as stereotypes and take on flesh in an extraordinary way; expertly plotted and paced, with each development and surprise perfectly timed; unsentimental yet full of feeling; painstakingly researched; and on top of all that, it tells an absolutely fascinating story.
That story is set in 1940-41 and tells of the making of a British propaganda film about an incident that allegedly took place during the Allied withdrawal from Dunkirk. Three plot lines intertwine. The first features a fading former leading man in B-grade British films of the 1930s who has not yet realized that his career has tanked; he’s a typical second-rate thespian, all vanity and superficiality and contempt for humanity at large. The second follows the career of a plain, shy, lonely seamstress who works in the wardrobe department at Madame Tussauds, the famous London wax museum, and has a tendency to attract German bombs. The third storyline centres on a young, pretty Welsh woman, the taken-for-granted mistress of a famous painter, who quits her copywriter’s job at a moribund advertising agency to go and work for the Ministry of Information as a scriptwriter on propaganda films. It is her determination to turn the Dunkirk incident into a film that tells the ‘truth’ about it – not the factual truth, which turns out to be somewhat disappointing, but an emotional truth – which results in the making of the film on which the plot of the book centres. That film, incidentally, is shot on location on a Norfolk beach and in a somewhat dingy studio in South London.
Each of these plot lines contains a love story, but the point of the story is not the progress of the love affair but the redemption or self-realization that results from it. Not all of the stories have happy endings.
Finally, the book contains two really excellent canine characters who are quite as well-rounded and memorable as the human ones. No kiddie business here; the dogs are dogs, not humans in disguise, but anyone who knows dogs well will be able to vouch for the veracity of the character-drawing.
All in all, an unqualified success. I tend to reserve my five-star ratings for world-changing or life-changing books, but this novel, while it certainly doesn’t fall into that category, probably deserves the extra star. It really is that good; my compliments to the talented and capable Ms. Evans.
That story is set in 1940-41 and tells of the making of a British propaganda film about an incident that allegedly took place during the Allied withdrawal from Dunkirk. Three plot lines intertwine. The first features a fading former leading man in B-grade British films of the 1930s who has not yet realized that his career has tanked; he’s a typical second-rate thespian, all vanity and superficiality and contempt for humanity at large. The second follows the career of a plain, shy, lonely seamstress who works in the wardrobe department at Madame Tussauds, the famous London wax museum, and has a tendency to attract German bombs. The third storyline centres on a young, pretty Welsh woman, the taken-for-granted mistress of a famous painter, who quits her copywriter’s job at a moribund advertising agency to go and work for the Ministry of Information as a scriptwriter on propaganda films. It is her determination to turn the Dunkirk incident into a film that tells the ‘truth’ about it – not the factual truth, which turns out to be somewhat disappointing, but an emotional truth – which results in the making of the film on which the plot of the book centres. That film, incidentally, is shot on location on a Norfolk beach and in a somewhat dingy studio in South London.
Each of these plot lines contains a love story, but the point of the story is not the progress of the love affair but the redemption or self-realization that results from it. Not all of the stories have happy endings.
Finally, the book contains two really excellent canine characters who are quite as well-rounded and memorable as the human ones. No kiddie business here; the dogs are dogs, not humans in disguise, but anyone who knows dogs well will be able to vouch for the veracity of the character-drawing.
All in all, an unqualified success. I tend to reserve my five-star ratings for world-changing or life-changing books, but this novel, while it certainly doesn’t fall into that category, probably deserves the extra star. It really is that good; my compliments to the talented and capable Ms. Evans.
June 25, 2024
This was a strange one.
An interesting subject - a story of making a patriotic movie during the Blitz in the UK.
Clearly skillfully written and quite engaging but ultimately left me with a bit of a 'huh' feeling. The book followed a few characters who were involved in making said movie but in such different capacities their paths barely intersected and they didn't really interact with each other. Not that such technique of having a few separate stories in a novel can't ever work, but not sure it did this time. Each story came to its own separate climax and the whole book never really came together because of it.
I found the characters fairly interesting, even if some of them seemed a little too predictable (particularly the vapid actor, who once upon a time used to play handsome love interest, now has to come to terms with his own aging and being cast as someone's drunk uncle).
All in all, an engaging read that I will probably not hold in my memory for too long. Despite it happening during the Blitz, the stakes never felt particularly high.
I find British books about the Blitz in general rather quaint. After the horrors described in Polish books about WWII and relayed to us by our grandparents, the British experience seems borderline charming.
An interesting subject - a story of making a patriotic movie during the Blitz in the UK.
Clearly skillfully written and quite engaging but ultimately left me with a bit of a 'huh' feeling. The book followed a few characters who were involved in making said movie but in such different capacities their paths barely intersected and they didn't really interact with each other. Not that such technique of having a few separate stories in a novel can't ever work, but not sure it did this time. Each story came to its own separate climax and the whole book never really came together because of it.
I found the characters fairly interesting, even if some of them seemed a little too predictable (particularly the vapid actor, who once upon a time used to play handsome love interest, now has to come to terms with his own aging and being cast as someone's drunk uncle).
All in all, an engaging read that I will probably not hold in my memory for too long. Despite it happening during the Blitz, the stakes never felt particularly high.
I find British books about the Blitz in general rather quaint. After the horrors described in Polish books about WWII and relayed to us by our grandparents, the British experience seems borderline charming.
November 27, 2022
Just listened to this in audio format, and it was quite good, even if the male reader's falsetto for Catrin was not great. I highly recommend this amusing book to anyone who enjoys reading about life in London during WWII. The movie is not as good, but it's worthwhile just for Bill Nighy's performance.
On this second pass I picked up some subtle hints which might explain Hilliard's unpleasantness, that I didn't recall from my first read.
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Previous review:
4.5 stars, really good! This is a novel about the making of a film in London during the worst of the Blitz, in 1940-41. Bombs are falling almost nightly, and every morning people worry about anyone who’s late to work. Despite that the book is very funny, as well as being poignant, and the setting feels absolutely vivid.
The Ministry of Information has commissioned a movie meant to boost the morale of the British people and to enlist the sympathy of filmgoers in the United States. The writers take a dubious news article about twin girls rescuing soldiers from Dunkirk and distort the story even further to create their inspiring script. Then they’re compelled to add an American character, somehow placed on the scene at Dunkirk.
A large part of the story is told from the point of view of Ambrose Hilliard, an aging actor from the era of silent films who is vain and snobbish to the point of being delusional. (He’s played in the movie by Bill Nighy.) He is staunchly resisting the segue from leading man to character actor, but after a blunt speech from his agent he accepts a role in the Dunkirk movie as the drunken uncle with a redeeming death scene. I like the way his rather unpleasant character is himself somewhat redeemed, by the end of the book, without him actually changing very much.
The story is also told through the eyes of Catrin, a young Welsh woman for whom the war has afforded the amazing opportunity to work as a copywriter, if only for women’s dialog and “slop”. Also she can do “a bit of tidying” in the office. The banter among the script writers is hilarious, and so is Catrin’s first exposure to filmmaking - a nice contrast to Hilliard’s jaded view.
Then we have lonely Edith, whose job is to maintain the historical costumes at Madame Tussaud’s (“reattaching paste pearls to Ann Boleyn’s stomacher”). When both the museum and her dreary boarding house are bombed, Edith visits family on the coast, where the movie is being filmed, and where she meets Arthur, a lonely lance corporal seconded to the move set as a “special military advisor” because he was at Dunkirk. (“Well, it was all a bit of a muddle.”) His major contribution is to mention that the actors’ pristine military uniforms should look... well, “more weathered” is what he settles on.
I’ll warn you that the ending is not entirely happy, although the book is a bit less sad than the movie, because the movie omits one of the happy storylines.
On this second pass I picked up some subtle hints which might explain Hilliard's unpleasantness, that I didn't recall from my first read.
-------------------------------------------
Previous review:
4.5 stars, really good! This is a novel about the making of a film in London during the worst of the Blitz, in 1940-41. Bombs are falling almost nightly, and every morning people worry about anyone who’s late to work. Despite that the book is very funny, as well as being poignant, and the setting feels absolutely vivid.
The Ministry of Information has commissioned a movie meant to boost the morale of the British people and to enlist the sympathy of filmgoers in the United States. The writers take a dubious news article about twin girls rescuing soldiers from Dunkirk and distort the story even further to create their inspiring script. Then they’re compelled to add an American character, somehow placed on the scene at Dunkirk.
A large part of the story is told from the point of view of Ambrose Hilliard, an aging actor from the era of silent films who is vain and snobbish to the point of being delusional. (He’s played in the movie by Bill Nighy.) He is staunchly resisting the segue from leading man to character actor, but after a blunt speech from his agent he accepts a role in the Dunkirk movie as the drunken uncle with a redeeming death scene. I like the way his rather unpleasant character is himself somewhat redeemed, by the end of the book, without him actually changing very much.
The story is also told through the eyes of Catrin, a young Welsh woman for whom the war has afforded the amazing opportunity to work as a copywriter, if only for women’s dialog and “slop”. Also she can do “a bit of tidying” in the office. The banter among the script writers is hilarious, and so is Catrin’s first exposure to filmmaking - a nice contrast to Hilliard’s jaded view.
Then we have lonely Edith, whose job is to maintain the historical costumes at Madame Tussaud’s (“reattaching paste pearls to Ann Boleyn’s stomacher”). When both the museum and her dreary boarding house are bombed, Edith visits family on the coast, where the movie is being filmed, and where she meets Arthur, a lonely lance corporal seconded to the move set as a “special military advisor” because he was at Dunkirk. (“Well, it was all a bit of a muddle.”) His major contribution is to mention that the actors’ pristine military uniforms should look... well, “more weathered” is what he settles on.
I’ll warn you that the ending is not entirely happy, although the book is a bit less sad than the movie, because the movie omits one of the happy storylines.
June 19, 2014
Sometimes you read simply for the joy of being transported to a different time and place in the company of easy-to-get-on-with characters. If the book is amusing so much the better. On this basis Their Finest Hour and a Half ticks all the boxes. The insufferably self-absorbed actor is a special delight.
The writing never over-reaches itself and is therefore satisfying and easily digestible - a chicken-soup of a book.
A great holiday read that contains, according to my 92 year old Mum, the most realistic description of being in an air-raid that she has ever read.
The writing never over-reaches itself and is therefore satisfying and easily digestible - a chicken-soup of a book.
A great holiday read that contains, according to my 92 year old Mum, the most realistic description of being in an air-raid that she has ever read.
January 27, 2021
3.5 stars. I’ve only rounded down because I’ve preferred Lisa Evans’ other books set before and around WWII and preferred them. Interesting to read about the propaganda and film industry and the Ministry for Information.
April 14, 2017
Set during the blitz, a screenwriter writes a script for a film about Dunkirk. There are many quirky and endearing characters with lots of humor and sadness. Outstanding.
January 11, 2015
Gloriously funny and touching in places, it shines a comic light on a little thought about corner of the war effort.
January 8, 2010
London. 1940. There’s a war on, and it doesn’t look like being over any time soon. That’s why the Ministry of Information is looking to make a film. A film to boost morale, and maybe draw the USA a little closer to what is going on in Europe. Propaganda? Well why not?!
It’s not going to be easy, with so many of the country’s finest unavailable. But it makes a wonderful story.
It is told through four characters, on separate paths that will, of course, converge.
First there’s Catrin Cole. She comes from small town Wales, but she left home to follow her artist lover to the bright lights of London. She works as a copywriter, but she’s spotted as a writer with potential by the Ministry and recruited. And so we learn with Catrin the finer points of writing for the screen and dealing with the strange world of both civil servants and film industry people.
Catrin proves to be an adept recruit. She uncovers the story of twin sisters helping the Dunkirk evacuation that forms the basis of the much vaunted film. Though the sisters probably wouldn’t recognise their story after the film people have had their way with it.
There’s Ambrose Hilliard. He was a matinée idol back in the days of the silent screen and he is still a leading man in his own mind. Not though on anyone else’s. What will he make of the supporting, less than heroic, character role he is offered?
He has a huge ego, but you cannot help feeling the sadness of his situation and hoping he will accept that his expectations must change.
And there’s Edith Beadmore, a quiet middle-aged woman. She is a seamstress, working as Madame Tussaud’s, behaving properly and hoping that one day something interesting will happen to her. Maybe it will. You can’t help hoping so.
Finally, there’s Lance Corporal Arthur Frith, a simple soul who is none to sure why he has been appointed Special Military Adviser to the film. It could be because he is a survivor of Dunkirk, or, more likely, it could be an administrative error. And maybe it’s fate.
All four principal characters are beautifully drawn, and so utterly believable. You want to follow all of their stories, to find out what happens to them.
Those stories come together beautifully to tell the story of the film.
There’s much to enjoy. Gentle comedy – the kind that comes from observation and affection. And some rather broader comedy when filming finally gets underway.
But that’s balanced by very real emotions. And the picture painted of life in London, with nightly bombing raids and all of the privations of war is utterly convincing.
This is a book full of wonderful details, incidents and characters. There’s a lot going on and it would be so easy for things to go wrong, but they don’t.
Their Finest Hour and a Half speaks wonderfully of lives that change, in small and in big ways, as the result of one propaganda film.
It’s one of those books well worth living in for a little while.
It’s not going to be easy, with so many of the country’s finest unavailable. But it makes a wonderful story.
It is told through four characters, on separate paths that will, of course, converge.
First there’s Catrin Cole. She comes from small town Wales, but she left home to follow her artist lover to the bright lights of London. She works as a copywriter, but she’s spotted as a writer with potential by the Ministry and recruited. And so we learn with Catrin the finer points of writing for the screen and dealing with the strange world of both civil servants and film industry people.
Catrin proves to be an adept recruit. She uncovers the story of twin sisters helping the Dunkirk evacuation that forms the basis of the much vaunted film. Though the sisters probably wouldn’t recognise their story after the film people have had their way with it.
There’s Ambrose Hilliard. He was a matinée idol back in the days of the silent screen and he is still a leading man in his own mind. Not though on anyone else’s. What will he make of the supporting, less than heroic, character role he is offered?
He has a huge ego, but you cannot help feeling the sadness of his situation and hoping he will accept that his expectations must change.
And there’s Edith Beadmore, a quiet middle-aged woman. She is a seamstress, working as Madame Tussaud’s, behaving properly and hoping that one day something interesting will happen to her. Maybe it will. You can’t help hoping so.
Finally, there’s Lance Corporal Arthur Frith, a simple soul who is none to sure why he has been appointed Special Military Adviser to the film. It could be because he is a survivor of Dunkirk, or, more likely, it could be an administrative error. And maybe it’s fate.
All four principal characters are beautifully drawn, and so utterly believable. You want to follow all of their stories, to find out what happens to them.
Those stories come together beautifully to tell the story of the film.
There’s much to enjoy. Gentle comedy – the kind that comes from observation and affection. And some rather broader comedy when filming finally gets underway.
But that’s balanced by very real emotions. And the picture painted of life in London, with nightly bombing raids and all of the privations of war is utterly convincing.
This is a book full of wonderful details, incidents and characters. There’s a lot going on and it would be so easy for things to go wrong, but they don’t.
Their Finest Hour and a Half speaks wonderfully of lives that change, in small and in big ways, as the result of one propaganda film.
It’s one of those books well worth living in for a little while.
May 16, 2018
Lately, I’ve been gravitating to WWII novels and I find myself really enjoying them. This came at the perfect time.
It’s interesting to read what people experienced during wartime. I find myself amazed at how strong and resilient people were. I think it’s human nature to deal with what is at hand, and break down later, if that is indeed what a person ends up doing. But, while many individuals are emotionally and/or physically scarred by war, they also often become more resilient if they are able to survive. War is an awful thing, and novels like this remind us just how abhorrent war is, but also highlight how strong humanity can be. As Robert E. Lee said, “It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.”
First half of book
* Very interesting characters, well thought out and rendered
* I liked the setup of the book, the way it mimics a script with the dividers: Advertisements, The Ministry of Information Presents…, Supporting Feature, Newsreel, Food Flash, Intermission, Main Feature, Forthcoming Attractions. I can envision that this is how films were presented in theatres at the time. And with the addition of the month and year references, it keeps the plot flow organized.
* Love Catrin! A young woman working during the war and deciding she has work to finish, even though her older husband expects her to follow him around England as he paints.
* Ambrose is the most obnoxious character, but very entertaining. It’s amazing how he is aware of so little of the truth of himself. The scene when his deceased agent’s sister, Sophie, calls him to inform him that she’s taking over her brother’s acting agency and that the job she would like to suggest him for is the only one he’ll receive for the next year is thrilling. Finally, someone tells him the truth about himself! His arrogance was taken down a couple of notches. (See pages 184-185)
* Edith is a great addition to the cast of characters. She’s quiet, but strong in her own way. The horrors of bombings in London have visited her twice, yet it’s only after the second time that she decides visit her cousin in the country.
Closing thoughts on second half of book
So much happened! The female main characters really came into their own, and it was so satisfying to see. Although the ending was bittersweet, I found it to be apropos. This was a refreshing take on an historical period, one that follows the lives of average people who have remained in London to carry on as best they can during wartime. Usually, WWII plots are peppered with espionage and wartime combat. Not this story! 3.5/5⭐️
It’s interesting to read what people experienced during wartime. I find myself amazed at how strong and resilient people were. I think it’s human nature to deal with what is at hand, and break down later, if that is indeed what a person ends up doing. But, while many individuals are emotionally and/or physically scarred by war, they also often become more resilient if they are able to survive. War is an awful thing, and novels like this remind us just how abhorrent war is, but also highlight how strong humanity can be. As Robert E. Lee said, “It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.”
First half of book
* Very interesting characters, well thought out and rendered
* I liked the setup of the book, the way it mimics a script with the dividers: Advertisements, The Ministry of Information Presents…, Supporting Feature, Newsreel, Food Flash, Intermission, Main Feature, Forthcoming Attractions. I can envision that this is how films were presented in theatres at the time. And with the addition of the month and year references, it keeps the plot flow organized.
* Love Catrin! A young woman working during the war and deciding she has work to finish, even though her older husband expects her to follow him around England as he paints.
* Ambrose is the most obnoxious character, but very entertaining. It’s amazing how he is aware of so little of the truth of himself. The scene when his deceased agent’s sister, Sophie, calls him to inform him that she’s taking over her brother’s acting agency and that the job she would like to suggest him for is the only one he’ll receive for the next year is thrilling. Finally, someone tells him the truth about himself! His arrogance was taken down a couple of notches. (See pages 184-185)
* Edith is a great addition to the cast of characters. She’s quiet, but strong in her own way. The horrors of bombings in London have visited her twice, yet it’s only after the second time that she decides visit her cousin in the country.
Closing thoughts on second half of book
So much happened! The female main characters really came into their own, and it was so satisfying to see. Although the ending was bittersweet, I found it to be apropos. This was a refreshing take on an historical period, one that follows the lives of average people who have remained in London to carry on as best they can during wartime. Usually, WWII plots are peppered with espionage and wartime combat. Not this story! 3.5/5⭐️
April 5, 2018
Five-star story, one-star narration
Just a note to say that the book is wonderful, but stay away from the audiobook. Peter Wickham was a terrible choice to read a book that has so much female dialog. Most of his female voices sound like children or Monty Python housewives. That’s a particular annoyance when he voices one of the main characters, Catrin Cole. It was also hard to differentiate the voices of some of his male characters from each other.
Please read the book—and see if you can find the excellent film version. Just don’t go for the audiobook.
Just a note to say that the book is wonderful, but stay away from the audiobook. Peter Wickham was a terrible choice to read a book that has so much female dialog. Most of his female voices sound like children or Monty Python housewives. That’s a particular annoyance when he voices one of the main characters, Catrin Cole. It was also hard to differentiate the voices of some of his male characters from each other.
Please read the book—and see if you can find the excellent film version. Just don’t go for the audiobook.
abandoned
April 11, 2016I read about half of this, and it just seems to be spinning its wheels and not getting anywhere much. It's not terrible, just not particularly good, despite the occasional funny moments, and I'd rather be reading something else.
June 5, 2016
@ SAM CLAFLIN TURN ON YOUR FUCKING LOCATION I WANNA FIGHT
August 7, 2017
Good story, interesting plot, potentially fascinating characters, but somehow the whole mix lacks vitality and strength and the narration is ever so slow I had to struggle to go through the book.
July 27, 2017
3.5-4 stars. Initial thoughts: Interesting to learn about how early propaganda films in England were handled, and while the misogyny and racism of the time was not surprising. I liked a couple of the characters, though I found myself very irritated by how things worked out for Ambrose. I liked Catrin (or however her name was spelled) and her unwillingness to lie in her screenplays, and how she learned the ropes.
November 1, 2016
Lissa Evans won my heart with Crooked Heart and this American release of her earlier WWII novel has a solid place on the shelf as well. Evans has a gift for delivering stories that bring familiar periods to life in new ways. In THEIR FINEST, we are invited into the lives of the mismatched crew involved in the making of a patriotic film in the crucial years of 1940-41. There's the over-the-hill, self-obsessed former leading man who hasn't yet realized he is no longer matinee idol material, a young woman who tumbles into a scriptwriting job via a stint in advertising, a shy costume maker at Madame Tussaud's and a former catering manager now a member of His Majesty's forces. Over the course of a year they will meet and their lives will be transformed by the experience of shooting a picture and the vagaries of war. It is not a plot driven novel, but rather depends on it's warm humor in depicting these various characters, warts and all, with humor and sympathy.
The book is in production as a film and while I think it will translate well to the screen (festival reviews say it does, with Bill Nighy stealing the show), I think it's pacing would have been more suited to a television series. One caveat, the US title (some googling reveals it's the film producers who are at fault) doesn't really suit the book. It was shortened from THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF which more effectively captures the book by riffing on the oft quoted phrase made famous by Winston Churchill, while simultaneously sending up the standard length of films of the era which hints at the central action of the book. THEIR FINEST just plops there and tells you nothing. UK cover was better too. The movie tie-in cover that's being used here is not awful, but is boring and does nothing to hint at the tone of the book.
The book is in production as a film and while I think it will translate well to the screen (festival reviews say it does, with Bill Nighy stealing the show), I think it's pacing would have been more suited to a television series. One caveat, the US title (some googling reveals it's the film producers who are at fault) doesn't really suit the book. It was shortened from THEIR FINEST HOUR AND A HALF which more effectively captures the book by riffing on the oft quoted phrase made famous by Winston Churchill, while simultaneously sending up the standard length of films of the era which hints at the central action of the book. THEIR FINEST just plops there and tells you nothing. UK cover was better too. The movie tie-in cover that's being used here is not awful, but is boring and does nothing to hint at the tone of the book.
October 5, 2015
I absolutely loved this book. Although not born until after the war and therefore having no experience of it, I couldn't believe that Lissa Evans had not. And yet she is far too young to have lived through the blitz. An extraordinary feat, so subtly achieved. I couldn't agree less with a previous reviewer who felt there was too much research showing - I felt she wore her learning as lightly as gossamer. It was as though she was writing about NOW, for people who would know exactly what she was talking about because they were experiencing the same present. I could smell the cordite, the brick dust, the fishpaste sandwiches, the rather under-washed hair, see the seediness and feel the overwhelming weariness of it all. Despite all that, it was incredibly funny. I felt the characters were realistic and well-rounded - Ambrose was a joy and worth reading the book for on his own! Neither did I think it was overlong - I could have read another 100 pages happily. Why is Lissa Evans not better known? She deserves to be.
An absolute joy.
An absolute joy.
April 9, 2019
Usually books and movies about Dunkirk make me teary-eyed. But Lissa Evan’s book, Their Finest, made me laugh out loud several times. Catrin Cole is hired as a writer by the War Department to make propaganda films because of her talent in writing women’s dialog for advertisements. The War Department is anxious to get America’s support for the war and they are hoping a few good propaganda films may help. When it comes to light that 2 young women assisted at Dunkirk by taking their father’s boat out to help with the rescue, Catrin is sent to interview them and create a script based upon their adventures. Of course, the film is nothing like the true story!
This is my second Lissa Evans book. The first book I read, Crooked Heart, was just outstanding and I noticed that she has a new book, Old Baggage that is being published later this month. She manages the perfect mixture of historical detail, drama and humor in her writing.
This is my second Lissa Evans book. The first book I read, Crooked Heart, was just outstanding and I noticed that she has a new book, Old Baggage that is being published later this month. She manages the perfect mixture of historical detail, drama and humor in her writing.
October 22, 2022
Her other books are much better. Too long and boring.
June 14, 2012
This book didn't really live up my expectations after reading the blurb on the cover. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't as gripping as I had hoped it would be. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters (unless we are counting the dog which I grew fond of! lol!) so I wasn't breaking my neck to keep lifting the book to see what had happened to them. It's strange because the stories should have been something I enjoyed but there was something missing that I just cannot put my finger on! I suspect, however, that this book could be made into a really very decent BBC Sunday night drama, and if I was made into one I would certainly watch because I believe with the right cast and good script editor it might perhaps achieve that 'something' that the novel sadly lacked for me.
January 22, 2023
This is the third novel I’ve read by Lissa Evans, probably the lightest in tone of any WWII novel I’ve encountered, even though it takes place in London during the Blitz. It centers on filming a documentary (true story) about twin sisters who take their father’s fishing boat without permission to rescue men from Dunkirk. Death, lousy food rations, and other hardships face most of the characters, but the main plot is pretty hilarious. Evans also shows how hard it was for a young woman to break into movie or play writing, how the women were treated like their job was to make coffee and run errands for the men, not do the same work for the same pay. Funny, feminist, and right up my reading alley.
February 8, 2011
So grateful that Kate S. recommended this and that a friend was able to bring me a copy from her recent London trip. Last I checked, this terrific novel is inexplicably still unavailable in the U.S.
I'm having trouble coming up with anything beyond the platitudinous: "rich characters"; "highly readable"; "well-researched"; "I laughed; I cried." But it's all true and I look forward to re-reading this someday (not something I often say about adult novels).
I'm having trouble coming up with anything beyond the platitudinous: "rich characters"; "highly readable"; "well-researched"; "I laughed; I cried." But it's all true and I look forward to re-reading this someday (not something I often say about adult novels).
April 1, 2017
Their Finest Hour and a Half, set in the midst of the Blitz in WWII, follows the production of a movie that is set to rally the troops and wow the American audience.
The set up of the main characters lends itself more to a visual medium rather than a novel I found. In what you could easily see as an introduction to an ensemble cast ala "Inglorious Bastards", there is quite a bit of time setting up the premise of the story.
Ambrose, the washed up actor injects some much needed humour into the story, and his escapades (especially with the dog) make the book. Catrin is the copywriter who lucks into a role as a writer, and Ms Beadmore, who works at Madame Tussauds and seems to be a magnet for bombings in London finds herself caught up with the filming of the untitled Dunkirk war film.
By 200 pages in we were still leading up to the main event in the novel, and for such a short book it felt that a lot of time was spent leading up to nothing in particular. I wanted to see more character development, and there was plenty to be said and done (especially with Catrin and Ms Beadmore) that just sort of trailed off a bit.
It was interesting enough but I just wanted it to be a bigger hitter than it was.
The set up of the main characters lends itself more to a visual medium rather than a novel I found. In what you could easily see as an introduction to an ensemble cast ala "Inglorious Bastards", there is quite a bit of time setting up the premise of the story.
Ambrose, the washed up actor injects some much needed humour into the story, and his escapades (especially with the dog) make the book. Catrin is the copywriter who lucks into a role as a writer, and Ms Beadmore, who works at Madame Tussauds and seems to be a magnet for bombings in London finds herself caught up with the filming of the untitled Dunkirk war film.
By 200 pages in we were still leading up to the main event in the novel, and for such a short book it felt that a lot of time was spent leading up to nothing in particular. I wanted to see more character development, and there was plenty to be said and done (especially with Catrin and Ms Beadmore) that just sort of trailed off a bit.
It was interesting enough but I just wanted it to be a bigger hitter than it was.
December 26, 2025
Film is better.
May 16, 2019
This felt a little like Sarah Waters' The Night Watch but with humour, and a dog.
Not as good as Evans' Crooked Heart but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Not as good as Evans' Crooked Heart but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Read
August 21, 2018– Their Finest boldly lives up to its name and claim –
I’m one of those people: the kind who likes to read the book before watching the movie, if possible. So as soon as Lissa Evans’ (Crooked Heart, Old Baggage) comedic and tender novel Their Finest was reprinted, I was on it, devouring its pages in anticipation of the then-upcoming movie (spectacularly reviewed by the incomparable Alana Bruce). I found the book and movie to complement each other perfectly, while still being able to stand on their own.
Their Finest tells the story of an ordinary group of people who band together to tell an extraordinary story. Their mandate is to create a propaganda movie about Dunkirk that will inspire both UK and US audiences. It sounds simple enough, except that they’re required to do so during the Blitz! That means they run on almost no sleep, a limited budget, and a short staff that’s less than ideal (all the ideals have been called up or killed). Basically, the movie has all the odds stacked against it, and yet, like all movies, it has a deadline.
At first, I recognized the characters in this motley crew: the has-been actor, the hopeful and eager-to-please new girl, the career woman, the awkward guy that just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But as the story was woven through their different perspectives, their own stories were fleshed out until I felt like I knew them. I grew fond of Ambrose the actor, ego and all. I identified with Catrin’s idealism and gumption as she fought for her chance as a writer in a cutthroat industry. I wanted to have a cuppa with Edith the costumer and have her reorganize my room (she’s a bit of a neat freak, as am I). I longed to tell Arthur that the crew was lucky to have him around, even if he wasn’t exactly the right man to be their military advisor. These were flawed characters. Real characters. The underdogs who were only given a chance because of desperate measures forced by the war. I couldn’t help but get attached to them.
Having had the privilege of growing up on movie and theatre sets, I recognized these people. My dad is a lighting designer and he never hesitated to explain the intricacies of his work to my curious mind as I followed him and his colleagues around, trying to understand the magic of bringing stories to life.
And get this: Catrin’s character is loosely inspired by real-life pioneering screenwriter Diana Morgan, who boldly strode into the writers’ room and held her own with the boys when it was anything but popular. She and several others in her time never received screen credit, but their legacy lives on. And what a legacy it is.
Evans was able to add her own extensive, personal knowledge of filmmaking into the story to make it come to life. Having spent years as a producer, director, and script-editor, she knows a thing or two about what goes on behind the scenes. Beyond the clever structure and fast pace of her novel, the massive amount of research that she put into her work is evident on every page, bringing the story to life with all of the sights, sounds, smells and downright exhaustion of 1940s London. I really got a feel for what these everymen (and everywomen) were up against and gained all the more respect for them as a result. Heck, I’m grumpy and ineffective if I’ve had one bad night’s sleep, but fifty-seven in a row? #nope
I’ll be honest, I cried after finishing this one. These characters inspired me. They’d made me laugh and cry. I’d seen them grow. I’ve never been more sorry not to see a sequel, but I understand why the story stops there. It’s simply enough on its own. And the movie, though necessarily streamlined, does do it justice. It doesn’t tell the exact same story, but that means that I can enjoy each piece on its own. And I do, repeatedly. It’s just that good.
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This review was first published on Narrative Muse, http://www.narrativemuse.co/books/the..., and was written Micah Orsetti. Narrative Muse curates the best books and movies by and about women and non-binary folk on our website http://narrativemuse.co and our social media channels.
I’m one of those people: the kind who likes to read the book before watching the movie, if possible. So as soon as Lissa Evans’ (Crooked Heart, Old Baggage) comedic and tender novel Their Finest was reprinted, I was on it, devouring its pages in anticipation of the then-upcoming movie (spectacularly reviewed by the incomparable Alana Bruce). I found the book and movie to complement each other perfectly, while still being able to stand on their own.
Their Finest tells the story of an ordinary group of people who band together to tell an extraordinary story. Their mandate is to create a propaganda movie about Dunkirk that will inspire both UK and US audiences. It sounds simple enough, except that they’re required to do so during the Blitz! That means they run on almost no sleep, a limited budget, and a short staff that’s less than ideal (all the ideals have been called up or killed). Basically, the movie has all the odds stacked against it, and yet, like all movies, it has a deadline.
At first, I recognized the characters in this motley crew: the has-been actor, the hopeful and eager-to-please new girl, the career woman, the awkward guy that just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But as the story was woven through their different perspectives, their own stories were fleshed out until I felt like I knew them. I grew fond of Ambrose the actor, ego and all. I identified with Catrin’s idealism and gumption as she fought for her chance as a writer in a cutthroat industry. I wanted to have a cuppa with Edith the costumer and have her reorganize my room (she’s a bit of a neat freak, as am I). I longed to tell Arthur that the crew was lucky to have him around, even if he wasn’t exactly the right man to be their military advisor. These were flawed characters. Real characters. The underdogs who were only given a chance because of desperate measures forced by the war. I couldn’t help but get attached to them.
Having had the privilege of growing up on movie and theatre sets, I recognized these people. My dad is a lighting designer and he never hesitated to explain the intricacies of his work to my curious mind as I followed him and his colleagues around, trying to understand the magic of bringing stories to life.
And get this: Catrin’s character is loosely inspired by real-life pioneering screenwriter Diana Morgan, who boldly strode into the writers’ room and held her own with the boys when it was anything but popular. She and several others in her time never received screen credit, but their legacy lives on. And what a legacy it is.
Evans was able to add her own extensive, personal knowledge of filmmaking into the story to make it come to life. Having spent years as a producer, director, and script-editor, she knows a thing or two about what goes on behind the scenes. Beyond the clever structure and fast pace of her novel, the massive amount of research that she put into her work is evident on every page, bringing the story to life with all of the sights, sounds, smells and downright exhaustion of 1940s London. I really got a feel for what these everymen (and everywomen) were up against and gained all the more respect for them as a result. Heck, I’m grumpy and ineffective if I’ve had one bad night’s sleep, but fifty-seven in a row? #nope
I’ll be honest, I cried after finishing this one. These characters inspired me. They’d made me laugh and cry. I’d seen them grow. I’ve never been more sorry not to see a sequel, but I understand why the story stops there. It’s simply enough on its own. And the movie, though necessarily streamlined, does do it justice. It doesn’t tell the exact same story, but that means that I can enjoy each piece on its own. And I do, repeatedly. It’s just that good.
----------
This review was first published on Narrative Muse, http://www.narrativemuse.co/books/the..., and was written Micah Orsetti. Narrative Muse curates the best books and movies by and about women and non-binary folk on our website http://narrativemuse.co and our social media channels.
October 18, 2018
This is my second Lissa Evans novel (the first was the wonderful 'Crooked Heart'). I love 'Their Finest Hour and a Half' too - the feel for period, the characters, the humour, compassion and sadness - all woven together into a first class novel. Lissa Evans is unique in that she writes a certain kind of book I didn't think was around anymore: absorbing without setting up unrealistic situations; characters with depth; shocking and sometimes tragic events which aren't unnecessarily macabre. Basically, Lissa Evans writes exactly the kind of thing I want to read. (Plus anyone who writes can gain very useful techniques on 'less is more' from one of the characters, Tom Buckley.)
May 22, 2017
A fine recommendation from Kate and Susann, two of my favorite readers! Good character development throughout, except for the American, but I feel like that's a sign of the genre (20th c. British war fiction). Of course it's a story about filmmaking, so this is an unfair and silly criticism, but to me it felt like it was leaning towards its own BBC serialization a little too heavily.
Addendum 5/17: just saw the film version and enjoyed it tremendously. Bill Nighy as Ambrose and Eddie Marsan as his agent!
Addendum 5/17: just saw the film version and enjoyed it tremendously. Bill Nighy as Ambrose and Eddie Marsan as his agent!
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