Where the Sky Begins
Josie Banks has led anything but a charmed life. Born into the squalor of London’s East End, married to a charmer-turned-abuser, and now squarely in the bombsights of Germany’s Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Her bad luck continues as the war causes her to be evacuated to a remote English village with little money and only a few pieces of borrowed clothing. Josie, however, is nothing if not resourceful, and she manages to find lodging with the local gentry, Miss Harcourt, and her cranky Irish maid, Kathleen. The countryside does Josie good, and she finds friends among the sturdy rural folk.
A nearby RAF base provides more acquaintances, including one pilot who seems to offer more than friendship. Even this has its downside as Josie’s husband, Stan, now in the army, has a suspicious streak. Things take a sinister turn when the British government reveals the existence of a spy network feeding intelligence on the RAF base to the Nazis, and Josie finds herself involved.
Bowen is a master at winning reader empathy for poor Josie. The young woman’s selflessness and talent exemplify the everyday person caught up in war and the dogged British spirit of “keeping on” that helped bring victory to the Allies in World War II.
