These Days: 'A gem of a novel, I adored it.' MARIAN KEYES

The opening chapters are very effective when it comes to the different characterisation of the two sisters at the heart of the novel. There's Emma, who has a strong bond with Sylvia and an equally strong desire to help out with the war effort which is not necessarily shared by the rest of her family (especially her mother), and then there's polar opposite Audrey who has a preoccupation with her appearance and is soon made a life-changing proposition by her ongoing lover Richard. The other thing that stands out is the reader has to pay close attention to the text. This can be seen with the historical element of World War II which, with the references to things like sirens, gunfire and gas masks, is never too far away from the reader's mind, while there's an interesting stylistic choice in terms of no quotation marks for dialogue which makes the interaction between characters more direct.

These Days follows the life of a family in Belfast during the Second World War and the days of the Belfast blitz. The book primarily follows the lives of two sisters Emma and Audrey as they navigate trying to balance living their ordinary lives with the dangers of war. Along with the two sisters the book also follows storylines of other members of their family and the people they interact with over the course of the story. I enjoyed the way the author highlighted both the effects of the bombing on Belfast and how people tried to carry on as normal with their relationships and personal lives. I felt that whilst there were naturally difficult elements to this book I did not find myself as immersed into the sadness as I have been with other books of this theme. I felt the emotions were quite often swept over in favour of telling the reader of actions. A more detailed telling of the difficult emotions going through the characters heads would have upped my rating to 5 stars.