Overview

Gloria worked in a munitions factory during the Blitz, but still found time to grab whatever she wanted. Ciggies. Sex. American soldiers. But war made Gloria do all sorts of things she wouldn't normally do - evil things, some of them - because she might be dead tomorrow. Or someone might. Now, fifty years on, Gloria is forced to remember the truth about the war days, and confront the secret at the heart of her dramatic home front story.

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'A dark story of the Home Front shot through with gung-ho humour' Daily Mail 'This versatile writer has given a twist of her own to the literature of the Second World War, and has produced a satisfying, moving and funny novel' Sunday Telegraph

Gloria is 85 years old, suffering from selective memory loss and seems set to live out her last days amid the dubious pleasures of the Seaview Rest Home. But Gloria is not your typical old lady - she loves a filthy joke and knows how to give her randy fellow resident Ed a good time, even if she does need some baby oil to help things along. Confined to Seaview after a minor stroke, she takes refuge in her salacious memories of the war, when 'you had to grab love wherever you could find it'. After all, who knew when the Moaning Minnies would strike and it would be too late. Gloria and her sister Marje worked in a munitions factory in Bristol - those were the days when the hours at work flew by with sing-songs and smutty jokes, and the evenings were devoted to getting as much fun as possible - ciggies, drink and sex. When it came to sex, Ron, a virile, handsome American airman, knew just which buttons to press. Gloria has no problem recalling the intimate details of their passionate couplings, and the memory of their first date, to see the Great Zedorro, a hypnotist, is burned on her brain. It's only when the mysterious Jill turns up at the Home, looking strangely familiar and determined to unpick Gloria's past, that Gloria decides she's had enough, and shuts her memory down. Jill doesn't give up that easily though, nor does Gloria's son, Hank, who has his own questions about his childhood. And why is Gloria haunted by the vision of a drowned child, dripping with pondweed? Defiant and indignant, Gloria refuses to let go her hold on the past - there is too much unhappiness, too much betrayal, too much blood.... Painfully honest, yet wickedly funny, Jensen's novel recalls a time when death lurked round every corner and 'carpe diem' was the name of the game. Moral rectitude counted for nothing in the frantic race to experience life while there was still time. Gloria is an improbable heroine - prickly, foul-mouthed and passionate, she stubbornly digs her heels in until eventually she is forced to confront what really happened all those years ago. Liz Jensen's earlier novels have won her great acclaim, with Ark Baby being shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Here she brilliantly evokes the passions and urgency of everyday life during the war, a time when family loyalties often caved in under the pressure of individual survival. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Liz Jensen is the acclaimed author of THE PAPER EATER, EGG DANCING and ARK BABY which was shortlisted for the GUARDIAN Fiction Prize. She lives in London.

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