EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN by Chris Cleave

Note: I am not a paid reviewer, and I have purchased this title to read for my personal enjoyment.

The first third or so of this novel brings us a mismatched romance and a love triangle comprised of socialite Mary, school administrator Tom and his flatmate Alistair, none of whom seem to be having an overly tough go at life in pre-World War 2 London. Through the early doldrums, it was Mr. Cleave’s prose that kept me turning pages: dialogue chock-full of mostly irreverent witticisms, generally in the vein of good humor in the face of adversity; and evocative descriptions of settings, people and speculations. The war begins, and action cranks up for Mary and Alistair. Several plot twists show that even the privileged must bear the war: Mary does her bit during the Blitz and Alistair endures the siege of Malta. In a subplot, Mary confronts bigotry and class snobbery attitudes of the period, as we see in many of the war novels, though it seems her trials and tribulations in surviving German bombings might have been too exhausting to champion righteous political correctness.