"1941. Right now, not very far from here the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominos. Nothing can stop it, nothing until one tiny, damp little island says "no". No, not here. A mouse in front of a lion ..." This was said by Christopher Eccleston, as the Ninth Doctor, in the BBC show Doctor Who. The episode was 'The Empty Child' written by Steven Moffat. It was such a good line that I missed the next few minutes of the show as I thought about it.

Full Dark House is from the Peculiar Crimes Unit series by Christopher Fowler. Set during the Blitz, it's the book where the characters are introduced. They are young, doing a hard job in a hard time. They are short staffed, and the higher ups are hoping to close the PCU, this odd branch of the police where all the bazaar cases are sent, so they are looking for any excuse to do so. The descriptions of the ongoing, seemingly unending bombing raids are compelling. It didn't take long for Londoners to recognize which planes were overhead by the sound of their engines.

And then came 1945 ... the Germans had a new weapon, unmanned, flying at supersonic speed, the bombing of London continued. London 1945: Life in the Debris of War, by Maureen Waller tells about that year. Rationing and long queues had been part of life for years. When the war ended, they actually got worse for a while. Many of the children returning home found the gray, dusty, and destroyed London and an unfamiliar parent a hard adjustment after years in a foster home. Add to that a husband/father who had been at war suddenly being a part of that family made it even harder. A rather grim read, given the circumstances, but well done and very interesting.

For a modern day look at war torn London try London's War: a Traveler's Guide to World War II by Sayre Van Young. The author has put together 20 walking tours through central London. She explains the damage, how many times a place was bombed and then, of course, what it looks like now. I especially liked that she included lists of CDs of popular music of the time, fiction books set in that era, and what the entertainment would have been like. There were lots of little bits of trivia, too, such as whether or not the figures at Madame Tussaud Wax Museums wear underwear and what happened to the animals at the zoo. Even as a non-traveler I enjoyed this book.

The more I read about London and England in WWII, the more impressed I become.

Reading Hermit With Dog