BookBrowse Reviews Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

BookBrowse:

Set during the chaos of World War II, Crooked Heart is a heartwarming read about a family cobbled together by circumstance rather than blood.

It's 1939 and ten-year-old Noel lives with his aging godmother, Mattie, in a Victorian house in Hampstead, London. He is a clever and thoughtful boy who carefully labels all things in their house that Mattie is losing the names for: "'SHAWL," 'WIRELESS,' 'GAS MASK,' 'CUTLERY DRAWER.'" Despite the evidence around them that Britain is preparing for war against Germany, Mattie, once a suffragette and a woman with her own ideas about government and education, doesn't sign Noel up for evacuation from London (see 'Beyond the Book'). But when Mattie dies, Noel's aunt and uncle dispatch Noel with the next wave of evacuees and this lonely, limping boy, in many ways much older than his years, finds himself in the town of St Albans (northwest of London), taken in by Vera Sedge.

The many charms of Crooked Heart include Lissa Evans' multi-layered characters, who each bring their own mix of good and bad behavior to this winning story of a family made by circumstance, not blood. Vera is a struggling single parent living with her grown-up son Donald and her own mother, Flora. For her part, Flora spends her days writing letters to Winston Churchill giving him insight into the war and life in St Albans as she sees it. Donald, excused from Army service due to a heart murmur, works as a night-watchman, but also has a criminal sideline that Vera knows nothing about.

There is never a suggestion that Vera takes in Noel out of the goodness of her heart. Money is tight in the Sedge household and Vera has a money-making plan but to carry out her scheme she needs an excuse for regular visits to London. Poor, sickly evacuee Noel will surely need to visit his doctor in the city, providing her with the alibi she is looking for. What she does not expect, however, is for Noel to become a willing and active partner in her far-from-honest enterprise, or that their partnership will bring them into contact with other folks bent on making money as the bombs fall on London – people much more desperate and violent than Vera and Noel could ever be.

Evans treads a careful path through the light and dark sides of criminality during World War II. Although the tone of the story is light and often humorous, the grim backdrop of war is always present. London during the Blitz is successfully portrayed and Evans manages to convey a sense of tragedy, fear and loss without losing an overarching sense of humor and optimism. In her young character, Noel, Evans seeks to find a balance point between crimes that are morally reprehensible and ones that are morally unacceptable. When Noel and Vera come across an old lady who has been robbed of precious memorabilia, Noel's straightforward determination to right the wrong sits in sharp contrast to his eager involvement in Vera's money-making schemes.

As the war wreaks havoc, Vera and Noel's families morph in surprising and entertaining ways, and this unlikely pair slowly feels a bond growing. Evans keeps the story on track and doesn't slip into mawkishness or bathos. Overall, Crooked Heart is an entertaining and heart-warming read.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in September 2015, and has been updated for the August 2016 edition. Click here to go to this issue.