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Their Finest Hour and a Half Paperback – January 1, 2010

by Lissa Evans (Author)

4.1 1,205 ratings

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In 1940, every draft of every film script had to be approved by the Ministry of Information. Cast and crew were waiting to be called up at any moment, travel was restricted and filming was interrupted by regular bombing raids. And so it is that we find a disparate group of characters whose paths would never have crossed in Ambrose Hilliard, a washed up old ham from the golden era of silent movies; Catrin Cole, formerly an advertising copywriter drafted in to 'write women' for the Ministry of Information; Edith Beadmore, a wardrobe assistant at Madame Tussauds; and Arthur Frith, peacetime catering manager turned wartime Special Military Advisor.This distinct group find themselves thrown together in the wilds of Norfolk to 'do their bit' on the latest propaganda film - a heart-warming tale of derring do, of two sisters who set out in a leaking old wooden boat to rescue the brave men trapped at Dunkirk. All completely fabricated, of course, but what does that matter when the nation's morale is at stake? Newly crowned actor, script-writer, costumier and military attaché must swallow their mutual distaste, ill-will and mistrust and unite for the common good, for King and country, and - in one case - for better or worse...

Print length

415 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Transworld (Black Swan)
Publication date

January 1, 2010
Dimensions

7.8 x 5 x 0.98 inches
ISBN-10

0552774715
ISBN-13

978-0552774710
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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld (Black Swan) (January 1, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 415 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0552774715
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0552774710
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.8 x 5 x 0.98 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,285,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,429 in Military Historical Fiction
- #30,815 in War Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 1,205 ratings

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4.1 out of 5

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David Evans Katz

great read for WWII afficionados

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2023

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Excellent depiction of how a British film crew manages to create a movie about the Dunkirk evacuation while coping with the Blitz. The book is somewhat different than the movie; both are quite good.

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2015

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I so loved Lissa Evans' recent novel CROOKED HEART , about a precocious boy and crafty woman making common cause in the London Blitz, that I immediately ordered this earlier book, set in the same period. Besides, I was tickled by the title and its cheeky rewriting of Churchill's famous phrase about the Battle of Britain heroes. Only it is not so cheeky as it sounds, for Evans' subject is the making of a patriotic movie about Dunkirk, and ninety minutes in those days was the standard running time.

Evans credits Norman Longmate's HOW WE LIVED THEN for sparking her interest in the home front in WW2. But she has clearly absorbed a lot of novels, movies, and magazines of the period, for she has got the language and stock types down pat. It is the same seam that Kate Atkinson mined in LIFE AFTER LIFE , the popular literature of my own childhood. Evans has just about as many plot shifts and rapid gear changes as Atkinson, but she uses them for comedy. This is, after all, the world of make-believe: advertising, propaganda, entertainment, what's the difference? And just about anyone can come along and stick their oar in. So the story of two twin girls who stole their father's boat to assist in the rescue at Dunkirk gets made whether the basic facts are true or not. But they have to add a gallant Tommy boyfriend, the rescue of an abandoned French dog, a drunken uncle who nonetheless manages to save the day despite being mortally wounded -- and, oh yes, at the last-minute insistence of the War Office, a handsome American journalist, wished upon the all-Brit Dunkirk in the hopes of persuading the United States to enter the war.

All this is very funny, actually, and the typed sections of screenplay that pepper the pages look pretty authentic. They are the work of a lonely bachelor named Buckley, his colleague Parfitt who supplies the gags, and, increasingly, a twenty-year old girl named Catrin just up from Wales who gets recruited to do the women's dialogue, otherwise known as "slop." Catrin, who has many more resources than first appear, is the nearest thing to a protagonist the book has, and the story is always interesting when she is on screen. But she is only one of a large number of characters, among them an "aging, enormously conceited, moderately talented" (and tiresome) actor, his hard-pressed agent, an unmarried woman who works for Madame Tussaud's and gets roped in to the wardrobe department, and a mild-mannered male virgin in his thirties who somehow becomes military adviser on the film. Of course the large cast of lovable or at least bizarre comic types is also typical for films of this era, as is the addition of a spoonful or two of pathos and a pinch of tragedy to the general comedy, so Evans is right on the money. But I still prefer the tighter focus of her more recent novel.

21 people found this helpful

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James D. Norton

Movie was better than the book

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2018

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Saw the movie first and the book drags in comparison. It's easy to see why. The book tries to tell many stories. The movie focuses on a single story which is not the dominant one in the book.

That given, the book is well written and attempts to give the reader a broad experience of the Blitz in London and the war in the country. I felt it moved quickly enough, but was choppy in that the author shifted from character often and quickly. I found myself wondering if I had met these characters earlier in the story or they had just into play. I'm sure that some of these characters would be more interesting if there was more for them to do.

Thankfully the author avoids the pitfall of trying to give the reader a travelogue of the British countryside. In general the author did not take the advice of her story's head writer. "Lose half."

2 people found this helpful

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Hank Lajoie

The Undaunted Londoners in 1940

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2017

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This work is a five star rating in every aspect; story, dialogue, writing and a light, humorous treatment of a time when there was little light humor in daily lives. The author’s grasp of the sometimes insane pace maintained to produce a motion picture shows itself early on and throughout the story. Personal quirks and foibles of the characters kept this reader fully involved page after page. Complicating all of this: the frequent air raids by German aircraft, strafing, dropping bombs and lighting up neighborhoods with incendiaries. What a contrast it was for me, having grown up in that same time, but in the relative security of stateside in New England. The movies I watched were mostly “puff pieces” and most of the war movies were all third party experiences. That all changed in December of 1941 when the conflict became an actual world war. Absolutely entertaining.

2 people found this helpful

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Solipsism? Perhaps a bit. (At least that's my thought.)

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2017

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As beautifully written as this is, as dynamic as the characters become, I have to wonder about the solipsism more and more present in the arts. Movie people will likely become enraptured. (I guess they did; they made a film.) But the whole thing became a bit much about a bit perhaps not so much.

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Samantha Crawford

Their absolute finest!

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2019

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I love this book. I know some people have trouble when comparing the novel to the film but as someone who loves books and went to film school, I can safely say I love both the film and the novel. The novel is so well written and really captured me. I saw the film first and liked the similarities as well as the differences in the story between book and film. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a World War II era story and has an interest in filmmaking. It is an interesting look at the psychology of film making during that time in British history.

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SC

A very British book--in the best possible way

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2017

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This book illustrates the British spirit during World War II not only through its plot and characters but also through its writing. Unsentimental yet in parts surprisingly moving, spirited and humorous (and sometimes downright funny), this is a delight. And no, you need not be British or an Anglophile to love it.

One person found this helpful

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MMWaugh

Lissa Evans writes exactly the kind of novel I want to read

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2018

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This is my second Lissa Evans novel (the first was the wonderful 'Crooked Heart'). I love 'Their Finest Hour and a Half' too - the feel for period, the characters, the humour, compassion and sadness - all woven together into a first class novel. Lissa Evans is unique in that she writes a certain kind of book I didn't think was around anymore: absorbing without setting up unrealistic situations; characters with depth; shocking and sometimes tragic events which aren't unnecessarily macabre. Basically, Lissa Evans writes exactly the kind of thing I want to read. (Plus anyone who writes can gain very useful techniques on 'less is more' from one of the characters, Tom Buckley.)

4 people found this helpful

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cooreman armand

their finest

Reviewed in France on March 8, 2022

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Très bon roman qui nous rappelle malheureusement que l'histoire se répète si on pense à la tragédie qui se déroule actuellement en Ukraine.

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Jayne L

Brilliantly written fantastic characters

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2021

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Oh my where do I begin !!! I haven't enjoyed a book so much in years, in fact I was beginning to despair that some modern authors had decided creating well rounded believable characters was redundant. Lissa Evans is a fantastic writer her characters are vividly brought to life and the dialogue reads very smoothly and believable and hilariously funny at times. The novel has a real feel for the time and the lives lead by 'Ordinary' citizens in extraordinary times. Ambrose Hilliard the self obsessed aging film 'star' is a fantastic creation you want to slap him at times but he is so funny. In short she is a great writer and I will certainly be reading more of her and would like to thank her for such a pleasurable read.

One person found this helpful

Snapdragon

A very different WW II novel

Reviewed in Australia on July 26, 2018

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Oh no! Not another WW II novel! Fear not. This is funny. Sardonic, and full of cynical actors, movie-makers and writers. Young Welsh woman Catlin finds herself making short propaganda films for the MoI, then drafted to assist a long-time writing duo: blasé, shrewd Buckley and perpetually somnolent Parfitt. Despite the never-ending rounds of governmental interference, a full length feature film is going to be made about a heroic Dunkirk evacuation. It’s supposed to be the true story of twin girls who take their father’s boat without permission and who succeed in bringing 50 soldiers back to Dover. Naturally, when real life proves to be not quite cinematic enough, liberties are taken, including the insertion of an imaginary American journalist so the film will be of more interest to the Yanks.

Another invented participant in the rescue is Uncle Frank, played by a classic character. Ambrose Hilliard is the very model of a shallow, egotistical has-been actor whose glory days are well in the past. His selfishness is monumental and Bill Nighy probably had a great time playing him in the film version of the book. Throughout all the difficulties and stuff-ups of making the movie is the background of the Blitz and I don’t think it’s ever been so well described. There’s a real sense of the weariness it caused and the doggedness required to get through yet another day. The food privations are spirit-dampening. Brits gamely facing Christmas mince tarts made with turnips for instance. In fact the whole era - from the aging thespians desperate for work to the people working for Madame Tussaud’s to the self righteous wife of the Methodist minister deeply concerned about sexual sinning - is brilliantly evoked. It sounds like a recipe for glumness but it’s anything but. Often, when books are described as laugh out loud funny you’re hard pressed to crack a smile but so diverting are the characters and so clever and droll are many authorial wisecracks that you probably will find yourself chuckling. The humour of jaded people has never been so good. There is one really sad thing that happens that you really wished hadn’t, but that’s life. And war.

warburton3

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on February 16, 2015

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Good product. Not worn at all.

Eve Slatner Krippendorff

Wonderful depiction of life in England during WWII

Reviewed in Germany on September 4, 2016

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After having read Crooked Heart I could not wait to read more books by Lissa Evans. As I lived through WWII in England I recognized
a lot of things.

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