Their Finest Hour and a Half

It's 1940. The blitz in London is at its noisiest and most destructive. But morale-boosting films must go on being made. So we meet a cast of characters who keep us entertained for 400 pages. A has-been actor who doesn't realise his glory-days are over, a sheltered-but-looking-for-life spinster in her 30s, a military adviser who's led a more than sheltered life, a young script writer from the Welsh valleys and her dyspeptic and wryly witty boss. Oh, and a simply awful dog. The action is pacy, the dialogue well-pitched and believable. Best of all though is this book's ability to transport us to war-ravaged London: its smells and sounds and all-pervading shabbiness and dust and gritty dirt.

The blurb's misleading. Young Welsh Catrin is no show more more centre-stage than Ambrose the actor or Edith the spinster or any of the other main characters. That's fine. We become interested and involved in the lives of each of them. I even felt sorry for Ambrose when that ghastly dog..... oooh, no sorry, spoiler alert. show less

This is a funny and poignant portrait of home-front life in the UK during WWII. The novel weaves together the stories of several characters, including Catrin, who writes snappy advertising lines, until she is recruited by the Ministry of Information to help write war propaganda, and a feel-good film very loosely based on an enduring legend of the Dunkirk evacuation; Ambrose, the terribly self-important aging actor whose moment has come and gone; and Edith, the meek, invisible wardrober for Madame Tussaud's, forced to live with her cousin in Norfolk after first her lodgings, then her work are bombed. Wartime London, with its terrifying bombs, meager rations of wretched "food", pervasive fear, and patriotism, is vividly portrayed. The show more inner-workings of the film production are fascinating and terribly funny, and skilfully threaded through the plot along with achingly sad personal stories. show less

It's interesting that the other reviews of Their Finest are in several cases so negative and its ratings are across the board; maybe this book is one of those that people either love or hate.I loved it! I saw the movie, Their Finest, based on the novel, on Saturday and enjoyed it so much that I ordered it right off and started it on Monday. and I enjoyed reading every page. I think the level of writing is superb, one reason the book is even better than the movie. In both cases, the story of propaganda film making in London during the Blitz is a fascinating story of grit, determination, resiliency - so characteristic of the British in wartime. There is a great deal of wonderful dry wit. And then there are all the interesting details of show more film making, whIch is said to resemble sausage making. The book and the movie have slightly different endings. The book follows the stories of several of the people working on the movie whereas the film concentrates on Catrin Coles and Buckley, the screenplay writers, and of Ambrose Hilliard, the dour but talented aging actor. Just a delightful book, and one I would recommend heartily for book clubs - much to discuss here. WWII, Dunkirk, writing about real events for propaganda or entertainment, truth and fiction, women's role in virtually any workplace in the 1940's and now, the characters, the characters' various trials and romances and more. I loved all the characters and their interactions, and found them to be very believable and excellent company. It is interesting that the original title of the novel is Their Finest Hour and a Half, which was changed to match the movie title, Their Finest. I prefer the original title. show less

A young scriptwriter, a pompous middle-aged actor, a lance corporal and a historical costumes expert become involved in the making of a British propaganda film during WWII. Certainly an aspect of history I hadn’t seen addressed in fiction before! That was satisfying and fascinating.

And as if it had heard my criticisms of the novel I’d read *checks record* just the day before, very little here is readily resolved! Lots of nuance and complexity. But also lots of details of the discomforts and disappointments its characters endure, especially with the London Blitz. The effect is unexpectedly bleak, especially as these characters are all, in their varying ways, rather lonely. I enjoy stories about lonely people building positive show more relationships and support networks, but prefer more emphasis on the actual “building relationships” part.

I mostly liked the ending and certainly don’t regret reading this -- I read it all in an afternoon! -- but I came away feeling a bit flat. (And after the previous book I'd read by Evans, Old Baggage, was so delightful…)

“What I think,” said Buckley [...] “that we have to slide this Yank into the gaps -- we don’t want to tinker with the story too much, we’ve already got pretty girls and heroism and comedy and sacrifice and a dog.”
“All exits covered,” said Parfitt. show less

Certainly Lissa Evans' best book. I also loved Spencers List and Odd One Out but this is in another league.

Following a range of characters working on a film during World War Two it provides a fantastic glimpse into both the home front and the 1940's film business. The main characters are Ambrose an ageing actor past his prime but not admitting to it, Catrin lover of an artist who has run away from her home in wales, Arthur a soldier who is asked to be military advisor on the film and my favourite chatacter Edith a wardrobe mistress initially working at Madam Tussauds.

The author's deft handling of the plot along with strong chacterisation takes you on an amazing journey of London during the war. I'm not big on books set during this show more period and yet it drew me in and made me understand London and the people left behind more than any other book has.

In short I loved it, it's funny and moving and lets hope it wins the Orange Prize. show less

It is London in 1940, and the Ministry of Information is churning out films to improve morale. Catrin Cole, writer, followed her lover to London from South Wales. Ambrose Hilliard is the character actor dreaming of the lead roles he played twenty years earlier. Arthur Frith is the military advisor who can’t quite shake his memories of Dunkirk. Edith sews buttons on costumes. Cerberus the dog doesn’t like water. The American can’t act. One of the other writers has oily hair.

Therein lies my main problem with this book. There are a lot of characters, and at one point or another, they’re all doing something that is of central importance to the plot. Sadly, they are all forgettable characters, insipid and something short of show more endearing. There were brief glimpses of humanity in each of them, but they all eventually retreat into dull wartime wallpaper. I kept getting characters mixed up in my mind, and I really struggled to imagine any of them as real people.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a story about London during the Blitz. This is principally a story about these somewhat two-dimensional characters, and their experience of making what is supposed to be a heroic film whilst some beastly Jerries are outside, making a frightful racket and keeping people awake at night. The war encroaches on their daily lives, with houses bombed out and characters killed off, but there is a peculiar lack of real emotional response to this.

Finally, the last hundred pages were exceptionally tedious. This felt like a two-hundred-page book that had been stretched out to fill four hundred. Disappointing. show less

During the war an assortment of characters come together to make an uplifting film about a Dunkirk rescue. Lots of home front detail, and amusing characterisation of Ambrose, an egocentric ageing leading-man in this gentle novel.