The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan

 The London Restoration – one might imagine it entails restoration of London after a devastation of war. Or maybe it’s about restoration of love in London. One young couple gets married at the beginning of the war, then pushed away from each other due to war, and now after the war trying to restore the love bond damaged by war. A beautiful love story.

London, 1945. Diana Somerville is a woman of great intuition and ability to read hidden messages. Thus during the war she was recruited as a codebreaker. However, what her husband knows is that she was doing translation work. He on the other hand was a stretcher bearer in the Belgian trenches, and later Italian. Once the war ends, she disappears for five weeks without any word. When he needed her the most, she was gone. “Then there were the weeks of convalescence when his pain and flashbacks were secondary to his worry for her.”

The story goes back in time to 1941 and reveals how she was enlisted as a codebreaker agent. And further back in time, how they met in 1938.

Now after her five week assignment in Vienna, she is back in London and looks forward to her regular life. But Simon Barre, her colleague agent, insists that there is a new war brewing, “a quieter one of propaganda and intelligence.” Simon believes that there is a spread of Soviet ideology in London and he needs to stop it from spreading. Diana is indebted to Simon and has no choice.

At the same time, her husband finds a relic at a church or what is left of it. He wonders how workers missed it. He wants to trace history of the relic and that takes him to a place where he finds out unexpected information about his wife.

The story builds up slowly, but it’s a good slow. It’s a delectable slow. You want to enjoy this journey and not rush through it. It takes time to get to know someone. And that’s how it’s reflected in this story. It reveals their story, their love for each other and their love for the subjects they studied and pursued their careers in. It is a very mature love, beautifully revealed.

The time period of restoration doesn’t come through in this story. There is no noise of cranes moving the rubble and there is no noise of hammers preparing for new constructions. And there is no hardship of everyday life. Instead, this story offers something fresh, with concentration on churches, it sheds light on Christopher Wren. Among many accomplishments, he was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. After the Great Fire in 1666, he was rendered responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the city of London. Most of them were destroyed during WWII.

The character development is masterful, revealing many aspects of their lives, what they think, how they feel. She is heartbroken by the wall she built between them. He pours out his heart and soul in his thoughts, how different it was between them before the war and how it is now. Once very talkative, later saying very little. Before she wasn’t able to keep a secret from him, now she seems to be so secretive. He struggles with her careless decision to disappear for five weeks. It’s so real. I’ve read many wonderful stories with interesting characters, but this is the epitome of well-developed characters. If you are a struggling writer or want to improve on character development, then this is the book to learn from.

Very skillfully woven story. I’m also full of admiration for the author for creating such complex story, which flows so effortlessly. Written with evocative and heartfelt prose, infusing characters with so much humanity and love, keeping the plot moving smoothly.

Release 18 August 2020

Source: Thomas Nelson Publisher