Good Evening, Mrs. Craven
106. Mollie Panter-Downes, Good Evening, Mrs. Craven
This book is a collection of short stories originally published in The New Yorker between 1939 and 1944. Despite being written for an American magazine, however, the stories focus on the experiences of Englishmen and -women (mostly the latter) during World War II. The plots of these stories range from the plight of evacuees in the English countryside to the effects of a long separation on husbands and wives to the radical reorganization of the British social classes.
The thing that impressed me most about these stories was how incredibly well-written they are. Each one is crafted meticulously, with no wasted words or excessive descriptions. The author uses a gently ironic style to evoke poignant human flaws and foibles. The endings are especially well done, driving home the point of each story without being too unsubtle or direct. I also liked the subject matter of the stories, as I’m becoming more and more interested in the World War II era. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the time period, especially since the author actually wrote these stories while the war was still going on.