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EAST ANGLIA
by William P. Kennedy
iUniverse, February 2004
300 pages
$18.95
ISBN: 0595292453


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

In 1944, Jim Marron, along with thousands more of his countrymen, was stationed at one of the many airfields in East Anglia in the English countryside. As the pilot of a B-17 bomber, Jim had one of the most dangerous jobs in the Army Air Force. Many brave young men in their teens and early twenties never returned from their missions over Nazi Germany.

Fifty years later, Jim is clearing out the house where he has lived with his wife, Kay, for many of the 43 years of their marriage. Kay has died of cancer, their children are grown and Jim, at 74, is leaving another part of his life behind. In the attic, where he placed it many years ago, rests his army footlocker. As he looks at the uniform and his medals, he takes a large envelope out of the trunk. Inside the letters and many photos remind him of a time when, even though he jousted with death regularly, he lived life to the fullest. And the photos remind him of something, or someone else. The photos are of Angela and the memories return.

During the darkest days of the German air raids over London, a bomber dropped his bombs over the small English town of Whittingbridge and destroyed a factory building. A boy playing in the ruins discovers the body of a young woman. The police determine that she did not die in the bombing but was murdered after the building had been destroyed. One of Jim's duties is as community relations officer. Usually this job consists of reassuring angry farmers whose cows have stopped giving milk or whose chickens have quit laying eggs due to the low-flying planes. When he is visited by Detective Sgt Browning, he realizes this is something more serious.

Browning has determined that Mary, the dead girl, was seen in company with American officers and he wants to question some of the men who may have dated her. Browning tells Jim that he has asked a friend of Mary to assist them in their investigation since she may be able to identify the men who knew Mary. Thus, Jim is introduced to Angela, and suddenly he is very anxious to assist the detective.

When the house and furniture is sold, Jim decides to go to England. He never returned after being sent back to the States with wounds in '44. He never again spoke to Angela, the detective, or any of this crew members or buddies. Suddenly he has an urgent need to return and to right old wrongs. When he left in '44, he was sure he knew who had killed Mary but had never reported it. Now he feels he needs to close the case for Browning.

The author has painted a picture of a time long-forgotten and recalled only occasionally by one of the old men, who as young boys helped to save the world. As he alternates between the war and the present time, Kennedy gives us some remarkable insights into the life and times of those brave individuals who survived those harrowing days. Each chapter alternates between 'Then' and 'Now' with warmth and feeling.

This book is many things. It is a historical novel, it's a love story and it is also a mystery. The one thing that is not a mystery is the author's obvious skill at story-telling. The author says that he hopes this reminiscence will be interesting to his audience. I say he has succeeded admirably.

Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, May 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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