Nineteen Steps

Nineteen Steps
by Millie Bobby Brown
William Morrow, 2023. 304 pages. Historical Fiction 

It’s 1942, and London remains under threat of enemy attack as WWII rages on. In the Bethnal Green neighborhood, Nellie Morris counts every day lucky that she emerges from the underground shelters unharmed. Three years into the war, she’s grateful to hold onto remnants of normalcy. But after a chance encounter with Ray, an American airman stationed nearby, Nellie becomes enchanted with the idea of a broader world. Just when Nellie begins to embrace an exciting new life with Ray, a terrible incident occurs during an air raid, with catastrophic consequences. When it seems all hope is lost, Nellie finds that, against all odds, love and happiness can triumph. 

Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown grew up hearing her grandmother’s stories of the Blitz, including the bizarre crush at the Bethnal Green air raid shelter that resulted in Britain’s largest single loss of civilian life World War II. In her debut novel, the author capably shares that lesser-known piece of history, with a focus on a working-class family experiencing the pressures and heartbreaks of wartime life. Though the central tragedy is horrifying, this remains a heartwarming, clean, and gently-paced read. 

If you like Nineteen Steps, you might also like: 

Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times
by Jennifer Worth
Penguin Group USA, 2012. 340 pages. Memoir 

The memoir that inspired the heartwarming television series. Jennifer Worth was just twenty-two when she volunteered to spend her early years of midwifery training in London’s East End in the 1950s. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying. Coming from a sheltered background, there were tough lessons to be learned. 

Secrets of a Charmed Life
by Susan Meissner
New American Library, 2015. 388 pages. Historical Fiction 

As Hitler wages an unprecedented war against London’s civilian population, one million children are evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. But even as fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming Cotswold cottage, Emmy’s burning ambition to return to the city and apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia’s profound need for her sister’s presence.

SGR