Light Perpetual

The book offers a powerful evocation through snapshots of lives in South London through recent post-war history. Something that emerges almost without you noticing is how much they were all affected by the political and economic changes of the eighties and early nineties. There is no political polemic here, but even those who prosper from these changes suffer from them, possibly more than the others. 

It presents recent history in which a way of life was changed forever without us realizing it, and we are still living with the consequences.

In today’s world, young lives cut short by bombing are sadly commonplace. In November 1944, one of many such tragedies occurred in London. The author of this astounding novel walked past a memorial to the victims every day, and this became his inspiration.

What if five imaginary children were not robbed of their futures in this brutal way? What would they have done with their lives? Jo, Val, Vern, Alec, and Ben are fictional, but their messy, credible stories are explored in a deeply moving account of the social changes that played out in Britain through the decades following the… show more.

In 1944, the Woolworth’s in London was bombed, killing 168 people. 15 were kids.

In this story, the author brings back 5 of those children and writes a story of how they might have been growing up and as adults. It is a tearjerker and really makes you wonder what all of those 15 children would have been like.

Several senseless tragedies leave a lot of “What-ifs,” and this one really pulled at my heartstrings.