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There's a scalpel-sharp quality to the limpid and restrained prose style that the Canadian author Helen Humphreys adopts in her latest novel. Set during the second World War and its aftermath, The Evening Chorus follows the paths of four characters floundering as the threat of obliteration looms large. For James Hunter, a young British pilot interned in a Bavarian prisoner-of-war camp, a fascination with redstarts that nest nearby provides respite from the indignity of incarceration; for his wife, Rose, left behind in their east Sussex cottage, it is the consolation of an affair with a local airman. When Enid, James's flinty sister, fetches up in search of shelter, she and Rose forge an uneasy alliance. Humphreys takes a softly-softly approach, and those who like wartime sagas rich in incident may feel a little disappointed. But readers who enjoy clear-sighted novels that radiate a shrewd understanding of the human heart should look no further.
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