This week’s Top Five Tuesday prompt — Books Set in a Specific Time Period — is open to interpretation. Are we talking about a specific date on the calendar? Or a period of time like, say the years of World War One? Or could it be just a span of time; a day, a month etc?
I’ve gone for a hybrid approach. I’m highlight books whose narratives happen on a notable day in history as well as books that span a period of time. Links are to my reviews where they exist.
Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton
I’m kicking off with rather a gloomy tale of obsession and psychological breakdown. All the action in Hangover Square takes place against the backdrop of the looming threat of war. We can pinpoint the action further to the months between the Munich Agreement of September 1938 to the declaration on September 3 1939. The climax occurs as the radio announces that Britain is at war with Germany.
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
I’m sticking with landmark dates in history for my next choice. Burnt Shadows actually reflects two calamitous twentieth events — the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 and the attacks on the World Trade Centre in February 1993. In between we encounter these families throughout the partition of India and wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan,
Johannesburg by Fiona Melrose
Johannesburg opens on another notable date in history — the death of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first independent President on 5 December 2013. Just like Mrs Dalloway, this novel also takes place over the course of one day and involves preparations for a birthday party.
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Naturally, I have to include Mrs Dalloway in my list. All of the action of this novel, aside from flashbacks, takes place on one day. Woolf doesn’t give us the exact date, just indicates that Mrs Dalloway’s party is in “the middle of June” of 1923.
One Day by David Nicholls
For my final choice, I’m moving from a one day novel, to a novel spanning two decades where a specific date provides the structure. David Nicholls’s best-selling novel One Day; (now a film and a (less-successful) TV series chronicles the lives of two characters, Emma and Dexter, as seen on the same date (July 15th) each year.
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