After the Bombing

Alma Braithwaite was a teenager in Exeter when her boarding school was bombed in 1942.

Twenty-one years later, she remains alone in the house where she grew up, teaching music at her old school, unable to move on from the tragic events of the war. It takes the arrival of an innovative new headmistress and a new pupil - the daughter of a man Alma hasn't seen since 1942 - to bring back the painful yet exhilarating summer that followed the air-raids and jolt her out of the past.

“Oscillating between World War II and the early Sixties, Morrall sets about evoking the war's enduring impact on those who were left behind on the home front, too young to take part yet irrevocably shaped by it nonetheless . . . an engaging story throughout. - Daily MailA potent evocation of the war on the Home Front and its emotional impact on the young people who survived it . . . as much a tale about identity and survival as it is about the impact of national trauma on individuals . . . Her dedication to authenticity has paid off. The novel resonates with the age - Independent on SundayClare Morrall is a writer with a gift for unflamboyant but effective storytelling . . . her narrative has a cumulative power - The Sunday TimesUnusually emotional and moving . . . You'll fly through it in no time - and love every minute of this deep, engrossing experience. - EssentialsI was enchanted from the very first page. The author's descriptions of war-torn Exeter are so vivid, I felt I was there. - Good Housekeeping”

Oscillating between World War II and the early Sixties, Morrall sets about evoking the war's enduring impact on those who were left behind on the home front, too young to take part yet irrevocably shaped by it nonetheless . . . an engaging story throughout. - Daily Mail

A potent evocation of the war on the Home Front and its emotional impact on the young people who survived it . . . as much a tale about identity and survival as it is about the impact of national trauma on individuals . . . Her dedication to authenticity has paid off. The novel resonates with the age - Independent on Sunday

Clare Morrall is a writer with a gift for unflamboyant but effective storytelling . . . her narrative has a cumulative power - The Sunday Times

Unusually emotional and moving . . . You'll fly through it in no time - and love every minute of this deep, engrossing experience. - Essentials

I was enchanted from the very first page. The author's descriptions of war-torn Exeter are so vivid, I felt I was there. - Good Housekeeping

Clare Morrall's first novel, Astonishing Splashes of Colour, was published in 2003 and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize that year. She has since published the novels Natural Flights of the Human Mind, The Language of Others, The Man Who Disappeared, which was a TV Book Club Summer Read in 2010, The Roundabout Man and After the Bombing.

Born in Exeter, Clare Morrall now lives in Birmingham. She works as a music teacher, and has two daughters.

Alma Braithwaite was a teenager in Exeter when her boarding school was bombed in 1942. Twenty-one years later, she remains alone in the house where she grew up, teaching music at her old school, unable to move on from the tragic events of the war. It takes the arrival of an innovative new headmistress and a new pupil - the daughter of a man Alma hasn't seen since 1942 - to bring back the painful yet exhilarating summer that followed the air-raids and jolt her out of the past.

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