Author: Evans, Lissa
Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Published on 14 August 2025 by Transworld Publishers Ltd (Penguin (Transworld)) in the United Kingdom.
Paperback | 320 pages
197 x 129 x 23 | 224g
Discover the heartwarmingly witty new historical novel about changing (sometimes reluctantly) with the times in the aftermath of WW2, perfect for fans of Maggie O'Farrell and Rachel Joyce.
˜A deeply pleasurable postwar tale' Guardian'Generous, touching and romantic' Clare Chambers˜One of our finest writers of literary entertainment' Spectator'Sometimes books that are this funny are easy to underestimate, but Small Bomb at Dimperley is wiser than a good many ponderously serious tomes. An absolute joy to read' The TimesIt's 1945, and Corporal Valentine Vere-Thissett, aged 23, is on his way home.
But ˜home' is Dimperley, built in the 1500s, vast and dilapidated, up to its eaves in debt and half-full of fly-blown taxidermy and dependent relatives, the latter clinging to a way of life that has gone forever.
And worst of all - following the death of his heroic older brother - Valentine is now Sir Valentine, and is responsible for the whole bloody place. To Valentine, it's a millstone; to Zena Baxter, who has never really had a home before being evacuated there with her small daughter, it's a place of wonder and sentiment, somewhere that she can't bear to leave.
But Zena has been living with a secret, and the end of the war means she has to face a reckoning of her own¦Funny, sharp and touching, Small Bomb at Dimperley is both a love story and a bittersweet portrait of an era of profound loss, and renewal.
More praise for Small Bomb at Dimperley˜A future classic' Woman&Home'This is Lissa Evans at the peak of her mighty powers' India Knight˜Brilliantly written, gloriously funny... a heart-warming read about learning to live again' Sun'Incredibly assured and affecting... the perfect novel to be read in such dark times' Graham Norton˜Perfectly pitched, funny tale, sprinkled with peppery observations and speckled with a poignant bitter-sweetness' Daily Mail