Description

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 Times
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It’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.
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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

Publisher Review

An irresistible novel which combines a crumbling once-grand house, bumbling aristos clinging to the pre-war past, and the magnificent Zena Baxter, one of my all-time favourite heroines. This is Lissa Evans at the peak of her mighty powers — India Knight Funny poignant, perfect period detail…it’s as if Barbara Pym and Evelyn Waugh had a secret love-child…Heaven! — Daisy Goodwin A glorious read. I laughed many times rejoicing in the wit, cleverness and humanity — Elizabeth Buchan This is better than Wodehouse, in my humble opinion, because it’s believable as well as funny … Lissa Evans is a great comic writer and her portrait of an aristocratic family trying to cling to its privileges in the unforgiving aftermath of WW2 is all the funnier for being generous, touching and romantic rather than mean — Clare Chambers I loved this. Brilliantly funny, moving and joyous. Also, there’s a perfect moment – when one character moves from liking someone to love — Catherine Johnson