The Only Light in London – Surviving War and Falling in Love
Timing is everything in publishing. When a book, whether non-fiction or fiction, taps into current events, a visceral reaction among the reading public cannot fail to drive interest and yes, sales. Lily Graham’s The Only Light in London is one such novel. It’s hard to read what happened in 1939 Germany – Jews being vilified, persecuted, and killed, the press being silenced, and people, in fear, turning in their friends and relatives – and not see the similarities with what’s now happening in the U.S. Graham’s latest is both an historical work and a cautionary tale as our democracy is being threatened while so many of our fellow citizens look the other way. In other words, The Only Light in London is required reading.
Sebastien Raphael, a Jew, wasn’t permitted to work as a journalist in Germany, but his editor, Samuel, allowed him to write under a pseudonym. Someone, however, tells the Nazis about this arrangement and Samuel is arrested. While Sebastien is willing to turn himself in, Samuel’s wife says it’s best if he leaves Berlin. Sebastien wants his mother, Marta, stepfather, Gunther, and sister, Katrin, to leave with him, but they refuse, underestimating the danger they are in. Sebastien makes it to England, takes on a job at a printing press, hoping to save enough money to arrange passage for his family.
As a refugee, Sebastien keeps a low profile, going back and forth between his work and a small room he’s renting. His boss, Frank, sees that Sebastien is depressed, lonely, and hungry, since the meals served by the woman running his boardinghouse are inedible. One evening Frank shows Sebastien an ad about auditions for an amateur theater group. When Sebastien resists, Frank tells him, besides meeting new people, there will surely be refreshments.
Prudence Findley is an actress who is having trouble getting cast in a play. She broke up with her boyfriend, Simon, because he wanted her to abandon her career. And her mother, Isabelle, keeps telling Findley, as she prefers to be called, to find a sensible job. Findley, however, comes up with the idea of creating her own acting group called the Findley Players. Her mother, who runs a haberdashery, allows Findley to hold the auditions inside her store. Two older women, Sunella and Anita, show up, along with an aging gentleman, Archie. At the last minute, Sebastien overcomes his fears and shows up, too.
Immediately, there’s a physical attraction between Findley and Sebastien. With his dark hair and blue eyes, Findley feels he’s the most beautiful man she’s ever seen. For his part, Sebastien is taken in by Findley’s smile and her enthusiasm. For their first play, Findley chooses Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. While her small troupe is skeptical about ever being able to perform for the public, Findley has an ace up her sleeve. Simon owns a pub called All the World’s a Stage where actors frequently present plays. With that possibility in the future, the Findley Players work towards a goal.
After an unfortunate incident in the boardinghouse, Sebastien is asked to leave. He answers an ad in a newspaper unaware that the room is being offered by Isabelle. When Findley comes home and her mother introduces Sebastien as their new boarder, she couldn’t be happier. Now she will be able to see him every day. Sebastien, too, is thrilled with the new arrangement.
When he joined the Findley Players, Sebastien found a group that was eager to help him bring the rest of his family to Britain. Katrina is able to leave Germany on the Kinder-transport, a system the British government put in place to rescue children by giving them temporary visas. Isabelle not only turns the dining room into a bedroom for Katrina, but is the one to sit with Katrina when she wakes up after having a nightmare.
Gunther has been arrested and sent to a camp, but with the help of Archie’s brother, Milton, who works in the home office, Marta receives a visa and arrives in Britain. Everyone is shocked by her appearance. She’s thin and quite ill, eventually ending up in the hospital. When she’s identified as a German, she’s taken to an internment facility where the British government is detaining refugees who may be a threat to national security. Archie’s brother intervenes again and Marta is eventually released.
After witnessing what happened in Germany, Sebastien vowed that given the chance he would join the British Army. Findley’s brother, Christopher, has already signed on, but when Sebastien tells her he will be leaving, too, she’s distraught. Having the two men she loves placed in such danger is more than she can handle. Once again, it’s Isabelle who steps up to reassure everyone, even though her husband, Findley’s father, died in World War I.
The Only Light in London may be fiction, but what Britain did during World War II is history. The British stepped up early on to fight against the Nazis and open their shores to the Jews and other refugees fleeing the horrors in Germany. And, after that shameful meeting in the Oval Office on February 28, we once again have on full display how our friends across the pond are able to stand up for democracy while our own elected officials place all of us in danger by bowing before dictators.
The Only Light in London
Lily Graham
Top photo: Bigstock
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