wow. what read. lets not be glib here. this a talent if ever there was one. because to write a book of just one single day, a whole book? that there is a feat. so if you can bring it together like Mollie does then wow,that sure is talent.
this book had me thinking all the way through. i couldnt stop. everything this family went through i went through with them. not just with them but imagining myself in this situation too. what would i do? how would me and my family be. for this is post war living. just. and so things have changed massively. nothing will ever be the same and some things shouldnt. things that happened will never be the same and some things definitely shouldnt.
we are captured into the lives of one family and their community and village. just one day as we watch them go about there business. but it feels like im doing a disservice to keep saying its just one day. because in this Mollie manages to show us so much of what this family and those around them are going through right now.
there must have been so much to contend with post war. so much has changed but equally for things you go back to how can they ever look the same? how can woman be doing their home chores and not building ammunition or working the fields. should they just slip back into the home is this right to make them do so. or do we just want to move back into roles we once cherished to get the peace back? is that even wanted or possible? how can there be so many people leaving. what is rationing now? what about our children. what about the landscapes with the barbed wire still lingering. and the emotional toil that it has had on the household and wider. how do you go through the motions. and of course those home from fighting. the navigating of grief and traumas. this book shows the light and shade in such well handled balance.
this book got my a little choked at times. we dont often hear about the "after" or not in the same detail.
i love books like this. that dont need a wallop of a plot. but they are because they dont if that makes sense. they are just a beautiful book,a writing of such topics written with such skill that it makes the story of one day,one normal day for a family feel epic all on its own.

One fine day told the story of a marriage, changed forever by war… Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC, in exchange for an honest review. Quite the ride! Very cinematic in scope and very much remembered. I’ll be recommending to friends and family.