The Midnight News

ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Hitler's war has just started, and 20 year old Charlotte is recovering from the loss of her beloved brother at Dunkirk. She is trying to make her own way without relying on her entitled and difficult father, and relishing her independence despite her dull typing job and the privations of wartime life. When her best friend dies in an air raid, and other people she loves start dying, Charlotte becomes haunted by their voices and the feeling that she is the cause - or that the strange grey man she notices all the time has something to do with it all. But when she starts to make enquiries, with the help of a young man she has met, she is soon reminded what happens when she makes a nuisance of herself - because when she was younger, she learnt the consequences of stepping out of line… Atmospheric and quite gripping, I read this on a wet Sunday - it was the perfect companion! Lindy

An intriguing and thrilling read, believable in the tiniest details - I've read half a dozen novels set in the Blitz but this one is the most atmospheric and memorable. It had me by the throat * Emma Donoghue, author of Room * Deep and dark and wonderful: a marvel of storytelling wrested from the black night of the twentieth century. Your heart will be in your mouth as you read * Francis Spufford, author of Golden Hill * A riveting and moving novel that masterfully captures the reality of wartime in all its sorrow and uncertainty as well as the light that can still be found in the dark and the beauty of lasting friendship * Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina * The Midnight News approaches the story of the Blitz from a completely fresh angle. Both a captivating mystery and a moving insight into one woman's experience, this book is a deeply immersive read. Baker is a master at evoking place and time in an incredibly personal, intimate way. A novel you won't forget easily * Jan Carson, author of The Raptures * 'A beautifully written and deeply evocative novel about love and war, defiance and acquiescence, threaded through with a satisfyingly knotty mystery. I adored it' * Eva Dolan, author of This Is How It Ends * Immediately immersive and utterly enthralling, The Midnight News is full of atmosphere and intrigue and tells a deeply moving story that is as surprising as it is satisfying * Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Everyone Is Still Alive * Jo Baker is one of my absolute favourite writers working today. She is that rare and precious thing: a literary writer with a poet's eye for detail, an acute psychologist who creates characters who live, but also a brilliant storyteller who in The Midnight News tells both a love story and a mystery with increasing tension and dread. I read with a lump in my throat while the family dinner burnt * Natasha Solomons, author of Mr Rosenblum's List * As ever, Jo Baker's writing gives us intellectual satisfaction and great narrative pleasure. I stayed up late reading and I was glad. * Sarah Moss, author of Ghost Wall * 'Extremely well-researched and fearsomely well-written, The Midnight News takes us into the mind of Charlotte, a young woman striving to recover from loss while navigating her way through the hazards of the London Blitz. The bombing strikes close to Charlotte's fragile heart - and throws up a mystery she feels compelled to solve. Jo Baker's gripping storyline opens out into fascinating territory - the perception and treatment of mental illness in the 1940s - and ends with a truly touching love story. I have huge admiration for Jo Baker and what she has achieved in this novel' * Frances Liardet, author of We Must Be Brave * 'I love Jo Baker's work - her writing is always so lyrical and delightful. The Midnight News is a beautiful, enthralling novel about a woman losing and finding herself again during World War II. I inhaled it feverishly' * Anna-Marie Crowhurst, author of The Illumination of Ursula Flight * A wonderful novel that immersed me in the terror and heartbreak of wartime London. Atmospheric and totally gripping, with a mystery that had me puzzled right until the last moment. Absolutely superb. * Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City * Second World War love story for fans of Sarah Waters and Kate Atkinson. * The Bookseller * Enthralling and very moving, it's fascinating to be thrown into Charlotte's war-torn world via this precisely imagined, suspenseful novel. The bonus is the sweet love story running through it. * Adele Parks , Platinum * Gripping, intriguing and evocative, The Midnight News is a darkly atmospheric story about a determined young woman trying to forge a life for herself in wartime London. When bombs start falling, Charlotte's grip on reality starts slipping. But is she losing her mind because people she loves are dying, or is the chaos of the Blitz providing a cover for something more sinister? In a city where nothing is safe, who can she trust? This clever and accomplished novel is simultaneously a vivid evocation of London life during the Blitz, where secretaries struggle into work after digging bodies out of rubble; a late-night page-turner that will keep you guessing till the end, and a fascinating exploration of identity - and one woman's fight to hang onto her own * Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre * A glorious novel set in the Blitz, which is part thriller, part mystery... clever and utterly compelling. * Red * Both a mystery and a love story, this novel stayed with me a long time after I'd finished it. * Good Housekeeping * A novel that succeeds both in creating pages that turn themselves, and in continually feeding the reader's sense of wonder. * John Self, Daily Telegraph *