It is May 1940 and in Brighton the Beaumonts anxiously await the threatened German invasion. Geoffrey, Evelyn and their eight-year old son, Philip, deal with the war in different ways, but for each of them this is a time of change. Otto, a German-Jewish painter, is at the heart of these changes, exposing the prejudices, fears and desires of the family. Alison MacLeod has created a cast of characters I really cared about and paints a tense and atmospheric portrait of wartime life.

Multilayered WWII drama; a marriage unravels as unwelcome underlying truths come to light. By the author of the even more impressive Tenderness.

Set in Brighton and spanning the period of May 1940 – June 1941 “Unexploded” is obviously a story about war. It is, however, a deliciously layered novel whose strength is in its dealings with smaller more personal wars as well. The novel leads us through the streets of Brighton, pointing out landmarks and features. Hitler is expected to invade and MacLeod is illuminating on the resultant atmosphere: “Fear was an infection – airborne, seaborne – rolling in off the Channel, and although no one spoke of it, no one was immune to it.” Evelyn, Geoffrey and their son, Phillip, live in the heart of Brighton. They are the very picture of respectability. Geoffrey is a banker who has been selected to take charge of Brighton’s internment camp. Evelyn is a well to do woman, unused to running the house without staff, but muddling along. She married Geoffrey “…for his intelligent kindness, for his sense of fairness, for his loyalty to people.” We begin by sharing her impression of Geoffrey as a moralistic and trustworthy pillar of the community, and then watch that impression shatter. Unexploded continually subverts preconceptions. Evelyn takes it upon herself to read to the sick prisoners at the camp and encounters Otto Gottlieb, a “degenerate” German-Jewish artist. He is objectionable and hostile, and yet eventually shows more humanity than Geoffrey. The evocation of wartime suspicions is superbly done. The children that Philip play with secretly listen to Lord Haw-Haw and anticipate Hitler’s arrival with a thrill. Anti-Semitism is rife. A playmate’s older brother has been damaged forever in the war. Phillip’s friend wants revenge for him. Games turn ever more dangerous. As Geoffrey and Evelyn’s relationship disintegrates both form attachments to others. There is much bubbling underneath. Evelyn seeks solace and wisdom in literature and particularly in the words of Virginia Woolf. (In yet another smashed preconception she sees her butcher attending a Woolf lecture.) Otto pays tribute to the dead through his paintings. The Arts are a vital life force. I was already a fan of Alison MacLeod’s writing before I began reading Unexploded. I am even more so now. Her words resonate, her descriptions are clear, her ability to imagine small details transport the reader. She expertly moves the story through to its climax, and beyond. Thoroughly deserving of its Booker longlisting, this is a thought provoking and engaging novel.

Set in Brighton and spanning the period of May 1940 - June 1941 “Unexploded” is obviously a story about war. It is, however, a deliciously layered novel whose strength is in its dealings with smaller more personal wars as well. The novel leads us through the streets of Brighton, pointing out landmarks and features. Hitler is expected to invade and MacLeod is illuminating on the resultant atmosphere: "Fear was an infection – airborne, seaborne – rolling in off the Channel, and although no one spoke of it, no one was immune to it." Evelyn, Geoffrey and their son, Phillip, live in the heart of Brighton. They are the very picture of respectability. Geoffrey is a banker who has been selected to take charge of Brighton’s internment camp. Evelyn is a well to do woman, unused to running the house without staff, but muddling along. She married Geoffrey “...for his intelligent kindness, for his sense of fairness, for his loyalty to people.” We begin by sharing her impression of Geoffrey as a moralistic and trustworthy pillar of the community, and then watch that impression shatter. Unexploded continually subverts preconceptions. Evelyn takes it upon herself to read to the sick prisoners at the camp and encounters Otto Gottlieb, a “degenerate” German-Jewish artist. He is objectionable and hostile, and yet eventually shows more humanity than Geoffrey. The evocation of wartime suspicions is superbly done. The children that Philip play with secretly listen to Lord Haw-Haw and anticipate Hitler’s arrival with a thrill. Anti-Semitism is rife, suspicion everywhere. A playmate’s older brother has been damaged forever in the war. Phillip’s friend wants revenge for him. Games turn ever more dangerous. As Geoffrey and Evelyn’s relationship disintegrates both form attachments to others. There is much bubbling underneath. Evelyn seeks solace and wisdom in literature and particularly in the words of Virginia Woolf. (In yet another smashed preconception she sees her butcher attending a Woolf lecture.) Otto pays tribute to the dead through his paintings. The Arts are a vital life force. I was already a fan of Alison MacLeod’s writing before I began reading Unexploded. I am even more so now. Her words resonate, her descriptions are clear, her ability to imagine small details transport the reader. She expertly moves the story through to its climax, and beyond. Thoroughly deserving of its Booker longlisting, this is a thought provoking and engaging novel.

Do I dare suggest that Unexploded was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize because it speaks of the hardships the British living along the coast of the North Sea had to endure whilst waiting for Hitlers troops to arrive in 1940-1941? It cannot be because of its construction or the development of its characters: they are rather ramshackle to be honest. While Brighton is waiting for the Germans, marital bliss has come to an end for Geoffrey and Evelyn. She cannot accept that he is prepared to leave his family in order to do his duty for king and country, she is even more upset that he has left cyanide pills for her and her son ‘in case of’. I must admit that I wouldn’t be overjoyed if my husband left me this gift, I find Evelyn’s immediate negative reaction towards her husband too much. MacLeod does not offer any other explanation except that husband and wife had grown apart. MacLeod does present us with a number of characters and incidents that make sure that they will never grow together again. And in doing so she resorts to a good number of clichés. First Geoffrey gets a lover (a Jewish Ukrainian pianist), next Evelyn (a Jewish German painter), their butcher shares Evelyn’s love for Virginia Woolf, their son gets involved with rather a nasty young fan of Mosley and Hitler, the jealousy of both husband and son eventually leads to the ‘intended’ accidental death of her lover. To top it all Evelyn is driven into her lovers arms when she finds out Virgina Woolf has committed suicide and arrives at his doorstep in tears. MacLeod has not managed to combine all the information she provides us with into a flowing narrative. I often found myself wondering why I was given certain information. At the end I could only conclude that MacLeod rather pushes the story through or throat. Unexploded could have been a gem if MacLeod had been more delicate with her subject.