Rosemary's Reviews > There Were No Windows

Claire Temple is an aging writer with a chequered romantic past who still has charm but is losing her memory. Rattling around in a big house in Kensington with nobody but a feisty young cook, she becomes increasingly hard to manage. And the Blitz is on, so it matters when she objects to the blackout or fails to understand the sirens.

This is apparently based on a real person, but you don't need to know that to appreciate the way that Norah Hoult draws out Claire's charm and confusion, her sense of entitlement, and the impossibility of living with her. Her lifestyle wouldn't be possible these days - unless extremely rich, she would be in a care home well before the end - but back then there were no care homes, there were only asylums, of which she was rightly terrified.

Even though the subject matter is sad, it is leavened with kindness and humour.