About the Book
About the Book
Crooked Heart
PAPER MOON meets the Blitz in this original black comedy, set in World War II England, chronicling an unlikely alliance between a small time con artist and a young orphan evacuee.
When Noel Bostock --- aged 10, no family --- is evacuated from London to escape the Nazi bombardment, he lands in a suburb northwest of the city with Vera Sedge --- a 36-year-old widow drowning in debts and dependents. Always desperate for money, she’s unscrupulous about how she gets it.
Noel’s mourning his godmother Mattie, a former suffragette. Wise beyond his years, raised with a disdain for authority and an eclectic attitude toward education, he has little in common with other children and even less with the impulsive Vee, who hurtles from one self-made crisis to the next. The war’s provided unprecedented opportunities for making money, but what Vee needs --- and what she’s never had --- is a cool head and the ability to make a plan.
On her own, she’s a disaster. With Noel, she’s a team.
Together, they cook up a scheme. Crisscrossing the bombed suburbs of London, Vee starts to make a profit and Noel begins to regain his interest in life. But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war --- and some of them are dangerous. Noel may have been moved to safety, but he isn’t actually safe at all…
Crooked Heart
- Publication Date: July 5, 2016
- Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial
- ISBN-10: 0062364847
- ISBN-13: 9780062364845