In recent years, Kate Atkinson has developed a reputation primarily around two types of fiction: historical fiction (mainly set during World War II) and mysteries, especially her Jackson Brodie detective novels. Atkinson is the rare author who excels across genres like this, so I was especially interested to discover that her new book seems to bridge that gap as well. 

OUR NOBLE SELVES is set not during World War II, but soon after. Its focus is on a historical phenomenon that I suspect might be as unfamiliar to many Americans as it was to me. My own online research indicates that the UK is gearing up for some events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, which is held with great fanfare in London, on the south bank of the Thames. The Festival was designed in no small part to convince the world --- and, of course, UK residents themselves --- that the difficulties and sorrows of the war years were behind them, and the best was yet to come. In short, Britain was back, baby.

"[O]nce the mystery really starts to deepen --- and especially once the cast of colorful characters surrounding the somewhat buttoned-up Flynn have a chance to shine --- the novel comes to life as well."

However, Atkinson's novel well illustrates that this was not exactly true. The central character, Harry Flynn, is recruited by a former journalism colleague to work on the Festival. He, like so many of his coworkers, carries significant scars from the recent war. In Flynn's case, they are more metaphorical. Although he never actually joined the armed forces, as a journalist covering conflicts overseas, he bore witness to the fall of Singapore and was subsequently pressed into service by the Japanese on building the Burma-Thailand Railway (known as the Death Railway by the Allied POWs unfortunate enough to be forced to work on it). 

But Flynn, like so many veterans of his generation, returned home from the war determined never to speak of it. He assumes that the famous British stiff upper lip will serve him well, especially as he throws himself more or less heartedly into the borderline absurd tasks the Festival planners throw at him. These include serving on the committee to select the official “Festival Cake,” choosing the most authentic red-haired “Nell Gwyn” to roam the fairgrounds, and working with a staff on outfitting a series of period rooms with authentic consumer goods and other embellishments. 

Part of the return to normalcy, of course, is dating and setting up a family. Flynn also has tried that, but his hasty postwar marriage has ended disastrously. Now, persuaded to accompany an attractive French Festival colleague for a drink, he wakes up with a black eye and no recollection of the night before --- only to discover that his date seems to have disappeared without a trace. Finding himself a prime suspect, accompanied by a couple of unlikely (but increasingly endearing) sidekicks, he sets out to learn what happened to the young woman. It turns out that Flynn is not the only one harboring secrets from the war --- some darker and more dangerous than others. 

Those who have read Atkinson's recent works might be most surprised by just how traditional OUR NOBLE SELVES is in its narrative techniques. It's chronological, straightforward and almost old-fashioned in its approach, unlike either her Brodie mysteries or her historical novels like LIFE AFTER LIFE. That, as well as the abundance of real-life research with which she packs her pages, can make the book feel slow to get rolling. But once the mystery really starts to deepen --- and especially once the cast of colorful characters surrounding the somewhat buttoned-up Flynn have a chance to shine --- the novel comes to life as well. 

So sure, this is a sometimes rollicking mystery taking place in a surprising and somewhat outlandish setting. But, with the long lens of the historical novelist, Atkinson also infuses her tale with perspective and reflections on what this generation endured and how they tried to make sense of it all. After attending a Festival-opening pageant tracing British history, Flynn finds himself “unexpectedly moved by all those ordinary people trying to make order out of the mess of the past.”

The Festival of Britain may have been a bit of a farce, a piece of trickery intended to convince the country that they were fine now…really. But in her skillful, perceptive way, Atkinson shows readers both the shiny, sometimes silly surface of things and the depths underneath.