Nineteen Steps

This novel is set during World War II in Bethnal Green, a working-class neighborhood in London's East End, and centers on the Bethnal Green tube station disaster of 1943. The story follows 18-year-old Nellie Morris as she contends with wartime loss, first love, and an official cover-up.

A prologue set in March 1993 introduces an elderly Nellie returning to Bethnal Green for a fiftieth-anniversary memorial service at the urging of her old friend Barbara. She climbs the 19 steps from the station to street level, and when a crowd of students charges past, she flattens herself against the wall, whispering, "Don't fall, don't fall" (3), as the trauma of what happened on these steps resurfaces.

The main narrative opens in September 1942. Nellie works as assistant to Mayor Margaret Bolton and lives on Morpeth Street with her parents, Charlie and Em, her younger brother George, and her seven-year-old sister Flo. In Victoria Park, Nellie and Flo encounter Billy Waters, their next-door neighbor and the older brother of Nellie's best friend, Barbara (Babs). Billy, who has asthma, serves as an air raid warden at the local tube station shelter. He carries deep romantic feelings for Nellie, though she sees him only as a friend.

After a daytime air raid, Nellie visits her aunt Ruth, who has tuberculosis. She suggests Ruth and her husband John stay home in their indoor Morrison shelter, a steel cage designed to protect against falling debris, rather than trek to the damp tube. That night, a bomb destroys their house, killing them both. Nellie is consumed by guilt, believing her advice caused their deaths.

At work, Nellie attends a meeting where an engineer inspects the tube station entrance and identifies serious hazards: a single dim light, no handrails, and unfinished step edges. He warns that "a potential disaster could occur" (22). Mrs. Bolton applies to London Civil Defence, the government body overseeing shelter safety, for funding to make improvements, but the request is denied as too expensive.

After Ruth and John's funeral, Charlie insists on evacuating Flo to the countryside. Em breaks down seeing Flo's terrified face through the bus window and begs Nellie to bring her back. Nellie chases the bus and nearly collides with a van but is pulled to safety by Ray Fleming, a United States Air Force airman stationed nearby. Ray helps stop the bus, and Nellie retrieves Flo. She is rude and dismissive, but Ray is intrigued by her fierce spirit.

That evening at the Angel and Crown pub, Nellie sings and captivates Ray. She is drawn to his stories of faraway places, which match her own dreams of seeing the world. At a dance at his airbase, Ray kisses her for the first time, and their relationship deepens quickly. He visits on every day off and charms her family over Sunday tea. In February 1943, Ray proposes an informal engagement, insisting they wait until after the war so Nellie would not be left a war widow. At St John's church, across from the tube station, he carves their initials and the date into the sandstone wall.

On the evening of March 3, 1943, the air raid siren sounds. Nellie and George reach the shelter ahead of their family; Charlie, Em, and Flo are delayed because Flo cannot find her china dog ornament, Spotty. Billy, stationed in the ticket hall, witnesses a woman fall at the bottom of the 19 steps, triggering a chain reaction as hundreds topple forward in the dark. Billy pulls a baby and several others free before an asthma attack forces him to stop. Ray, who has driven to Bethnal Green, arrives as the siren sounds. His car backfires near the entrance, and a woman screams that the Germans are shooting. Ray enters the stairwell and is caught in the crush before being pulled free by Thomas Penn, an off-duty policeman.

Nellie and George find a maintenance exit and emerge to a nightmarish scene. Inside St John's church, where victims have been laid out, Nellie and Em search row by row. They find Charlie, then Flo, identified by a single small red shoe. Em gathers her daughter's body, and Nellie lets out a piercing howl. Ray reveals his unit is relocating the next day. Overwhelmed with grief, Nellie seizes on his admission that his car backfired, screams that he killed her family, and orders him to leave. Ray departs, believing he caused the disaster.

A secret emergency meeting confirms 173 dead, including 62 children. Officials decree the tragedy must be kept quiet to protect morale. Nellie takes the minutes, furious that the entrance improvements could have prevented the deaths. At Charlie and Flo's funeral, she lashes out at Billy, Em, and George in turn before Babs insists none of them is to blame.

Over the following weeks, Nellie records 81 witness testimonies at an official inquiry and learns there was no panic. She realizes Ray's car played no part in the disaster, writes him a heartfelt letter of apology, and reconciles with Billy. Shortly after, Clayton, Ray's friend, delivers devastating news: Ray was shot down over France with no parachute sighted. Nellie collapses and runs to the church, tracing their carved initials.

The official report blames the public for a lack of self-control and assigns responsibility to the Borough Council, despite acknowledging the Council had applied for funding. Nellie discovers the government has secretly agreed to pay compensation in exchange for the Council accepting blame, an arrangement enforced under the Official Secrets Act, a law barring officials from disclosing the deal. Stan Collins, a reporter whose father died in the crush, persuades Em to file a civil lawsuit as a test case. Em wins £1,550, providing the family financial security.

Part Three jumps to spring 1945. Billy has been a steady, comforting presence throughout, and on V-E Day he proposes. Nellie says yes, though her love for Billy is different from what she felt for Ray. Two days before the wedding, Ray appears on Morpeth Street. He was shot down, captured, and held in a prisoner-of-war camp for two years. He never received Nellie's letter and has spent the entire time believing he caused the disaster. Nellie tells him the truth but insists she is marrying Billy.

On the wedding day, Ray appears outside St John's church. Billy, at the altar, spots him through the open doors and sees the love between Nellie and Ray. He calls off the wedding, telling Nellie he is "setting you free" (292). He hands Ray the honeymoon train tickets and gives Nellie the wedding ring, telling Ray to look after her. George runs after them with Flo's china dog, Spotty, which he found on the stairs after the disaster and has carried ever since. Nellie and Ray run through the streets together toward a new beginning.

The epilogue returns to March 1993. Billy, now happily married to Amelia Thomas, a longtime friend, meets Nellie at the station and steadies her on the steps. He explains that releasing her preserved their love as friendship. Nellie reveals that Ray died of cancer after 45 years of marriage. She still wears the ring Billy bought, in tribute to his selflessness. Alone, Nellie traces the carved initials on the church wall, then visits Flo's grave, singing the lullaby she once sang her sister to sleep with in the shelter.