Strangers in Time

Although the main fighting in World War II occurred on the European continent, Nazi Germany’s forceful push west made the threat of invasion on the British Isles a true possibility. Germany began a bombing campaign in Britain on September 7, 1940, which came to be known as Black Saturday—the first day of the Blitz. The German Luftwaffe fleet bombed London and other areas of England for 57 straight days and nights in the hopes of overwhelming the Royal Air Force and forcing a surrender. Tens of thousands of people died from the bombings, fires, and resulting homelessness (“The Blitz Around Britain.” Imperial War Museums). In the novel, Charlie recalls the horror of this day and the destruction of poor neighborhoods. He describes the U-shaped bend in the Thames around the Isle of Dogs—an East End neighborhood with countless docks and warehouses—which was so recognizable from the air that Germans could directly target it even at night.

After nine months of the Blitz, the Germans continued to sporadically bomb London. Strangers in Time is set late in 1944, and Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius experience several bombings over the course of a few months. Charlie believes the increased bombardments mean that the Germans are growing desperate as Allied forces begin taking back territory. Cedric, the German spy, references D-Day, a major turning point in the war on June 6, 1944, in favor of the Allies. Though the Nazis were losing territory, they developed more destructive bombs, the V-2s, which they unleashed on England as a last attempt to overwhelm the country. Ignatius experiences the ferocity of these unassisted bombs, which are silent and more deadly than those dropped from planes.

To hinder the German assaults, the British government implemented blackout protocols at night. Houses and businesses put blackout curtains or tar on their windows so no light could escape, and lights on cars and roads were limited—if not completely removed. As an air raid warden, one of Ignatius’s duties is to ensure everyone follows blackout protocols for the safety of the whole community. Charlie describes the inventive methods people use to navigate at night, if necessary, like white-painted lamp posts and curbs, which are visible to the naked eye but not to German bombers.

In the novel, the bombings have both a psychological and physical effect on London. The characters learn to navigate through rubble-lined streets and half-destroyed buildings. Molly, who hasn’t seen London since the start of the war, remarks on how she can’t navigate with her usual landmarks because the destruction is so extensive. Despite the Germans’ best efforts, however, England remains resilient in its desire to fight back. Charlie sees people go about their business among the rubble, wanting to maintain some kind of normalcy. The fear of bombings is still palpable, but Charlie senses a growing feeling of hope that life and safety will soon return. The novel also emphasizes the importance of the “war effort,” the communal effort of British citizens to contribute to and sacrifice for the country’s greater good during wartime.