The Dynamite Room, Jason Hewitt
The Dynamite Room, Jason Hewitt
1 Rating(s)
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The Dynamite Room
A Novel

Author: Jason Hewitt

Narrator: Will Thorp

Unabridged: 8 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/17/2015

Synopsis

Accomplished, resonant and surprising (Guardian) -- a debut for fans of Summer of My German Soldier.

In July 1940, eleven-year-old Lydia escapes life as a child evacuee in Wales. She arrives home to her English village, gas mask in tow, only to find it abandoned. Her family's house is shuttered and empty. Lydia settles in though, determined to wait out the war.

Later that night he arrives: a wounded soldier, gun-wielding, heralding a full-blown German invasion. He says he won't hurt Lydia, but she cannot leave the house.

The unlikely pair coexists in their claustrophobic confines, becoming dependent on each other for survival. Lydia soon realizes that the soldier knows more than he should about her family -- and that he's plotting something for them both.

Eerie, gripping, and incredibly moving, The Dynamite Room brings an original and contemporary resonance to the great tradition of war classics.

Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on September 30, 2018

the opening chapter of this book could have come from any post-apocalyptic novel as an eleven-year-old girl wanders alone with her gas mask through a deserted town with boarded-up windows, wondering where everyone has gone. but this is 1940 suffolk, and lydia has just run away from her temporary shel......more

Goodreads review by Laurie on October 13, 2017

Wonderful to read three outstanding books in a row. I loved the way this book was structured; time is layered in flashbacks between two different characters--a German soldier and an English girl in the last days of WW2. It's a balancing act of desperation, lies, grief, loss, regret and guilt. It sho......more

Goodreads review by Holliekins on February 09, 2014

The Dynamite Room explores a huge 'what if...' of the Second World War. What if German soldiers had reached British shores? What if there had been an invasion? The novel begins with an 11 year old girl called Lydia making her way home to the house she grew up in in rural Suffolk, after escaping from......more

Goodreads review by Raven on August 14, 2015

Not strictly, strictly, a crime book I know, but contains more than enough thought-provoking psychological suspense to keep any reader satisfied. With the claustrophobic setting of two completely contrasting characters confined within a contained space for the majority of the book, Hewitt completely......more

Goodreads review by Stacey on March 30, 2015

I actually finished reading this book 2 days ago, but I felt like I needed to sit with it for a little while before writing about it. It's that kind of book. I could feel my heart break - just a little - with every page I read. Yes, it's set in World War II...eleven year old English girl...wounded G......more

Quotes

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize

PRAISE FOR THE DYNAMITE ROOM:

"Suspenseful and powerful. A novel of great humanity that exposes the absurd contradictions of war."--Samantha Harvey, author of the Orange shortlisted/Booker longlisted The Wilderness

"Superb. Absorbing, suspenseful and with a beautifully poetic touch."--Nathan Filer, author of the Costa Award-winning The Shock of the Fall

"Clever and unsettling, this most unconventional of war stories had me totally gripped."--Shelley Harris, author of Jubilee

"An effective psychological drama between two extraordinary characters. Claustrophobic, touching, character-driven, and told in lovely prose...Readers who loved The Boy in the Striped Pajamas will have a strong affinity with The Dynamite Room."--Katie Ward, author of Girl Reading

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