Bonfire Night

An Irish Catholic photojournalist and a Jewish medical student fall in love and navigate the obstacles put in their way by their demanding families in Bliss’s wrenching debut. It’s October 1936 when ambitious young photographer Kate Grifferty covers an antifascist protest in London’s East End and catches the eye of protestor David Rabatkin. Over the following months, they hide their affair from David’s Jewish family, who would disown him if he married outside the religion. Eventually caving to familial pressure, David breaks off their relationship, and Kate flees to her older sister’s boardinghouse in Brighton, carrying with her an enormous secret. When she and David unexpectedly reunite during the height of the Blitz four years later, their feelings for each other are both as hot and as conflicted as ever. David is ready to defy his family, but then Kate gets the career opportunity of a lifetime, which would require her to stay single. Kate’s ambivalence over David grows frustrating at times, but the story comes alive in Bliss’s meticulous account of the threats of fascism and antisemitism as well as in her exploration of the messiness of love and family. This is a well-crafted contribution to WWII fiction. Agent: Heather Jackson, Heather Jackson Literary. (Dec.)