Sammy Rice is a weapons scientist, one of the 'back room boys' of the Second World War. A crippling disability has left him cynical and disillusioned; he struggles against a drink problem at home, and politics and petty pride at work. Worse still, he fears he is not good enough for the woman he loves. But the enemy are dropping a new type of booby bomb, causing many casualties. Only Sammy has the know-how to defuse it - and as he comes face to face with real danger, a bomb which has blown apart braver and better men than he, all the old inadequacies return to haunt him...Can he, at last, prove his worth, and put his demons to rest?

The Small Back Room

Literature & Fiction

Balchin, Nigel

Contemporary

Cassell

A classic novel of the London Blitz that captures all the chaos, absurdity, and tragedy of life during the bombardment. Bill Sarratt, a civil servant, spends the war wining, dining, and wittily commenting on London's shattered nightlife. But, as the bombs begin to fall closer and closer, Sarratt's wife takes on a lover--and his life literally begins to crumble around him.

Darkness Falls from the Air

Genre Fiction

UNKNO

Darkness falls from the air

Pan Books

James Manning is perfectly content. He has a busy and successful life as a magistrate in the city, a bright young thing of a wife, Jill, and an idyllic home in the countryside. The only fly in the ointment as far as he can see is the 'HonBule' - the Honourable William Stephen Fitzharding Bule, very much the country gentleman with too much time on his hands. When a young man is knocked off his bicycle and subsequently dies, James is sure that the culprit is Bule - after all, he saw a scratch on the car the day of the accident AND the car matches the description to a T. But events take an unexpected turn when he discovers that the person driving the car that night was his own wife, Jill. It takes only a short leap of imagination to realise that Jill's friendship with the HonBule is not just platonic. This puts James in a quandary - should he lie to protect his wife, and what about his marriage? Like GOSFORD PARK and SNOBS, one of the main themes of this book is the mores and ethics of the upper classes. James's feelings about his wife are complicated by 'what is expected', and in the cover-up of the young man's death there is a clash between class loyalty and justice.

A way through the wood

Remploy

The Anatomy Of Villainy

History

Read Books

A true modern classic, THE SMALL BACK ROOM is a towering novel of the Second World War.Sammy Rice is a weapons scientist, one of the 'back room boys' of the Second World War. A crippling disability has left him cynical and disillusioned - he struggles with a drink problem at home, and politics and petty pride at work. Worse still, he fears he is not good enough for the woman he loves. The stakes are raised when the enemy begin to drop a new type of booby-trapped bomb, causing many casualties. Only Sammy has the know-how to diffuse it - but as he comes face to face with real danger, all his old inadequacies return to haunt him. Can he, at last, prove his worth and put his demons to rest?

The Small Back Room (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS)

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

The classic novel of the London Blitz, DARKNESS FALLS FROM THE AIR captures the chaos, absurdity and ultimately the tragedy of life during the bombardment.Bill Sarratt is a civil servant working on the war effort. Thwarted at every turn by bureaucracy and the vested interests of big business, the seemingly unflappable Bill is also on the verge of losing his wife Marcia to a literary poseur named Stephen. As the bombs continue to fall, Bill must decide whether he his willing to compromise his principles and prevent his life from crumbling before his very eyes.

Darkness Falls from the Air (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS)

A psychological study of marriage, loyalty and justice, A WAY THROUGH THE WOOD is a remarkable post-war novel.
James Manning is perfectly content. He has a successful life as a businessman in the city, a bright young thing of a wife, Jill, and an idyllic home in the countryside, where he is a local magistrate. The only fly in the ointment is the 'Honbill' - the Honourable William Bule, a gentleman with too much time on his hands.
When a young man is knocked off his bicycle and subsequently dies, James is sure that Bule is the culprit - after all, he saw a scratch on the Honbill's car the day of the accident and it matches the description to a T. But events take an unexpected turn when James discovers that it was really Jill driving that night, and he is torn between obligations to his wife and to his profound sense of right and wrong.
A WAY THROUGH THE WOOD was the inspiration for SEPARATE LIES, a 2005 British film adapted by Academy Award-winning writer Julian Fellowes and starring Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Rupert Everett.

A Way Through the Wood

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Obscure Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Balchin, Nigel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Balchin, Nigel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Balchin, Nigel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Small Back Room

Darkness Falls from the Air

Darkness falls from the air

A way through the wood

The Anatomy Of Villainy

The Small Back Room (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS)

Darkness Falls from the Air (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS)

A Way Through the Wood

The Small Back Room