Light Perpetual: 'Heartbreaking . . . a Boundlessly Rich Novel.' Telegraph

Whitley Bay Book Group discussed Light Perpetual in January 2023

This book begins in 1944 with a bomb exploding in a South London branch of Woolworth’s, then describes the futures that might have been experienced by five children who died in the blast.

It led to an interesting discussion, in which we expressed a wide range of comments and opinions so was a good suggestion for the book group.

Most but not all appreciated the lyrical quality of the writing, especially in the opening chapter, and the chapters with Ben on the bus, and Ben in the hospice, which we found particularly moving.

The author revisits his five characters for a day each every 15 years so we can see the changes in British post-war society through the lives of people who are at the same time both ordinary and extraordinary. One of the most interesting strands if our discussion was whether it mattered that the characters were all dead. Does it lead to a sense of disconnection that the author kills off his characters in the first chapter? Or does it illustrate the fragility and the possibilities of each life? Another strand was the importance of music in the book, both in Jo’s chapters as she is a musician and music teacher, but also as a soundtrack to the second half of the twentieth century.

Most of us liked it, some of us loved it, but some didn’t engage with the characters and would have preferred more of a plot. Our star ratings varied from 1.5 to 5, with an average of 3.5.

“One of the most well observed books I have ever read. Poignant, thoughtful and delightful.”
“Profoundly affected me- these were real people for me and glorious in their ordinariness.”
“Not an easy book to read, very literary and, in places very verbose in its descriptive parts. The book covers the possible lives of five children killed in a WW2 bomb in London. Through the prism of the five characters much of British post war society is illustrated in some detail. I found some parts extremely accurate in particular the efforts of the character of Alec to get into high paying national newspaper printing-I was an apprentice compositor in 1964 and remember vividly the pay you could get on a “national” and the power of the printing chapels (Union branches) The destruction of the printing industry after the Wapping dispute Is accurate also. The various characters reflect British society and its changes during the post war years and movingly describe the many ups and downs that could be experienced by people over a full life, if they had lived . . . In summary the writing is impressive for its depth and breadth and my comments regarding verbosity would be easily removed by some judicious editing.”
“There is only one word for this book – “Brilliant” it is quite easily the best book we have read as a group so far during my attendance at reading group. The prose is beautiful, with some extremely good descriptive passages and if the author has not experienced all these matters, then he has grasped them superbly and banged the nail on the head. After the initial chapter set in 1944 with a V2 bomb dropping on London and wiping out 5 children (amongst others), the author speculates how their lives may have progressed had they lived, with accurate descriptions of their lives and times over the next 65 years. There is a beautiful symmetry to this story telling, with events in 5 different time periods- 1949, 1964, 1979, 1994 and 2009. To my view these cover 5 events in everyone’s life to greater or lesser extent, being education, love, family, work, and illness. I immensely enjoyed the footballing contrasts from standing on the concrete terrace in 1949 to corporate hospitality in 2009, both very accurate and superbly described.”
“This book is vast, expansive, thrilling yet also works on an everyday human level.”
“Excellent idea. Too much detail which sometimes detracts-however superb writing non-the less. I couldn’t enjoy it so I gave up but may try again.”

Absolutely loved this book - the first chapter is utterly magnificent albeit well beyond my technical comprehension - but this really didn’t matter. I found the characters were well developed, interesting yet ordinary and so acutely described that I felt I would know them if saw them on the street ( inside and out )
I really enjoyed the various story lines and enjoyed the way the book had been structured.
Most of all however I absolutely loved the intense and colourful descriptions - he nailed so many moments with such clever and accurate narration - I kept underlining phrases and then sentences and then paragraphs because I just couldn’t believe one individual could see and describe so many situations so beautifully. Utter genius

St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 7th April 2022.

Light Perpetual. Francis Spufford.

As sometimes happens, the readers in this group had widely differing opinions about this book. Perhaps a majority enjoyed it, seeing it as beautifully written and a good historical survey of the period. Comments were that the issues of homophobia, feminism, and mental health were covered well; a very real story of London in the second half of the twentieth century and the changes in people’s lives and in class at a time of more social mobility. The negative sides of life are depicted: Thatcherism, greed, bereavement, grief, racism, and mental illness, but these were successfully shown as being part of life along with the positive. A realistic and accurately portrayed political novel.

The idea of the resurrected children living out their hypothetical lives after having been bombed in Woolworths at the beginning of the book interested several readers. One compared this idea with meeting one’s school friends at reunions after a lapse of a number of years, and observing how people seemed the same but older and had done highly diversified things in the interim. A ‘novel way of seeing the time pass’.

One reader, however, said it ‘really was a horrible read’, intensely disliking the very violent opening passages (this was read with the present invasion of Ukraine as a backdrop), and considering a ‘mish-mash of jumbled stories’, disjointed and confusing, and ‘ticking boxes’ with coverage of mental health issues, race, and pregnancy.

Several people did mention that the sections about Ben, with his voices and delusions, were slightly tedious, especially at first. Also there was an issue quite widely raised about the link between the children not actually existing, and then their stories being told. Was the author deliberately asking unanswerable questions? How did the elements of random death from the air, and ‘what might have been’, connect? This worried several readers, and contributed to their reservations about the book.

This book was read during March 2022 and the continuing restrictions due to the Covid-19 virus, and so the discussion was not 'live' as usual, but took place via a Facebook group, email and telephone conversations.

I loved the opening chapter of this book, and the closing one, too, is sublime. The explosive beginning, a horribly detailed description of a V2 rocket (one of the 'terror weapons' Hitler told ordinary Germans would turn the course of the war) impacting upon a Woolworths in London in 1944 (a real life event) continues with philosophical musings, about time and how the would-be's, could-be's, might-be's snuffed out could, in another dimension or a version where the rocket's trajectory was altered very slightly to miss the store, allow five imaginary children's lives to play out. So my expectation was something like Kate Atkinson's 'Life after Life', looping through time with possible alternative lives for the children, intersecting sometimes. However the book more closely resembles filmmaker Michael Apted's '7 Up' series following the lives of 14 ordinary English children at intervals.

'Light Perpetual' is a skilfully realised social history of postwar London, evocative to those who have lived through at least a chunk of the time period- Swinging Sixties, Grim Beige 70s, Loads-a-money 80s, New Labour-New Dawn 90s, Economic Crash 2008- postwar optimism and consensus giving way to today's world of rising inequality, division and pessimism.

There is no further reference to the beginning, making it seem like an irrelevance, however, I enjoyed the characters, not all likeable but equally interesting for what their imagined lives reveal through times of social change and economic upheaval. This makes the narrative necessarily a little choppy and it's difficult not to want to return more often to the more sympathetic, to see how things have panned out since we last checked in.

Definitely a book to read quickly over a short time so you can keep the thread of Who's Who and What's What. Ultimately a rewarding and life-affirming novel I enjoyed reading very much, even if not what I expected at the start, for the beautiful writing in particular, for moving me to tears more than once, and for digging up old memories of days gone by.

I loved this book. The author imagined what might have happened to five people who died in a bomb attack on Woolworths in London during WW2, had they survived. He did not resort to high drama, exotic lifestyles and unlikely scenarios - he didn't need to as he was a very accomplished writer. He just told it the way it was - ordinary people leading ordinary lives and it was wonderful.

At lunchtime on the 25th November 1944 a German bomb hits a busy Woolworths store in London. Among those killed were five young children. This much of the story is verifiable fact. The author then creates a parallel universe in which these five children actually lived and he explores how their lives might have panned out, checking in on them every couple of decades to monitor their progress.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The first few pages are a bit daunting as we are treated to a fairly technical account of the moment the bomb actually hit. It was a bit like reading something by Umberto Eco – I didn’t understand much of it and couldn’t imagine how I was going to get through the rest of the book. Funnily enough though, this is probably the part of the book that had the most impact on me and which I still remember quite vividly now. It is very dramatic and very chilling. However, thankfully the novel then reverted to something much more within my intellectual capabilities. The characters are all very well developed and by the end of the book I felt as though I knew them quite intimately and I really cared what happened to them (most of them anyway!). The winning formula is that they are all just ordinary people, living lives which are, in a sense, unremarkable yet everyone has a story to tell if we give them the opportunity. I also liked the way that we only check in with the characters every few years which means that we are spared the tedium of the minutiae of their lives and are encouraged to “fill in the gaps” ourselves but this approach is not without its problems (see the next paragraph for details). There is something very endearing about the characters and the way the book is written, especially as the characters approach the end of their time on this earth. The author is clearly a very accomplished writer whose language flows seamlessly from one sentence to the next.

The reason that I only gave this book four stars is that the fifth star only reared its head towards the end of the book. Up until that point I was not finding it particularly riveting and was probably only inclined to give it three stars. By the time I had finished it I wanted to give it five. Four seemed like a reasonable compromise. Part of the problem is that there are five characters to follow and we just catch a snippet of their lives and then move onto a different character. The book is written in chronological order (thankfully – it is rare to read a book these days which proceeds in a chronological fashion) so the next time we meet these characters it is a decade and a half later, by which time I had forgotten what was happening to them last time we met and had to flick back through the book to find out. The other problem is that there isn’t any direct correlation between the two snapshots anyway as there has been a gap of 15 years in between. I am certainly not criticising the approach that was used, in fact I think it was quite a good (and innovative) way of structuring the novel. However, I am saying that it doesn’t make life particularly easy for the reader, particularly if, like me, the reader has gaps in between sittings. In my case this was my “bus” book which meant that I only read it when I went on the bus - whilst this is a fairly frequent activity of mine, it is by no means a constant one so there were sometimes gaps of a few days when I would not pick it up.

All in all I loved this book and would certainly recommend it to a wide reading audience. Don’t be put off by the technical nature of the first few pages. I had not come across Francis Spufford before but will certainly be looking out for more of his books.

The book is starts with 5 children aged about 5yr who died in 1944 as a result of a WW2 bomb landing on Woolworths in London. The story then starts afresh in the next chapter as if that individual bomb did not occur and over 15yr interviews it catches up on how the 5 of them have been living their lives.

They do nothing major to demonstrate it was right they should have lived by being inventive, saving mankind, making the world a better place. They just lived. I loved following their individual lives. How racism, sexuality, career choices, sexism, family, love was part of living. The characters were well written and the decisions they make enjoyable reading though often frustrating or sad but, their lives, their decisions.

Brilliantly written and relaxing to read.
I loved this book and look forward to reading more of Francis Spufford's books.

After a great start the book failed to keep my initial interest. The more complex the lives of the characters became, it resulted in 5 different threads that became more difficult to follow. For me, the structure of the stories created a somewhat disjointed read as they had no connection to each other at all.

With such a good opening chapter I did think this book would continue to captivate me, but actually I found it rather disappointing .
I couldn't really see the point of knowing what would have occurred in each of the children's lives if they had lived.
I continued to read this novel because I wondered if a big twist would occur half way through, but alas no.
Disappointing.

Below are two reviews received from members of different reading groups:

I read this as part of my group after we received copies. I really enjoyed this book! The author’s way of creating imagery with simple vocabulary is truly awe inspiring and refreshing. The opening chapter demonstrates his ability to really construct scene in one’s mind especially as what he was describing took about a second in real time to occur! Although there is no plot I still felt compelled to find out more about each character and how their lives changed over time. The mechanism of jumping forwards in 15 year intervals helps us to see the contrasts as their lives progress no only in their own situations but by using each character’s story to highlight changes the state of the country, dealing with such things as the decline of printing, the gentrification of the poor parts of London, racism, sexism, mental heath issues and domestic violence. It did make me wonder what the author thought about first; the characters themselves, or the subjects the book shines a spotlight on?
I scored the book 4.5 out of 5. I am looking forward to reading another of his books

Thank you so much for a copy of the book for our group to review. We had a great time discussing the book and there was a lot of debate and thought-provoking questions. Thinking about how each of these children could have had a life like described was very powerful. Each child has a distinct personality that we first encounter at their primary school, as they sing in class and as Ben attends a football match with his father. We are luck to see them grow up as members of their families, becoming parents, grandparents and intimate family and personal relationships as the years go by.

This is a memorable book: beautifully written, ambitious in its conceit and, at times, powerfully emotive. The opening chapter somehow became all the more potent when read alongside the current war in Ukraine. Every deadly bomb has this power to rewrite human history. I particularly admire the fact that the lives re-imagined were those of ordinary people, not necessarily heroic or even, in some cases, that likeable. From the slow motion of the opening chapter, through the jumps forward in time, sometimes the changes in gear were slightly unsettling, but within a few lines I became immersed again in the new story unfolding. Sometimes, it felt more like a finely crafted set of short stories but there were enough intersections between the characters and their lives to make the novel stand as a satisfying whole. By the end of the final chapter I knew that this was a book that I would want to keep, read again and savour.
Victoria Ryrie, Hunstanworth Village Hall Bookclub

“Light Perpetual” generated one of the best discussions we’ve enjoyed at Methley Book Club for some time. It divided the group, which is always a good thing when we have a club meeting & led to an interesting debate. Some readers were full of praise for the author’s writing, describing the book as ‘beautiful’, ‘excellent’, ‘unputdownable’, ‘amazing’, ‘breathtaking’. Others were not so complimentary, finding the book to be disjointed, having too much detail, too difficult to get into and in parts, pretentious. Most readers agreed that the first chapter was very special, emotional, as if in slow motion. After that, some gave up on the book. Some carried on but struggled with the first half. A few readers said that Light Perpetual didn’t live up to expectations but the majority of our readers enjoyed the novel and appreciated the beautiful prose throughout, particularly commenting on the excellence of the closing chapter, as well as the first. Individual comments included ‘moving’, ‘well crafted’, ‘moved from the mundane to the philosophical, seamlessly’, ‘played with my emotions’, ‘excellent research by the author’, ‘the concept was good and the characterisations were very real’.
18 readers submitted scores out of 10 which ranged from 3 to 10. The average score was 6.5.

I found the opening ponderous and heavy-handed but once having overcome what I feel was an overly obvious start, I found the novel's sweep through post war history and the presentation of an area of South London I know well, both realistic and, eventually, life-enhancing. In many ways it is epic in its coverage of what was a time of rapid and pervasive change, cleverly interweaving issues of racism; sexism and gender roles; gay rights; political conflict; mental health and economic unpredictability. Spufford's descriptions helped to bring to life the mundane and the unexceptional whilst also presenting us with five characters who demonstrate the range of outcomes, good and bad, that emerge from a single primary school at a time of immense opportunity and possible disaster. In the end, it is ultimately an optimistic novel arising from the concept of "what might have been" and contains moments of joy and sadness in equal measure. Definitely worth reading.

5 stars for character development. 3 stars for actual interest.

For the vast majority of this book, I expected to give it three stars. In many ways, it's exactly what I expected from the Booker long-list: it's highly literary in a way that is alternately beautiful and infuriating, with striking turns of phrase that are sometimes spot-on and other times completely bewildering. There is also, unsurprisingly, no real plot. While the story follows five children as they grow up, they don't really interact at all, and their own individual dramas are far more character-focussed than plot-heavy.

As many other reviewers have noted, the central conceit of the story (taking five children who died in a WW2 bombing and showing what their lives would have been if they hadn't died) makes for an arresting opening, but is practically irrelevant for the bulk of the novel. The conceit does add poignancy to the end of the novel, as the characters all have to come to terms with their impending death of old age, but for the rest it simply has no impact. It's a fascinating idea, but the "alternate" nature of their lives really isn't explored.

Where Spufford does shine, however, is in character development. Personally, I found it took me too long to get to the character development, what with the jumping between time periods and five different characters, but when we did get to it, it was brilliant. Each of the scenes were so small, following the characters on mostly ordinary days, but the ways they grew and changed over the years were both heart-breaking and life-affirming. It's an encouraging novel in many ways, without ever being sickly-sweet. It's just a pity that every time we jumped characters it took me a few pages to figure out which one they were again.

By the time I got to the end of this novel, I was glad I'd read it. That said, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. To lovers of literary fiction who are willing to wade through lengthy descriptions to get follow these characters, it's a fascinating read. But to anyone with a little less patience, it's probably not worth the time. While some of the vignettes are stunning, many of them are just a tad dull. As Richard Osman's blurb notes, the opening and closing chapters are great… but I definitely found myself skimming in the middle.

Gosh, what a book. I do appreciate why it was longlisted for the Booker prize…it is a really beautiful piece of writing… the range of vocabulary, the metaphors, the way it was constructed, the very idea! All the way through, I kept thinking of how it would be an ideal book for A level English & imagining the questions which could be asked about it! But at times I did get a bit bogged down in the detailed descriptions and I felt my concentration drifting. It did take me a while to get into the book at the start but I’m glad I persevered as I did enjoy it. I liked the premise of the book and I was interested in following the lives of Jo, Val, Vern, Alec and Ben. It portrayed the ups and downs of life - more downs than ups, it seemed. Some bits were very hard to read (skin-head stuff, culminating in tragedy and also Ben’s mental health issues). But I did like the characters and felt empathy. Not an uplifting read but deep and philosophical.

From its detailed and shocking first chapter to its melancholy last, this book had me hooked from start to finish. Such an unusual storyline. The book was beautifully written, and the keenly observed characters practically flew off the page. I loved it.

Macclesfield Library would like to thank Faber and The Reading Agency for providing copies of Light Perpetual for our reading group to review.
We were split on this book – while we all could concede that there was an extraordinary amount of detail in the writing, to the point where we assumed the author must have lived through each of the time periods described, some people found that tedious and annoying. Others, however, really appreciated the attention to detail in the research and the writing, feeling that this is what gave the book’s characters their depth and believability. We thought it interesting that the author has previously written quite a lot of non-fiction, which might account for the almost scientific level of detail in his prose.
While we enjoyed the concept of the book, many of us thought that without the first and last chapters, the book was just about normal people doing normal, boring things and it focused too much on the mundane normalcy of life. Others felt that this was the point the author was trying to make – that it’s the little things in life that really matter and that all of our lives have an element of the mundane. Plus, this also allowed us to really get to know the characters.
Overall, we concluded that the book was marmite - you either love it or hate it!

The opening chapter with the amazing visual imagery of the horror and beauty of that specific moment in time for 5 children captivated me and the ensuing exploration of the paths not taken continued to hold me in thrall. The lives of each are so different but fully developed and I felt I could reach out and touch them they were so real. The authors research into the different professions, livelihoods and interest and interactions with the times is exemplary and resounded with truth. A truly well written and well executed series of stories to make a wonderful whole. Thank you as it is a long time since I enjoyed a book so much.

The opening chapter is beautiful, horrific, shocking and enchanting all at once. The mental and emotional shift required to then move from the death of children into the main text is a challenge, which I initially felt may be insurmountable. However I was drawn in by the exquisite depth of detailed study of the individual characters as the book progressed.

Noting that the author is of a religious mind, and regarding the title of the book, I sought to contemplate the purpose of writing, and any message held within the pages, and found this, for me, about half way through the book, where a main character contemplates the process of composing her music. This is described as "hardening the parts of the song before the rest turns back into the mush of possibility". By delineating how the children’s lives might have developed in the narrative, the author stops the children melting back into the mush of possibility, perhaps allowing us to mourn them more. The title “Light Perpetual” is a prayer, often used in funeral services. This is also reflected in another character's frustration with his teenage son, which for me seemed to echo how we possibly view our children. It raises questions of if we should we be more allowing, and why we spend time imagining our children's futures. This book questions the validity of that and the trajectory of all the children’s lives, showing the direction they have gone in is no less valid than the imagined path. The book and the concept also made us think about how we value life and whether we value it enough and live in the moment.
Whilst I have not lived in every period described in the text, some I have. Further, the inner workings of minds, of fear and desire, aspiration and depression, loss of identity and rediscovery, felt very authentic, and domestic imagery from struggles with teenagers to washing up or eating coffee and peaches on a terrace so wonderfully detailed and recognisable.
And in final positive testament, I read this book over a month ago now, the characters and situations continue to play in my mind, and the book is continuing to give food for thought.

This is a very well written account of a sliding doors moment. Beautiful descriptions take us through what could have been the lifetime and dilemma’s of the five characters. There were very detailed descriptions of the social changes throughout the book. The microscopic detail of the first chapter was so shocking yet lovingly written that you’ll want to reread.

Light Perpetual begins with a bombing in ww2 where the main characters, all v young children, die. I didn't enjoy this chapter which is why I only gave it 4 stars, but I am so glad I persevered. The book continues by imagining how they would have lived. I was drawn into their characters and the nitty gritty of their lives. It is beautifully written with wonderful and evocative imagery, sad at times, uncomfortable at others, yet always showing each life through their every day experience and personality.

Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
Having been born during WW2, I could relate to the descriptions of the five subjects at 15 year intervals during their imagined lives. The beautifully descriptive prose and the philosophical observations were striking, dealing with faith and fate in a life-affirming style. I enjoyed the arresting beginning and the unravelling of biographies of the five children which reflect the changes between 1944 and 2009, each with a satisfying feeling of lives coming full circle.
Marjorie & Ian Leitch

A vastly different novel wherein the author opens with a very descriptive account of the London bombing of the Woolworth Store during WW2. Five children are killed, and the novel continues to propose how each child would or could have developed into adult life.
The book jumped through several timelines in which the development of each of the children’s life unfolded. Twins Val and Jo have widely differing outcomes. Val has a troubled life with various men ending up in failed marriage which ends in a prison term being involved with a racial beating by her husband. After her term in prison, she develops into a member of the Samaritans. whilst Jo has music as her main love as described in later life, teaching year 10 pupils to sing. Vern has a taste for the good life, but his nefarious dealings come back to haunt him after an innocent victim of his financial fraud recognizes him. A fully blown fracas results. Ben is the mentally psychotic individual. His reaction to a group of skinheads whilst working as a conductor on London Transport is a result of his simple view on right versus wrong. He ends up working in a café and integrates in a church community. Alec on the other hand is seen to be a Labour party man. Yet not strong willed on the picket lines at the Times Newspaper Building during their lockout. His marriage to Sandra fails as she and Tony develop a relationship. Alec becomes a teacher and ends up with a headship of a solid school with reliable results. His impending retirement gives him worries over the school changing to Academy status.
Overall, a very enjoyable read once the time gaps are considered. Some links are tenuous at best. I thought the opening and closing chapters were very moving.
Appreciate our book club being chosen to review this book.
Peter Kerins
Methley Book Group

I was surprised that I connected with the five main characters who were all blown to smithereens in the first chapter, I reasoned that all fictional characters were effectively dead as they have never existed, once I accepted that premise I read on to discover their life stories, all led fairly ordinary lives quite believable. The exploration of their emotions and deeper feelings was very expressive and well written. Francis Spufford moved from the everyday mundane to the philosophical seamlessly. The clever bit was the end, each of the dead people came to their life's end without dying, yet I was quite sure that they died, as I say clever.

Light Perpetual begins with a bomb exploding in Woolworths in 1944, based on a real life event, and the story that develops is the imagined lives of fictionalised versions of the children who died, if by some chance the bomb had not detonated there and then and they had lived.
The story is told through snapshots of the characters' lives, taken in five different spaced out years, exploring their varying relationships, careers and priorities, some inevitably faster-paced than other parts. The five children grow up and go in many different directions, with occasional interaction between each other, but we see common themes running as strands through each of their lives, set against the backdrop of the history of the second half of the twentieth century. Music is a central theme, the power of music affecting their lives, as well as the recurrent tropes of food and fear, religion and politics, light and love, possibilities and absence.
It is also an interesting reflection on imagination and fiction itself; these are the imagined lives of children who might have lived, but in envisioning these lives, how does Francis Spufford's concept differ from any author's conjurings? It is fascinating to consider. I really started to believe in Bexford.

A real let down. I expected to read about lives lived well and received a jumble of stories with no real connection or purpose. i really struggled to finish this book.

Billed as a "What if..." I was disappointed that there's only one version, not the other. I'd expected at least a bit about the children, their families and what the impact of their deaths might have been on those remaining. As it is, it's a (very nice) story about 5 people growing up in London, along the same lines as the documentary series 7 Up only less diverse.
There's lots of interesting social history in there that's brought vividly to life by the, at times, meticulously detailed observations.