The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II

The Last Bookshop in London is a historical fiction novel, and much of the plot revolves around the historical context of World War II. Madeline Martin’s research and allusions to important historical settings and events are crucial to the development of the novel.

The United Kingdom was on alert for the start of a new world war in the late 1930s, when Germany, their enemy in World War I (1914-1918) voted the Nazi party to power and began systematically invading smaller countries. The startling success of the Nazis put the world on edge and foreshadowed a formidable threat to European national identity. When England declared war on Germany, many older Brits remembered the pains and traumas of World War I, which was known at the time as the Great War.

World War II was very much a war fought in the skies. Fighter jet aviation developed considerably throughout the 20th century, and the showdown between the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe embodied the new war technology. In 1940 and 1941, Germany enacted a bombing campaign against major English cities called the Blitz. Martin references these aerial clashes and the Blitz directly; Grace is an active participant in the war effort, as she patrols her neighborhood and assists with rebuilding and medical treatments during and after these air raids.