Overview

On a March night in 1943, on the steps of a London Tube station, 173 people die in a crowd seeking shelter from what seemed to be another air raid. When the devastated neighborhood demands an inquiry, the job falls to magistrate Laurence Dunne. In this beautifully crafted novel, Jessica Francis Kane paints a vivid portrait of London at war. As Dunne investigates, he finds the truth to be precarious, even damaging. When he is forced to reflect on his report several decades later, he must consider whether the course he chose was the right one. The Report is a provocative commentary on the way all tragedies are remembered and endured.

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9781846272806

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Reviews

A smart and troubling novel of ideas, which explores the power of crowds, collective guilt and the compromises required to balance a need for full disclosure with the desire to be kind. -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times * A terrific human story. * Mail on Sunday * A poignant tale about guilt, blame and love in a time of tragedy. * Stylist * The Report is an artful piece of work. The story itself has an appalling fascination, while the restraint of the telling, in both its factual and fictional aspects, lends it considerable power. Characters... are made richly present but are also shown as vanishing into history, refused the completeness of fictional narration.... As a documentary novel, The Report gains from the virtues of both forms. -- Sean O’Brien * TLS * Her skilful evocation of the blitz means you can't help but sympathise with the characters - no matter what they may have done. * News of the World * She skilfully evokes the Blitz-battered East End and brings her characters to life. The Report is a sober, thoughtful book that acknowledges the complexities of human nature and the demands of emergencies and asks how history views the responsibilities of authorities in times of tragedy. -- Tina Jackson * Metro * Kane's fictionalisation of a real life event keeps to the basic facts, but goes where they can't to produce a fascinating and movingly human explanation of how it might have happened. * Daily Mail * This artfully constructed novel takes as its foundation the largest civilian tragedy of WW2... what emerges is a piercingly emotional exploration of wartime anxieties, and later, of loss, blame and guilt. * Easy Living * Kane's command of period detail is marvellous ... Kane adroitly weaves together various theories [about the tragedy] and gives a sense of the grim succour that assigning blame can provide grief-stricken citizens ... [An] eloquent take on moral intricacy and ambiguity ... A deft, vivid first novel * Kirkus * A stealthy, quiet page-turner that understands there is as much tension in reckoning a disaster as there is in the disaster itself. In precise and searching prose, The Report looks without flinching at moral obligation and family duty over seconds, and over years. It's a lovely book -- Elizabeth McCracken, author of AN EXACT REPLICA OF MY IMAGINATION The historical material and characters are wonderful ... Kane skillfully reimagines the empathetic Dunne as he interprets the confessions and accusations of a community crushed by loss and guilt ... Vivid descriptions of hunkered-down and rationed East Enders add a marvellous texture * Publishers Weekly * A fascinating read * Bella * [A] taut and psychologically astute examination of the human need for understanding... The whole is a subtle meditation not just on a document but on whether a written account of a traumatic event can ever satisfy all its objectives. And who decides all these objectives anyway? A novel which raises as many questions as it answers. -- Lucy Beresford * Sunday Telegraph * Very thought-provoking and very moving -- Rory McGrath A really pacy read -- Dave Gorman A fascinating insight into a hidden piece of WW2 history... deeply moving... heartbreaking -- Caroline Quentin * TV Book Club *

Author Information

Jessica Francis Kane is author of an acclaimed story collection, Bending Heaven. Her work has appeared in a number of US publications, including McSweeney's, The Missouri Review, and Michigan Quarterly Review. She lives in New York with her husband and two children. www.jessicafranciskane.com

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