Crooked Heart

“A wonderfully old-fashioned Dickensian novel . . . both darkly funny and deeply touching” from the bestselling author of Old Baggage ( The New York Times Book Review ). When Noel Bostock—aged ten, no family—is evacuated from London to escape the Nazi bombardment during World War II, he lands in a suburb northwest of the city with Vera Sedge—a thirty-six-year old widow drowning in debts and dependents. Always desperate for money, she’s unscrupulous about how she gets it. Noel’s mourning his godm