A recent ATBF discussion centered around “books that were popular when you came of age.” One of those books that seemed to be on everyone’s night stand when I was in college was Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Shell Seekers, a British novel set partly during World War II and partly in the present (then the late 1980s). I enjoyed it when I read it, and also loved her later WWII book Coming Home, which is at times a slow boat to nowhere, but in a good way. I still have a lingering fondness for English homefront books, and though the pacing is a bit off, I thought The Chestnut Tree was an entertaining read in the Pilcher tradition.

The book is subtitled, The Women of World War II, and suffice it to say there are a lot of women in this book. Bingham is obviously trying to run the gamut of the female war experience, and though I found the sheer number of characters confusing at first, I eventually sorted them out. The story revolves around the women of the coastal town of Bexham, where the titular (but otherwise fairly insignificant) chestnut tree is planted. There’s Judy, in love with a Navy submariner who is “New Bexham” (rich, but not as distinguished as her Old Bexham family). There’s Mathilda (Mattie) who likes to sneak out with her friend Virginia to attend dances. There’s Rusty, a tomboy who lives to sail and ends up helping the British forces evacuate Dunkirk. Then there’s Meggie, who decides to become a spy after she feels like she has nothing to lose. All these women have families, and the members thereof are detailed in full.

At first I found the book pretty slow going. The first third or so is mostly set up, devoted to everyone just thinking about going to war and all its implications. This wasn’t terribly exciting, but it was eerily reminiscent of the current state in our country. It’s bound to invite comparisons for most readers, whatever their feelings on international politics. At any rate, it makes for a slow read at first.

Once the evacuation of Dunkirk happens, the pace picks up and the book gets much more interesting. Suddenly there’s action, intrigue, and drama. All the main characters have to make choices about their wartime activities and involvement, and these decisions affect every aspect of their lives. Should they get married right away and seize happiness while they can get it, or is it better to wait until the war is over, count heads, and marry someone else who is still alive? How can they best help the war effort, and how will they overcome objections of fathers or husbands who would rather see them home in the kitchen? Perhaps most importantly, how will they cope with the daily reality of death and destruction, the devastating loss of loved ones?

Once the characters started doing things instead of just thinking about what to do, I found all of them quite interesting. The women all manage to grow in different ways, and I especially liked hearing about the older women who found a new energy and sense of purpose through their wartime activities. I also appreciated the dilemmas of the young women who were confused about the morality of love during wartime. The author effectively communicates their agony as they wait for men to come home (or cope with the knowledge that their loved ones will not be coming home).

It took me several days to read the first half of the book, mostly because I’d get distracted and put it down. But once I got into it, I was really into it; I stayed up quite late to finish the second half in a single sitting. I realized just how involved I was when I felt tears come to my eyes during one couple’s happy ending. So while I found the pacing problem a fairly serious hindrance, in the end I’ll remember this as a book I enjoyed. Fans of British World War II dramas might want to check this one out.