Jack

Description

During World War II, intrepid volunteers would venture out during the bombing raids on London to look for survivors. And one particular member of Miss Lucy’s squad has a knack for finding survivors buried under rubble where nobody else would expect. The volunteer, named Jack, disappears during the day, doesn’t eat, and doesn’t sleep. Who is Jack, our narrator wonders, and just what makes him so good at finding victims in the aftermath?

Jack marks another impactful collaboration between Connie Willis and the era of World War II, this time in an all-too-short novella revisiting the Blitz. Jack is populated by rich, intriguing, believable characters thrown together by horrific circumstances, but never forgets about the mundanity of everyday life, no matter how insane the situation. The novella is as charming as it is engrossing, placing us among Miss Lucy’s recruits in a story that’s remarkably immersive, given its length.

You could read this novella a half-dozen times and still find little details to unravel, whether you focus on the main mystery or any of the fully-formed characters that make Miss Lucy’s a living, breathing, tangible setting. Jack is masterful storytelling, it just goes by far too quickly.