Strangers in Time

Du n°1 des bestsellers du New York Times de A Calamity of Souls vient le nouveau roman de David Baldacci, se déroulant à Londres en 1944, à propos d’un libraire en deuil et de deux adolescents marqués par la seconde guerre mondiale, et de la guérison et de l’espoir qu’ils trouvent les uns dans les autres.
Charlie Matters, quatorze ans, ne fait rien de bon, mais pour une très bonne raison. Sans parents, sans pairie ni mérite, fuyant l’école mais interdit de travailler, il vole ce dont il a besoin, vivant au jour le jour jusqu’à ce qu’il soit assez grand pour s’engager dans l’armée afin de combattre les Allemands. Après avoir à peine survécu au Blitz, Charlie sait qu’il est impossible de savoir quand une bombe qui tombe pourrait mettre fin à sa vie.
Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people to have been evacuated to the countryside via “Operation Pied Piper,” Molly has been away from her parents—from her home—for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: both her parents are gone.
Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where A book a day keeps the bombs away. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other—over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world had ever seen—they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.
But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is still reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive—something so shocking it resulted in her death, and his life being turned upside down.
As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.