Everyone Brave Is Forgiven / Chris Cleave, 424 pp.

It's the Blitz.  Mary North is, first, a teacher.  Then she's an ambulance driver.  She is connected to two men, best friends Tom and Alistair, one a teacher and the other an airman who endures the siege of Malta.

A subplot involves Mary's relationship with a young black boy she meets while teaching.  I found this part of the novel a bit disturbing.  The character seems positioned as a vehicle for showing the reader that Mary is more open-minded than her peers rather than an actual person in his own right.

Cleave's style is often powerful and lovely; I was especially struck by his sharp dialogue and vivid imagery of the Malta siege.  But occasionally I found his word choice and even his syntax a bit jarring.  I'm not sure I would choose another of his books.