The Midnight News
- Author Jo Baker
- Narrator Katherine Manners
- Publisher Orion
- Publish Date 28 March 2023
- Run Time 13 hours and 35 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Crime and mystery fiction, Historical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Second World War fiction.
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What to expect
'A tour de force' IRISH TIMES
'Riveting and moving' NINA STIBBE
'Gripping' THE TIMES
'It had me by the throat' EMMA DONOGHUE
LONDON, 1940. As enemy planes fly over the city, twenty-year-old Charlotte Richmond is trying to make the best of things. She has a dull but steady job at the Ministry of Information, a friend to share gin and secrets with, and an attic room of her own. All she has to do is keep her head down. She knows where her father will send her if she makes a nuisance of herself again.
But amid the chaos of the Blitz, Charlotte's grip on reality starts slipping. Is someone following her in the blackouts, or is her mind playing tricks on her? In a city where nothing is safe, it's hard to know who to trust - until she meets the boy who feeds the birds . . .
'A late-night page-turner that will keep you guessing till the end' JOANNA QUINN
'Glorious' RED
'Exquisite' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'I stayed up late reading and was glad' SARAH MOSS
'Riveting and moving' NINA STIBBE
'Gripping' THE TIMES
'It had me by the throat' EMMA DONOGHUE
LONDON, 1940. As enemy planes fly over the city, twenty-year-old Charlotte Richmond is trying to make the best of things. She has a dull but steady job at the Ministry of Information, a friend to share gin and secrets with, and an attic room of her own. All she has to do is keep her head down. She knows where her father will send her if she makes a nuisance of herself again.
But amid the chaos of the Blitz, Charlotte's grip on reality starts slipping. Is someone following her in the blackouts, or is her mind playing tricks on her? In a city where nothing is safe, it's hard to know who to trust - until she meets the boy who feeds the birds . . .
'A late-night page-turner that will keep you guessing till the end' JOANNA QUINN
'Glorious' RED
'Exquisite' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'I stayed up late reading and was glad' SARAH MOSS
Critics Review
An intriguing and thrilling read, believable in the tiniest details - I've read half a dozen novels set in the Blitz but this one is the most atmospheric and memorable. It had me by the throat
Deep and dark and wonderful: a marvel of storytelling wrested from the black night of the twentieth century. Your heart will be in your mouth as you read
A riveting and moving novel that masterfully captures the reality of wartime in all its sorrow and uncertainty as well as the light that can still be found in the dark and the beauty of lasting friendship
The Midnight News approaches the story of the Blitz from a completely fresh angle. Both a captivating mystery and a moving insight into one woman's experience, this book is a deeply immersive read. Baker is a master at evoking place and time in an incredibly personal, intimate way. A novel you won't forget easily
'A beautifully written and deeply evocative novel about love and war, defiance and acquiescence, threaded through with a satisfyingly knotty mystery. I adored it'
Immediately immersive and utterly enthralling, The Midnight News is full of atmosphere and intrigue and tells a deeply moving story that is as surprising as it is satisfying
Jo Baker is one of my absolute favourite writers working today. She is that rare and precious thing: a literary writer with a poet's eye for detail, an acute psychologist who creates characters who live, but also a brilliant storyteller who in The Midnight News tells both a love story and a mystery with increasing tension and dread. I read with a lump in my throat while the family dinner burnt
As ever, Jo Baker's writing gives us intellectual satisfaction and great narrative pleasure. I stayed up late reading and I was glad.
'Extremely well-researched and fearsomely well-written, The Midnight News takes us into the mind of Charlotte, a young woman striving to recover from loss while navigating her way through the hazards of the London Blitz. The bombing strikes close to Charlotte's fragile heart - and throws up a mystery she feels compelled to solve. Jo Baker's gripping storyline opens out into fascinating territory - the perception and treatment of mental illness in the 1940s - and ends with a truly touching love story. I have huge admiration for Jo Baker and what she has achieved in this novel'
'I love Jo Baker's work - her writing is always so lyrical and delightful. The Midnight News is a beautiful, enthralling novel about a woman losing and finding herself again during World War II. I inhaled it feverishly'
A wonderful novel that immersed me in the terror and heartbreak of wartime London. Atmospheric and totally gripping, with a mystery that had me puzzled right until the last moment. Absolutely superb.
Second World War love story for fans of Sarah Waters and Kate Atkinson.
Enthralling and very moving, it's fascinating to be thrown into Charlotte's war-torn world via this precisely imagined, suspenseful novel. The bonus is the sweet love story running through it.
Gripping, intriguing and evocative, The Midnight News is a darkly atmospheric story about a determined young woman trying to forge a life for herself in wartime London. When bombs start falling, Charlotte's grip on reality starts slipping. But is she losing her mind because people she loves are dying, or is the chaos of the Blitz providing a cover for something more sinister? In a city where nothing is safe, who can she trust?
This clever and accomplished novel is simultaneously a vivid evocation of London life during the Blitz, where secretaries struggle into work after digging bodies out of rubble; a late-night page-turner that will keep you guessing till the end, and a fascinating exploration of identity - and one woman's fight to hang onto her own
This clever and accomplished novel is simultaneously a vivid evocation of London life during the Blitz, where secretaries struggle into work after digging bodies out of rubble; a late-night page-turner that will keep you guessing till the end, and a fascinating exploration of identity - and one woman's fight to hang onto her own
A glorious novel set in the Blitz, which is part thriller, part mystery... clever and utterly compelling.
Both a mystery and a love story, this novel stayed with me a long time after I'd finished it.
A novel that succeeds both in creating pages that turn themselves, and in continually feeding the reader's sense of wonder.
Tense and heart-rending . . . devastating . . . As historical fiction turns to mystery, then psychological thriller, Baker proves she is a master storyteller . . . the race towards the denouement is gripping . . . A cinematic adaptation of Longbourn is currently in development. If The Midnight News were to follow, it would be box-office dynamite. And if it doesn't, no matter: it is a blockbuster read already
Deftly written, an engrossing read
This is a tense and gripping psychological thriller by Jo Baker, the author of the bestselling Longbourn . . . Charlotte's battle with her demons and her tender relationship with Tom are beautifully done
A heroine to root for . . . As tense and elegantly plotted as a spy novel, Baker imbues her story with a deep well of tenderness as Charlotte battles her demons and allows her bruised heart to be healed by love
She has accomplished something remarkable - offering a fresh perspective on a setting that would seem to have already been exhausted by countless other creative representations . . . a delicate psychological thriller that proves ultimately gripping . . . A slow burn of poignant social commentary, with deeply moving personal stakes, Baker offers an insightful dismantling of a myth . . . this novel is exhilarating - a tour-de-force with graceful nuance
Compelling and strange, utterly evocative - I loved this immersive novel
Thoroughly absorbing . . . impresses on many levels. Like the war novels of Pat Barker and Sarah Waters, it brilliantly evokes the sustained horror and chaos of the times . . . she shrewdly examines madness and sanity, keeping her reader guessing . . . a love story and a tale of hope
Jo Baker is a literary shapeshifter . . . a vivid historical novel about London during the Blitz, it is also at times, or in parts, a mystery, a spy novel, a romance and a Bildungsroman . . . By resisting the tidy but artificial satisfactions of plot Baker deftly returns us to metafictional questions . . . Jo Baker's meticulous prose makes us feel the full weight of these hard truths, but with characteristic rigour she tests and explores, rather than proclaims faith in, the compensatory power of the novelist's art
Baker's intriguing historical novel explores how the strain of wartime living can tip the balance between sanity and delusion, and how forging friendships can be a lifeline
Immersive, heartbreaking, and hard to put down, with an unforgettable heroine. Fans of Baker will enjoy the same compelling style the author is known for, and those who read World War II fiction will be delighted with her thorough research and fresh perspective on the period . . . Amid the tragedy, she leaves room for laughter, hope, and the comforts of chosen family
Arresting . . . Baker vividly portrays the surreal sight of London ravaged by the Blitz . . . This stands above run-of-the-mill WWII fare
Visceral . . . Powerfully evocative . . . Baker vividly depicts a young woman grappling with a mental-health crisis against the harrowing backdrop of the Blitz
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