I can appreciate the extent to which the author discussed the War, since it is so important to remember these things so they do not happen again. However, I wished the book had been a little more character driven.

Thank you to Zando and NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book.

These Days follows two sisters during the Belfast Blitz: Audrey and Emma. Audrey is engaged to Richard, a successful doctor, while Emma is in a secret relationship with Sylvia - a woman 11 years her senior.

It is poignant, and the attention to detail is startling. I was struck while reading that the small details vividly depicted reminded me of the nuances within the books I used to read growing up in their specificity. This book is all-consuming.

One thing I would say is that I would have loved to have spent more time with Emma throughout the book, and some characters seemed slightly underdeveloped. However, it was still an incredibly great book!

I’m not a huge reader reader of historical fiction but I wanted to give this one a try! I knew it was a story about 2 sisters and their time during ww2, more specifically the Belfast Blitz. However, I didn’t expect it to be so focused on the war itself. I know that sounds stupid but I just thought or at least hoped it would be more character driven, with the war in background l, so that we could really live inside the characters heads.

I felt like I never really got to a point where I connected with the sisters or anyone for that matter. There were so many side characters and I feel like by trying to tell their stories , everything was just spread out too thin. But By all means this wasn’t a bad book at all , I mean Lucy Caldwell really did do a great job at a painting a vivid picture of what happened and how people suffered during the war, I just wanted to less of that and more of the sister and even their mother.

I think if you’re an avid reader of historical fiction you will enjoy this one! but for someone like me who isn’t I think I should have started with something a little different.

Thank you for the arc in exchange for my honest review!

These Days is set over a several month span in Belfast 1941. It focuses on 1 family with 2 young adult daughters and a teenaged son. I like how it focused on an aspect of World War 2 that I previously did not know much about, specifically the Belfast Blitz. This book is beautifully written and I was invested in this family, particularly the daughters. Though set against the drama of the Blitz, it is a quieter, more character-focused novel. Reaffirms my love for Irish literature! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy. 4.25 stars

This book was so good. I loved the writing style and the characters. I think there are so many layers to ever aspects of the story which kept me engaged from start to ending

Thank you to Netgalley and Zando Projects for the ARC of this novel.
So I began These Days actually thinking this would be about the troubles, not the 1940’s, and was prepared to dislike it due to my mistake.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It is a tender, loving view of Belfast of the 1940’s, with insight into a lesser known spot of contention (at least for me) between the Germans and Brits. I enjoyed how it was much different than many World War II books in that it didn’t center a love story, but instead a city and its normal inhabitants. I enjoyed reading about Emma and Audrey, but for me, mother Florence really struck true. I liked her parts the best, maybe because I have kids and mothers generally understand other mothers, but really her views and internal monologues were the most poignant to me. The girls were young, and were very well written with the instability of all youth but also amidst the backdrop of multiple air raids and not knowing if they were going to live from one day to the next. This novel wasn’t plot driven, but character development soared, and the prose was hauntingly beautiful. If you like historical fiction, I’d check this one out! 3.5 stars.

Occasionally a book simply touches your heart in a way that you know it will stay with you for a very long time; that's exactly what These Days by Lucy Caldwell has done. The storyline highlights the Bell family living in Belfast during World War II. Dr. Phillip and Florence Bell are the parents to 3 children: Audrey, Emma and young son Paul. As Audrey celebrates her 21st, war has not yet touched Belfast directly, however residents are aware of the potential devastation and taking basic precautions to prepare. Audrey loves life, her family and Belfast- she is not as certain about her feelings for her beau Richard, soon to be Dr. Graham. Emma at 20, despite her Mother's objections, is volunteering for night shifts on the First Aid Patrol. Paul at 14, still childlike in many ways, is fascinated by the .War and cannot wait to be a pilot. Life for the Bell family and all of Belfast changes overnight on April 8, 1941 when the Bliz of Belfast begins.. The personal stories of Audrey, Emma and their mother drive the novel, however it is Caldwell's description of the bombings, the destruction and devastation, the horrific injuries and deaths, the resilience and courage of the residents that will never leave me. I was moved to tears many times, yet it was never maudlin or morbid. Theses Days is a beautiful novel giving insights into a part of WW Two I was only vaguely aware of it. It is a wonderful read. Thank you to NetGalley, Zando, SJP Lit and Lucy Caldwell for the opportunity to read an ARC of These Days; my review reflects my honest opinion. 4 stars.

Belfast 1941
A family of five.. father, mother, two daughters and young son, and life during the bombings by the Germans during the Belfast Blitz.. a series of bombings
In April-May of that year.. it wiped out docksides, whole streets, bomb shelters, etc.. so much devastating loss.
During this time the women in the family harboring personal issues that enrich the story.
I have read many WWll based novels… but none on what Belfast endured… love learning new things from historical fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley, Zando/SJP for the free e-copy for an honest review!

I thought this was a novel concept but I felt it dragged in spots and just was too slow paced for my tastes
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review book

These Days by Lucy Caldwell is a beautiful, tender, and sharp historical ficrtion novel set in 1941 in Belfast. Following the lives of sisters Emma and Audrey - one engaged to be married, the other in a secret relationship with another woman - as they try to survive the horrors of the four nights of bombing which were the Belfast Blitz.

I really enjoyed this one. It felt like a different war-time book. Something more honest and humane. With beautiful characters, it was brilliant to read about the lives of two 'ordinary' women, instead of the typical war hero books, and in Belfast no less. Both women at significant turning points in their lives, we see how the war changes them and shapes them.

A special novel from start to finish.

I was looking forward to this book because I loooove Irish fiction but this book dragged on for me. I think there needed to be a quicker pace in the beginning, but the isms of the Irish tone really stood out to me as adding charm and a distinct sense of place to the writing. The second half had me invested. overall this was still a beautiful book.

These Days by Lucy Caldwell is WWII Historical Fiction set during the Belfast Blitz in 1941. Although the blitz is central to the story, this is really a family drama and quite a bit different from other historical fiction I've read. Definitely a family drama focused on the two sisters, Audrey and Emma and their life, and life choices. Audrey is dating a young doctor and the tension and uncertainty of the bombings and the war, has him proposing and wanting to be married and settled. Audrey's immediate reaction is yes, of course, but then she ponders what her life would be like if wife and motherhood aren't enough or what she really wants. Emma explores her life and sexuality and I think this storyline deserved more.
I found this story to be extremely well researched and I enjoyed the writing - there really could have been a dual timeline - for the mother and her first love and just more on that story. I found the stories of the sisters could have been further developed with greater character development. Back to the research, I had no idea about the Germans bombing Belfast and the death and destruction left in its wake. This is a good but slower paced read and I gave it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Thank you to Zando and Net Galley for my advance reader copy. This book releases on April 8, 2025.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Zando (SJP Lit)

Publishes 4.8.2025

This was a stunning tribute to those lost in the Belfast Blitz. As an American, I am very familiar with the Blitz portrayals of London during the Second World War, but had never heard of the Blitz that ransacked Ireland during this same time period.

This story follows several women living in Belfast during the Blitz and the impacts the Blitz had on their decision making and relationships with each other and those they love. It was such a vivid snap shot of war and life during the 1940s- from dance halls, dating, LGTBQ moments, healthcare, rationing, etc.

It was not a sugarcoated read- with descriptions of the victims bombed discussed and the trauma medics faced dealing with the casualities and aftermath.

This was written in a style similar to Betty Smith (Joy in the Morning) and Virginia Woolf (Jacob's Room/The Voyage Out). The themes were really similar to Not So Quiet and The Testament of Youth.

My favorite elements were mostly from the Mom who we discovered more about her life during WW1. I thought this was a unique time in history to capture and again, was a memorable tribute.

Content warnings: open door, some language, and descriptive discussions of Blitz victims.

The writing was a bit too chaotic for me, but I did enjoy reading about this time period in a country I never really thought about being impacted by WWII. I appreciated the way the author was attempting to write the story, but it felt more complex than it needed to be and took away from the character development.

These Days tells the story of four momentous days in Belfast during WWII, following the POV of two sisters, Audrey, who has been volunteering for the war effort and is now engaged to be married to a doctor from the hospital, and Emma, who has fallen in love with another woman.

Stylistically, the book didn't read like straight women's historical fiction. Caldwell meanders quite a bit in the perspective of the sisters. At times I felt that made it hard to connect and keep the stories straight. At the same time, the perspective did really put you in the mix and made you feel the urgency of the German attacks on Belfast. I suspect many readers, like myself, were unfamiliar with the plight of Belfast during the war, and Caldwell does an excellent job of imparting that knowledge through the narrative.

These Days is a look into the life of two sisters, Audrey & Emma, during the Belfast Blitz. While the chaos and bombing of World War II rings heavy through out it's pages, I found These Days to be a quiet story about life continuing, while the world blazes. Often times we forget about falling in love or going to work, while disaster strikes, and it was a reflective look that life must carry on, despite how hard that may seem.

I found myself invested in both sisters - Audrey questions her future and the prospect of becoming a wife to a doctor and the future that lays ahead of her, while Emma is committed to her place in the war, while falling in love with a woman.

This story is about love, resiliency, and family. I look forward to reading more by Lucy Caldwell!

These Days is a historical fiction novel set during the Belfast Blitz in April and May of 1941.

Overview: These Days is divided into three parts: the Dockside Raid, the Easter Raid, and the Fire Raids. Caldwell writes in the close third-person from multiple points of view, but the book primarily centers on the Bell family.

Phillip, the Bell father, works as a doctor and is called to the hospital to help with the air raid victims. Florence, the mother, frets over her family and reflects on her past love. Their teenage son, Phillip, dreams of joining the Air Force once he turns seventeen and no longer needs parental consent to join the armed forces.

And then there are the two Bell sisters—“flighty, impulsive, earnest Audrey” and “kind, stubborn, awkward Emma.” Emma is eighteen and volunteers for the First Aid Post, tending to the injured. She begins a secret relationship with Sylvia, another First Aid Post worker who is eleven years older than her.

Audrey is twenty-one and works at a tax office. She has been dating Richard, a young doctor, for almost a year and contemplates marriage with him: “But his face—his mustache—his earnest, tentative lips—she can’t seem to imagine it on the pillow next to her, waking to it every day. . . . But perhaps, she thought now, you never can.” Amidst the air raids, she tries to convince herself of their love: “His hand is warm and steady and she thinks, with a surge of relief, Of course I love you, of course, of course I do.”

Opinion: These Days has been on my radar for a while, as it has already been published in the UK and won the Walter Scott Prize. I received an advanced copy from the publisher for the US edition, which comes out on April 8.

This book is about the civilian experience during wartime, with a family drama at the center of it. I have studied World War II pretty extensively, but I admit that I didn’t know much about the Belfast Blitz. I also didn’t realize that Northern Ireland was exempted from conscription. In April and May of 1941, four German raids struck Belfast. Nearly 1,000 people lost their lives, and more than 30,000 homes were damaged.

Caldwell writes in crisp and rhythmic prose. She doesn’t use many metaphors, instead relying on descriptive, vivid language: “Every few minutes the sky flares magnesium white: the entire sky lights up, and the eerie thing is that you feel rather than see it.” She describes the soundtrack of war particularly well: “The long roaring whine of a plane flying overhead, unmistakable, the crackle of what must be gunfire, then a dreadful, dull, booming thud.” Caldwell layers sounds, even when describing the Bell family home, which contributes to the novel’s tense atmosphere:

Her wristwatch said five to six. She could hear the sounds, in the hallway, of her father, arriving home. Doors opening and closing. The distant trill of the bell as her mother rang for Mrs. Price. Paul thundering once again down the stairs, the sudden break in footsteps as he leapt over the side of the banister—and yes, there was the thump, the protesting rattle of the doo-dahs on the bureau, the row of china plates on the sill of the wood paneling, Mother’s admonishment . . . and with it all came that feeling again, that non-quite, almost-nostalgia that she couldn’t seem to shake.

I can’t remember the last time I noticed the use of sound in a novel. It actually reminded me of the sound layers in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.

I don’t necessarily have criticisms of These Days—just a few observations. Caldwell follows multiple storylines in the novel, and the narratives are almost presented like vignettes. This structure is typical in literary fiction (like The English Patient), and it allows Caldwell to explore multiple perspectives of the Blitz. However, there is some cost to this structure. Storylines can feel uneven, and side characters lose opportunities for depth. I personally have no problem with this style and thought Caldwell executed this format well with her prose, but some readers might be put off by it.

Overall: I’d recommend this to someone who likes literary historical fiction or wants to read more about WWII in Northern Ireland.

These Days was a bit of a slow burn—I wasn't sure how I'd enjoy it during the first few chapters, but I found that I quite enjoyed the novel.

Lucy Caldwell does a beautiful job of just dropping the reader into Belfast, introducing us to the characters who make up the community. She doesn't spend unnecessary time building up background or giving us too much history. She instead allows the reader to unravel these characters at their pace, slowly piece together who they are based on their actions and the little tidbits admitted in the prose.

I loved it. I think it's such a great way for the reader to learn these characters and actually get to the heart of the novel. Everyone was rich and vibrant. You could feel their pain, their anxiety, their joy on every page. And while this focuses on the Belfast Blitz, the ensemble cast is so much more than just these few nights. Caldwell did a beautiful job.

The only reason I didn't rate it a five stars is that, as mentioned, it took me a bit to get into. I went days without reading it when I first started. But once I got fully in, I was invested.

“a tale of interrupted girlhood” is accurate — this story follows two sisters against the backdrop of war as they navigate their identity, desire, and familial decisions. i thought this was a rather slow and quiet meditation on how one continues with their life in a way that is as “normal” as possible while juggling the reality of living in a war torn city, but beautiful and lyrical nonetheless

thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for my copy!

Thank you NetGalley & Zando for access to a copy of this book prior to release !!

This book felt so comforting, which I’m aware is such an odd way to describe a ww2 historical fiction novel. But I think it was the way that Lucy Caldwell wrote about these people and their lives. They felt like real people and it felt like she was telling the stories of millions of people who had to continue on as ‘normal’ to the best of their abilities!

I really enjoyed this one.