Historical Novel: Fallen Skies - A Novel of Epic Proportions

Jean J: It’s hard to review this book as it was simply not to my taste. The basic story line was fine and the social values of the day well described. I felt that it just went round and round until it came to a predictable conclusion.

United Kingdom on Dec 07, 2023

Poohbear: Wow Phillipa Gregory smashes it again. I just loved this book so much I read it in a weekend. Fab book.

United Kingdom on Sep 24, 2023

Slade: A good story that deals with some the after effects of serving in the trenches and how it effects the whole family. I enjoyed it though I felt it ended rather suddenly.

United Kingdom on Jul 09, 2023

LakeBabe: Great historical fiction with a thriller twist to it! Loved it and love Philippa Gregory.....Highly recommend it! Great characters and as always so well written..

United States on Feb 21, 2023

Songster: Thought I would try reading a Phillippa Gregory novel that was not about the Tudor era, which I love.
I was not disappointed and literally had to force myself to put it down, when reading late at night.
Her research about the First World War and the era that followed after was very powerful and had me
seething about the lack of Womens Rights at work and in the home.
Have now embarked on another one A Respectable Trade.

United Kingdom on Jan 17, 2023

txrray: Phillipa Gregory once again spun a captivating tale that pulls you in and takes you along for the ride. Her grasp of history and how she put flesh to what was happening in England to the class system after WWI with the he breakdown of the strict division of upper and lower classes add to the story. Highly recommend this book.

United States on Jun 02, 2022

Julia McK: I’ve always enjoyed this author’s work and have learnt a lot about history along the way, but I found this book disappointing. Around the half way mark I started wondering if someone else had taken over writing it as the style seemed to change and the characters lost depth and it became quite tedious. At some point I felt like I was reading a Mills and Boon novel but was determined to finish it even though I wanted to give up.
I haven’t lost faith in Philippa Gregory though as this is the first that I haven’t been totally engrossed in.

United States on Aug 22, 2020

Sandra R.: I have never written a review before. I really don't know where to begin. I am in a book club with my friends & we read many different books. I am usually critical of what I read but not with this book. This book was very compelling, the characters were ones you could reach out to. It was very believable. It was a time when women were very stern & didn't show fillings. You really felt this with the one characters mother. The young girl was full of fun & untouched by the war. The war events were rather explicit but the outcome very interesting how war effects people differently. The end was a little predictable though but that didn't change the fact of how good it was. It is my turn to choose a book, & I want to find a book as good as this one. I would highly recommend this book. I hope this attempt at a review helps you readers out there.

United States on Jun 28, 2014

Cerinthe Major: I have always been a fan of Philippa Gregory's. There is simply no one better at sucking you in to the story and forcing you to keep gobbling up the pages - even if it keeps you up to 3 AM! Gregory is worse for my sleep than my young children. Gregory reminds me of a book on Agatha Christie, which said that comparing Christie to, say, Austen makes no sense. Of course Christie is not a great writer compared to literary giants. But she's the best at what she does. So too with Gregory. Not historical fiction - Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies are in a different category. But historical women's fiction (I wouldn't call it historical romance, if only because the genre - due to sexism - is treated with such disdain) is Gregory's milieu and no one does it better. Her writing sentence by sentence is not fabulous and her characters can be one-dimensional or contradictory (as is the case in this book). But she is an amazing plotter and developer of cliffhangers.

The plot concerns a marriage between a World War I veteran with PTSD, Stephen, and a young talented singer, Lily. Lily and another man, Charlie, are in love, but Charlie believes they cannot marry.

Here's what's...

United States on Jun 24, 2014

reader of mysteries: I'm a big fan of historical fiction - particularly stories set in the first world war and the 1920s, so was immediately drawn to this novel by Philippa Gregory, especially after enjoying several of her other books. Fallen Skies didn't disappoint, and I would say it's my favourite Philippa Gregory novel so far.

Fallen Skies is set in the 1920s, in an England still recovering from and scarred by the horrors of the First World War. Without giving away too much, it tells the story of Lily Valance, a young music-hall singer, and Captain Stephen Winters, a former soldier looking for an escape from his terrible memories. They meet after Stephen watches her perform one night and is captivated by her - he sees Lily as a way to become happy again as she has no connection with the war. The story traces their lives and the events that arise over the next year or two as Lily strives to further her singing career and their lives become more and more entwined.

Lily is young, beautiful and frivolous; she hates hearing anything to do with the war, and feels it marred her childhood because it prevented her from doing things she wanted. A little selfish, you might think! Well, yes,...

United Kingdom on Sep 11, 2012