Now Is the Hour

by Hilary Green Book 1 in the Follies series.

First published 2006

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4.1(362)

September 1939. The Fairbourne Follies gather in an empty pier theatre to hear Neville Chamberlain announce war with Germany. Rose Taylor returns to London, singer Richard Stephens joins the army, asthmatic musical director Merry faces uncertain service, and magician Felix chooses the RAF. The friendships and unspoken loves formed backstage are suddenly subjected to military orders, family expectations and separation.

Rose joins an entertainment company performing for troops in France while Richard is carried towards the collapse of the Allied campaign. Felix’s flying and Merry’s devotion place their relationship under dangers that civilian life had allowed them to avoid naming. As invasion and the Blitz close around them, all four discover that performance can sustain morale but cannot protect them from capture, injury or the choices demanded by war.