1944: In the fictional south London borough of Bexford, a German rocket explodes, destroying an entire store and part of the high street. Among the dead are Valerie, Jo, Vern, Alec and Ben - four-year-olds who were accompanying their mothers to Woolworths.
‘Their part in time is done’ but what of their possible futures? In ‘some other version of the reel of time’ their might-be and could-be lives are played out across the next 65 years.
1949 finds Val, Jo, Vern and Alec in a school singing lesson. Meanwhile, nine-year-old Ben is taken to a Millwall game.
Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel takes its title from the Book of Common Prayer - Give to the departed eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them.
Written by Francis Spufford
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4