--- product_id: 26173190 title: "The Heat of the Day" price: "₨502" currency: SCR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.sc/products/26173190-the-heat-of-the-day store_origin: SC region: Seychelles --- # The Heat of the Day **Price:** ₨502 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Heat of the Day - **How much does it cost?** ₨502 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sc](https://www.desertcart.sc/products/26173190-the-heat-of-the-day) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description In The Heat of the Day , Elizabeth Bowen brilliantly recreates the tense and dangerous atmosphere of London during the bombing raids of World War II. Many people have fled the city, and those who stayed behind find themselves thrown together in an odd intimacy born of crisis. Stella Rodney is one of those who chose to stay. But for her, the sense of impending catastrophe becomes acutely personal when she discovers that her lover, Robert, is suspected of selling secrets to the enemy, and that the man who is following him wants Stella herself as the price of his silence. Caught between these two men, not sure whom to believe, Stella finds her world crumbling as she learns how little we can truly know of those around us. Review: Stunning writing, very good plot. - This story of lovers during the bombing of London, with spy/ counter-spy plot lines can feel dense at times. But so worth it. Review: Convoluted,obscure, yet ultimately rewarding - I agree with all of the reviews here more or less. Beautiful writing, humorous snippets, yet nothing seems to happen. In spite of this I could not put it down for the last hundred pages or so. There is a lot that is unexplained, and I kept trying to piece it all together after I was done. As a woman who can look back at my own life, I can see that Stella Rodney is a fully-fleshed character in spite of her indecisiveness and uncertain history. She is a mysterious femme fatale (watch the movie with Patricia Hodge) who is ultimately vulnerable and sympathetic. Also a back-story that is never quite revealed regarding her son's inheritance. I have since become obsessed with the author, even though admittedly this is not the most satisfying read. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #82,293 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #936 in Historical British & Irish Literature #1,121 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction #1,240 in Espionage Thrillers (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 3.6 out of 5 stars 413 Reviews | ## Images ![The Heat of the Day - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61pmyvQrtrL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stunning writing, very good plot. *by R***H on February 16, 2020* This story of lovers during the bombing of London, with spy/ counter-spy plot lines can feel dense at times. But so worth it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Convoluted,obscure, yet ultimately rewarding *by D***3 on November 1, 2021* I agree with all of the reviews here more or less. Beautiful writing, humorous snippets, yet nothing seems to happen. In spite of this I could not put it down for the last hundred pages or so. There is a lot that is unexplained, and I kept trying to piece it all together after I was done. As a woman who can look back at my own life, I can see that Stella Rodney is a fully-fleshed character in spite of her indecisiveness and uncertain history. She is a mysterious femme fatale (watch the movie with Patricia Hodge) who is ultimately vulnerable and sympathetic. Also a back-story that is never quite revealed regarding her son's inheritance. I have since become obsessed with the author, even though admittedly this is not the most satisfying read. ### ⭐⭐⭐ An Excellent Writer With A Plot That Plods! *by J***E on August 27, 2003* "Imagine a Graham Greene thriller projected through the sensibility of Virginia Woolfe." When I read this Atlantic Monthly blurb on Elizabeth Bowen's "The Heat Of The Day," I thought, this is a book for me. It took me 200 pages before I became involved in the novel. I did not put it down earlier, because I must admit, objectively, that Elizabeth Bowen's writing style is elegant, and at times poetic. I was curious to learn what she wanted to say through the novel's characters and plot. However she does take forever to say something. Her dialogue is often inane, and her unnecessary descriptions slow the storyline unbearably. I am not a reader who requires a book to be plot driven, but Ms. Bowen's meanderings are excessive. One of the book's reviewers, V.S. Pritchett, writes, "Out of the plainest things - the drawing of a curtain - she can make something electric and urgent." I beg to disagree with Mr. Pritchett, but there is absolutely nothing electric, in this case, about a full page description of a woman drawing the curtains and looking out the window. It is downright tedious. After a long, rather innocuous conversation with her son, our heroine Stella Rodney, puts her cigarette out in the ashtray. After a pause, her son says, "I suppose you'll need the wastebasket." That was the conversation's high point. The story takes us to wartorn London, about midway through WWII. Stella Rodney, an attractive, intelligent woman in her 40s, is divorced with a son in the Army. Ms. Bowen portrays the tension and eeriness of a city, and its inhabitants, stressed by years of war and bombardment. Stella keeps running into a strange man, Harrison, who first introduces himself to her at her cousin's funeral. The meeting is not accidental. Apparently Harrison is working for one of England's secret services. He informs her that her lover, Robert, is an enemy spy. Harrison wants her to stop seeing Robert, and begin a relationship with him. He has fallen in love with her, somewhat quickly, and based on very little time together. I would call him obsessed, in a low-keyed manner. Stella's willingness to begin an affair with Harrison, is the price she will have to pay for protecting the man she loves from arrest. During the ensuing months, while she ponders and processes this information, she spends time with her son, goes with Robert to visit his family in their country estate, and makes a trip to Ireland to see about her son's inheritance. I suppose it is not the outcome of Stella's decision that is important, but her thoughts and feelings along the way. Again, objectively, I would have to say that for some this may be a good novel. I do enjoy and appreciate subtlity, but Ms. Bowen's writing is too subtle for my taste. 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