War Crimes for the Home by Liz Jensen

Released: 2002

War Crimes for the Home is about foul-mouthed, sensuous young Cockney woman Gloria Winstanley, who works with sister Marje in a munitions factory during World War II and is on the hunt for love. The novel actually spans back and forth from present time, in which Gloria is an Alzheimer's patient in a nursing home to the past during her Blitz experiences. The mystery surrounding the novel has to deal with a chunk of Gloria's memory missing from those Blitz days, and Gloria's son Hank helps her piece things together. The end result is quite surprising.


The writing style of War Crimes for the Home is very unique because not only is the dialogue written without quotation marks, but Liz Jensen incorporates both Cockney and lingo of the 1940s into the novel, creating a more authentic memoir-type reading experience. Although War Crimes for the Home is fairly short at 225 pages, I felt Liz Jensen went into a few uninteresting and lulling tangents that should have been avoided altogether. Given the book's length, I felt it would have been more impacting had Jensen added more tidbits focusing specifically on the plot.

I am a fan of Liz Jensen's Egg Dancing, and still have a few of her other titles on standby. Although I found War Crimes for the Home to be unique, I also thought it easily forgettable.