Crooked Heart: A Novel

Paper Moon meets the Blitz in this original black comedy, set in World War II England, chronicling an unlikely alliance between a small time con artist and a young orphan evacuee.

When Noel Bostock€"aged ten, no family€"is evacuated from London to escape the Nazi bombardment, he lands in a suburb northwest of the city with Vera Sedge€"a thirty-six-year old widow drowning in debts and dependents. Always desperate for money, she€s unscrupulous about how she gets it.

Noel€s mourning his godmother Mattie, a former suffragette. Wise beyond his years, raised with a disdain for authority and an eclectic attitude toward education, he has little in common with other children and even less with the impulsive Vee, who hurtles from one self-made crisis to the next. The war€s provided unprecedented opportunities for making money, but what Vee needs€"and what she€s never had€"is a cool head and the ability to make a plan.

On her own, she€s a disaster. With Noel, she€s a team.

Together, they cook up a scheme. Crisscrossing the bombed suburbs of London, Vee starts to make a profit and Noel begins to regain his interest in life. But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war€"and some of them are dangerous. Noel may have been moved to safety, but he isn€t actually safe at all. . . .