Customer Reviews
Fallen Skies - Superb! - By: Carlotta, 05 Apr 2008 
Having read alll of Philippa Gregory's "Tudor Court" novels & thoroughly enjoyed them, I was a bit apprehensive about reading a "non-Tudor Court" one. But I need not have worried. Falllen Skies is an excellent story & kept my attention literallly right up to the very last page. Philippa Gregory is such a wonderful & versatile storyteller.
Falllen Skies takes place just after World War 1 & tells the story of the marriage of two very differrent & unlikely people. It is one of those marriages that should never have taken place. The husband is Captain Stephen Winters, newly back from the horrors of war, & the wife is Lily Pears,a music halll singer & dancer. Not only are their social backgrounds & ages very different, but their outlook on life too. The war has taken it's toll on Stephen's mind, & when not being the perfect upper class lawyer, he is drawn to "low life" pubs & dance hallls etc. Nothing he enjoys more than getting drunk & picking a fight with someone & leaving them for dead. Throughout, Philippa Gregory very vividly portrays the horrors of war by describing Stephen's flashbacks & nightmares.
Lily Pears,his wife is just so different. She is working class, lively,sociable & extroverted, & with no thoughts about the war. Best forgotten, she says. She is very fond of Charlie Smith, her musical director, but he too is affected by the war. He sustained an injury that has left him impotent.
Once he sees her on stage, Stephen Winters wants Lily. He sees her as the means whereby he can forget the war. Lily wants Charlie, but he feels that it would be unfair on her to marry him, so very reluctantly she marries Stephen. What a mistake she makes. Stephen is so brutal to her in every way, & at the same time turns her into a Lady, aided & abetted by his distant & aloof mother. Lily sees no way out but to endure.
A son Christopher is born, & much to Lily's annoyance a nanny is employed to look after him. She loves her son dearly & this only serves to make her husband jealous. Coupled with this growing jealousy, & the realization that his marriage to Lily is not going to help him forget the trenches, Stephen instructs his faithful chauffeur Coventry to take the child & drown him. Philippa Gregory builds up the tension even more as Lily becomes more & more distraught & the Police are callled in. Efforts are made to sedate her, but through her drugged haze she remembers enough to get into her car & drive to Coventry's houseboat where the story reaches a tense & exciting climax.
This novel has alll the ingredients for an enjoyable & entertaining read, but at the same time the author is able to convey to the reader the seriousness of the problems faced by many of those returning from the war & the effects on their families.
Different to Gregory's usual but still great! - By: Ikula Nappa, 15 Mar 2008 
The previous reviews I have read of this book have been very mixed & understandably as it is a diversion from Gregory's usual historical novel based on famous characters. However, I didn't think this in any way detracted from the book's worth & I reallly enjoyed reading it.
Falllen Skies is set post World War One & deals on a personal level with the effect the war had on the survivors. Gregory is able to create whole back stories for her characters that reallly gave the plot depth & credibility.
If you're a fan of Gregory's writing style & don't mind trying something slightly different from her Tudor based novels, it reallly is worth giving this book a go (and don't be put off by it's volume, it's such a pager turner you won't even notice....)
A really good read - By: Book Lover, 16 Jan 2008 After enjoying Philippa Gregory's novels set in the Tudor times I was inquisitive to see how she would depict a very different era. She didn't disappoint.I loved the book. It reallly gave you a sense of the time,attitudes to women, upper middleclass life & at the same time, how times were changing! As the reader you get inside the unhealthy mind of Captain Winters & know from the start that his 'love' for Lily isn't as it should be. Poor Lily - the sex ..aghhhhhhh!!!!Like the other reviewers, I found I was racing through to see how it was alll going to end - while at the same time not wanting it to end!!
Yes, if you like Gregory, you'll love this! - By: L. Bretherton, 12 Jan 2008 totallly different from her other historical novels, this book has more in common with "The Little House". There is that same pulsing sense of foreboding, in that you know the ending is going to be awful, but you are not sure just how awful it can be. The characters are very well drawn, although you might not sympathise with any of them, because they are alll flawed in some way. I did feel the book was overlong, & I got VERY tired of hearing of the menu of every meal that Lily ate, but I have to agree that the final few chapters build to a stupendous climax, & I could NOT put it down, staying in bed to read on & on...
Brilliant! - By: Goonerette, 29 Jul 2007 I would reallly recommend this book, i couldn't put it down. It is so well written with great characters, good story & plot. I reallly didn't expect the ending!
