Waiting For the Day

by Leslie Thomas

Mid-winter, 1943. Britain is gripped by intense cold and in the darkest days of the war. It is six months before D-Day and the battle to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe.

RAF officer Martin Paget is returning home for Christmas He has been on covert operations in France and knows he has to return there. While in England, he rediscovers a passion that he thought was long over.

In a freezing hut on Salisbury Plain, Sergeant Harris's mind is occupied by questions of just how his young and ebullient wife is coping with their separation. His troops are training for landing on the shores of Normandy.

US officer Harry Miller arrives in Somerset where his American division has set up its headquarters. His affair with an Englishwoman is both bittersweet and potentially dangerous.

Enjoying fishing off the coast of occupied Jersey is German cook sergeant Fred Weber. He believes he has found a sort of peace in the midst of the terrible conflict. But his calm is soon to be shattered as his war takes on a violent twist...

Each man is heading inexorably towards the beaches of France where the great battle will begin...

Genres: Fiction

437 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Born in Newport, Monmouthshire, 1931, Leslie Thomas is the son of a sailor who was lost at sea in 1943. His boyhood in an orphanage is evoked in This Time Next Week, published in 1964. At sixteen, he became a reporter, before going on to do his national service. He won worldwide acclaim with his bestselling novel The Virgin Soldiers, which has achieved international sales of over four million copies.

Reviews

[Fred Kingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read lots of Leslie Thomas so with this book I was ready for the humour mixed in with the horror and tragedy of the Second World War.
This story follows a handful off characters British, American, Italian, German and French on the build up to the invasion that eventually ended the war.
Historically accurate, but easy and fun to read.

[Ellis Godwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fantastic, well written, thoroughly absorbing book.

Great, well worth reading even for those with vivid, real memories of the times the book is set in. War is terrible for all those involved but this book brings those times alive with very real, stories about a large group of people whose experiences, good, bad, and very frightening, lived through them.
We all know that these times, although described in fiction, were very real for many, many, people. It is to them we are all eternally grateful, and to Leslie Thomas for writing a book that gives those times a very real dimension.

[Huw Collingbourne · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always with Thomas, a largely well written book, by turns dramatic, humorous and poignant. But overall strangely uninvolving. The multiple storylines make the book rather fragmentary and I never really felt I got to 'know' the characters enough to care about them as much as I should. Very much a second-ranking book from this sometimes excellent author.

[09/01 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant story

Well written storyline,of The build-up to d day,interesting characters,from all sides of the conflict.Harris portrays them as fellow human beings,with all their faults .

[David Goodhand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Just as I remembered Leslie Thomas’ writing (I read a few of his many years ago) - interesting characters, deep knowledge of the English south coast during WW2 and a well-woven tale with humour and pathos. Really enjoyed it

[Jacki Da Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Leslie Thomas book. I found it easy to read and the characters were believable and well- developed. It was written from multiple characters' perspectives but I found this made it disjointed and kept me from really getting into the story.

[Ian Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bye gone time brought to life in a thought provoking way both emotionally, funny and at the same time sad.

[Huw Rhys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leslie Thomas will, in most people's minds, be forever associated with the slightly bawdy Virgin Soldiers novels, and the even bawdier "Tropic of Ruislip". Whilst these were all great reads, they don't begin to do the Newport born author justice.

He wrote beautifully about his childhood memories, and drew heavily on his wartime observations as a youngster - and "Waiting for the Day" is one of the fruits of that particularly fertile part of his imagination.

The Day is D-Day, and this novel cleverly weaves the lives of a collection of protagonists leading up to that fateful day in June 1944.

Thomas was a just into his teens when that "day of days" took place. As with many of us who are fascinated by the events that took place in Normandy that day, he wasn't there. What is it about "awful" days in history that capture our imaginations so much? Is it because they allow us to take our imaginations to places they don't naturally get a chance to go to? Is it something to do with our obsession with our past? IS it because we are no longer major players on the world stage, yet hearken back to the times when we were - and arguably June 1944 was the last time we did something good historically? Or am I treading on dangerous ground here?

Or is this just a terrific book by a much undervalued author?

[Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical wartime story, splendidly observed.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasent book well told story
you really become involved with all the characters
only 3 stars as not really my type of book
passed to my Mum who will love it

[Carmen Distratto · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very intense book, especially in the end, but I found it too much descriptive sometimes. What I particularly liked was the sheer humanity of all characters.