The classic novel of the London Blitz, DARKNESS FALLS FROM THE AIR captures the chaos, absurdity and ultimately the tragedy of life during the bombardment.

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Bill Sarratt is a civil servant working on the war effort. Thwarted at every turn by bureaucracy and the vested interests of big business, the seemingly unflappable Bill is also on the verge of losing his wife Marcia to a literary poseur named Stephen. As the bombs continue to fall, Bill must decide whether he his willing to compromise his principles and prevent his life from crumbling before his very eyes.

"The missing writer of the Forties . . . Balchin's professional skill gives a meaning to brilliance which the word doesn't usually possess" - NEW REVIEW

"[An] inexplicably neglected author" - THE TIMES

"Balchin writes about timeless things, the places in the heart" - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

"A remarkable storyteller" - DAILY MAIL

"A brilliant novelist . . . A writer of real skill" - NEW STATESMAN

"He tells a story gloriously" - DAILY TELEGRAPH

"Balchin has the rare magnetic power that draws the human eye from one sentence to the next" - EVENING STANDARD

"Probably no other novelist of Mr. Balchin's value is so eminently and enjoyably readable . . . [He] never lets the reader down" - TATLER

"Balchin has done so much to raise the standard of the popular novel" - TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

"A superb storyteller" - SUNDAY TIMES

"Balchin can tell an exciting story as well as any novelist alive" - SUNDAY CHRONICLE

"The novelist of men at work" - GUARDIAN

"Mr. Balchin is a writer of such considerable and varied gifts . . . He is certainly one of the most intelligent novelists" - TIME AND TIDE

"He can always be relied on to give us the set-up magnificently" - BBC

"Perhaps the most successful British author to emerge during the war" - SATURDAY EVENING POST