On the night of the most devastating German raid on Coventry, 14 November 1940, two women traverse the city and transform their hearts. Harriet, widowed as a young woman in the First World War, is firewatching on the roof of the cathedral when first the factories and then the church itself are set ablaze. In the ensuing chaos she bonds with a young man, very much like the husband she lost, who relies on her to find the way back to his home where he left his mother. On their journey through a hell of burning shops and collapsed homes, Harriet awakens to emotions she had long put aside. At home, the youth’s mother awaits his arrival and rethinks the circumstances that brought her to this city and her life raising her son alone. Ultimately, together these two women must face a world as immeasurably changed as their own selves. Coventry is about loss, remembrance, determination and resilience.

HELEN HUMPHREYS lives in Kingston, Ontario. Her previous novels, Leaving Earth, Afterimage and The Lost Garden, were published in the UK to critical acclaim. Leaving Earth won the City of Toronto Book Award in 1998, and Afterimage won the Rogers/Writers' Trust Award for Best Novel of the Year in 2000.