Introduction [excerpt] Elizabeth Bowen's World War II novel, The Heat of the Day, is one of the most nuanced and engaging works to emerge from the bombs and rubble of the Blitz. From September of 1940 through May of 1941 Great Britain faced nightly air raids, resulting in thousands of tons of explosives dropped, a million damaged or destroyed homes, and over a hundred thousand civilian casualties. While the majority of the damage was contained to these nine months, V1 and V2...