The Third Reich period

The Third Reich period is the historical setting that turns the novel’s late family scenes from a vision of secure futures into years of war, air raids, and fear for loved ones. Its significance lies not only in the regime’s eventual defeat, but in how the approach and course of war reach into Emma Harte’s private life: the threat first appears as a shadow over plans for the future, then becomes a nightly danger above London, and finally recedes with the return of her family’s young men.

Rise of the regime and the approach of war

In September 1938, Emma and Paul McGill still speak as though many peaceful years lie ahead. In the library they make plans for Christmas at Pennistone Royal and a trip to America in the new year; later they go to dinner at Quaglino’s, laughing and holding hands. Their ease makes the political danger beyond their household more stark. The narrative notes that Adolf Hitler had gained power in Germany after the Reichstag fire in 1933 and was now advancing across Central Europe. War, it says, was inevitable, though its timing remained uncertain.

Paul sees the danger extending beyond Europe. He predicts a Pacific war as well as a European one, arguing that Japan’s and Germany’s late industrialization and success have shaped them into arrogant, militaristic powers pursuing world domination. His warning broadens the crisis from a European threat to a conflict with international reach, even as the couple’s own plans remain intimate and domestic.

War and the pressures on business

The novel sets this new crisis against Emma’s earlier experience of the First World War, when she had adapted her business to military demand. During that war, she anticipated shortages as manufacturers shifted to government production, treated warehouse stock as a resource rather than a liability, and directed her mill and clothing factory toward large uniform contracts. The contrast clarifies the recurring pressure war places on commercial life, while the later episodes shift attention from business strategy toward the danger confronting Emma’s family.

By 1940, the threat is immediate. After the fall of France, Britain stands alone. In July, the Battle of Britain begins in earnest, with German bombers attacking the Royal Air Force, aircraft factories, and fighter bases around London. Dornier and Heinkel bombers cross the Channel while Messerschmitt fighters engage British Hurricanes and Spitfires. The air campaign is presented both as military conflict and as a danger repeatedly brought to the civilian population below.

London under attack

Air-raid sirens wake Emma at night. She stands at the window of her darkened bedroom, watching searchlights cut through the sky and listening to the aircraft overhead, fearful for Robin Harte, Tony Barkstone, Bryan O’Neill, and the other young pilots risking their lives. The scene gives the war a domestic rhythm: danger arrives at night, and waiting becomes part of family life.

Elizabeth Harte sometimes joins her mother. In her nightgown, she comes quietly into the room, and the two stand together with their arms around each other, watching the planes pass. Elizabeth’s anguished questions about why the war began and whether the young men will survive voice the helplessness that the military chronology alone cannot convey. The scene places maternal fear and a daughter’s fear beside the machinery of battle, making the home front a continuing human consequence of the conflict.

Defeat and the return of the family

The regime’s collapse unfolds in a sequence of defeats. In March 1945, the American First Army crosses the Rhine at Remagen; between April 20 and 25, Soviet forces enter Berlin. Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun die by suicide five days later, and the Third Reich disintegrates. Germany surrenders unconditionally at Rheims on May 7.

Emma is in Leeds on May 8, Britain’s V-E Day. She celebrates with Winston Harte and Charlotte, drinking two bottles of champagne, but feels relief more than jubilation. Her sons, sons-in-law, and the sons of close friends including Blackie O’Neill and David Kallinski have survived. The flags and public festivities matter less to her than that reckoning: after six years, she can breathe more easily, and the family members who were away slowly come home. The period closes in the novel not with a grand account of victory, but with the gradual restoration of a household whose future had been held under threat.