Ashes To Ashes - Barbara Nadel

I read this story almost entirely because it's set in St Paul's Cathedral and surrounds (it also takes in Wilmington Square and Holborn, albeit briefly) on the night of 29th December 1940. That was the Sunday night of mass bombing when the City burned in a firestorm and the iconic photo of the cathedral framed by smoke comes from that night.

It was only because of the setting, which is certainly evoked accurately, that I read through to the end. The plotting is creaky and the characterisation is confusing. In the first hundred pages you struggle to differentiate Mr Phillips, Mr Andrews, Mr Smith etc etc and her protagonist, a middle-aged half-Indian East End funeral director suffering post-traumatic stress from the Somme, is surprisingly and effectively persistent given his seemingly-debilitating condition.

As the story plays out over one night, it takes in the struggle of the watchmen to save the cathedral as a symbol of London - at one point the dome was in serious peril from an incendiary - along with child prostitution, city rookeries, freemasonry and Aleister Crowley. Plus parts of the cathedral, such as the triforium and the library, remain to this day more seriously bizarre than is indicated here. So the feeling remains that there could have been a much larger book here, especially as the author has indicated an interest in Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd.