Product Description

This is terrific novel set in the Roaring 1920s, reissued to accompany Philippa Gregory's new bestselling novel, "The Last Boleyn". Lily Valance wants to forget the war. She's determined to enjoy the world of the 1920s, with its music, singing, laughter and pleasure. When she meets Captain Stephen Winters, a decorated hero back from the Front, she's drawn to his wealth and status. In Lily he sees his salvation - from the past, from the nightmare, from the guilt at surviving the Flanders plains where so many were lost. But it's a dream that cannot last. Lily has no intention of leaving her singing career. The hidden tensions of the respectable facade of the Winters household come to a head. Stephen's nightmares merge ever closer with reality and the truth of what took place in the mud and darkness brings him and all who loves him to a terrible reckoning!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3494 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

Review
Praise for 'Fallen Skies': 'Superbly crafted!a fine book.' Daily Mail 'Round of applause.' Frank Delaney, Sunday Times

Gregory (The Other Queen, 2008, etc.) leaves Tudor gowns behind for the Jazz Age in this addictive tale, originally published in the United Kingdom in 1993, of two wounded soldiers and the pervasive cost of war.The novel begins with Stephen Winters recalling the Flanders fields of World War I, of the deep mud and bits of bodies underfoot, of the unrelenting terror of gunfire. Since his father's stroke (at the news of favorite son Christopher's death), Stephen has taken over the law practice, and he finds solace only with Coventry, his mute chauffer and wartime aid. Then he sees Lily Valance singing at the theater and is thunderstruck by the luminous joy of her face and voice - she reminds him of girls before the war, before everything was ruined. He courts her with his wealth, but his advances are rejected; Lily is 17 and in love with the theater's musical director, Charlie Smith (though devoted to Lily, he refuses to marry her - a war wound has left him impotent). When Lily's mother dies, Stephen, convinced Lily will cure him of his shell shock, coerces her into wedlock at her most vulnerable. Their honeymoon is a disaster (Stephen is sadistic and controlling), and the marriage continues in this vein when Stephen brings her to live with his mother Muriel, disapproving of the merchant-class theater girl, and his father Rory, upstairs and half-dead. But Lily is bright and resilient, and soon she is singing again professionally (after a fat lip from Stephen). She has Rory up and beginning to speak, and even Muriel begrudgingly admits Lily has an undeniable grace. Their house becomes fashionable with both society mavens and young bohemians - the only one not happy is Stephen, who has become more violent and unpredictable. When they have a little boy, the emotional torment really starts. The only bright spot in Lily's life is Charlie Smith, who vows to save Lily and her son, if only he's able before Stephen destroys them all.This great doorstop of a romantic tragedy illustrates Gregory's winning formula: A young woman triumphs despite a hostile male society. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
Philippa Gregory is an established writer and broadcaster for radio and television. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. She lives in the North of England with her family.

Customer Reviews

sorry to say but disappointed
I have read and loved 6 of Phillipa Gregory's books, so I must say I was really disappointed with this book. I thought that Stephen was a very troubled man who had a lot of scars from the war (mentally). His obsession with young Lilly is ruthless. You do tend to feel sorry for him at some points but then he goes on saying how he could either lover her or hit her. The man is messed up. I did not like Lilly when she fist met Stephen, as she was leading him on. Maybe that was just because she was young and naïve, but as the book went on I felt so sorry for her. Here she was young beautiful, talented but trapped into a marriage with a monster, who rapes and bully's her. He married her because she hated the war, she did not want nothing to do with the war, that was the key feature to his attraction (as all he wanted was to stop having the nightmares, and to forget that part of his life)
Even though I did not like the book, Phillipa Gregory I found was so good at writing the pain of the boys and men who suffered metal and physical pain in the war.
I would not recommend this book to a young audience (me being 18), but at the end of the day everyone has different opinions and taste in books.
I am currently reading the wise women I will let you know when I am done

Not another "The Other Bolyen Girl."
Gregory is one of my favorite authors. Her "factual fiction" books of English royalty are well-written, thought-provoking, and undeniably interesting. However, I have read two of her books that are different from this style: "The Little House" and "Fallen Skies". The first was well-written, with a twist I think we've all considered at one time. "Fallen Skies" was boring, with an ending easily figured out after reading a few chapters. If you are a fan of romance novels, then "Fallen Skies" may be for you. It's just not to my taste.

Fallen Skies - Superb!
Having read all of Philippa Gregory's "Tudor Court" novels and thoroughly enjoyed them, I was a bit apprehensive about reading a "non-Tudor Court" one. But I need not have worried. Fallen Skies is an excellent story and kept my attention literally right up to the very last page. Philippa Gregory is such a wonderful and versatile storyteller.

Fallen Skies takes place just after World War 1 and tells the story of the marriage of two very differrent and unlikely people. It is one of those marriages that should never have taken place. The husband is Captain Stephen Winters, newly back from the horrors of war, and the wife is Lily Pears,a music hall singer and dancer. Not only are their social backgrounds and ages very different, but their outlook on life too. The war has taken it's toll on Stephen's mind, and when not being the perfect upper class lawyer, he is drawn to "low life" pubs and dance halls etc. Nothing he enjoys more than getting drunk and picking a fight with someone and leaving them for dead. Throughout, Philippa Gregory very vividly portrays the horrors of war by describing Stephen's flashbacks and nightmares.

Lily Pears,his wife is just so different. She is working class, lively,sociable and extroverted, and with no thoughts about the war. Best forgotten, she says. She is very fond of Charlie Smith, her musical director, but he too is affected by the war. He sustained an injury that has left him impotent.

Once he sees her on stage, Stephen Winters wants Lily. He sees her as the means whereby he can forget the war. Lily wants Charlie, but he feels that it would be unfair on her to marry him, so very reluctantly she marries Stephen. What a mistake she makes. Stephen is so brutal to her in every way, and at the same time turns her into a Lady, aided and abetted by his distant and aloof mother. Lily sees no way out but to endure.

A son Christopher is born, and much to Lily's annoyance a nanny is employed to look after him. She loves her son dearly and this only serves to make her husband jealous. Coupled with this growing jealousy, and the realization that his marriage to Lily is not going to help him forget the trenches, Stephen instructs his faithful chauffeur Coventry to take the child and drown him. Philippa Gregory builds up the tension even more as Lily becomes more and more distraught and the Police are called in. Efforts are made to sedate her, but through her drugged haze she remembers enough to get into her car and drive to Coventry's houseboat where the story reaches a tense and exciting climax.

This novel has all the ingredients for an enjoyable and entertaining read, but at the same time the author is able to convey to the reader the seriousness of the problems faced by many of those returning from the war and the effects on their families.