Warlight

I was eager to read this book for two reasons: It was written by Michael Ondaatje and it is set in post-WW2 London. In 1945 Rose goes off to join her husband in Singapore for a year leaving her adolescent children, Nathaniel and Rachel, in the care of "two men who may have been criminals". One is their boarder who the children have nicknamed The Moth. The other is a dodgy character called The Pimlico Darter who, among other things, smuggles greyhounds. Through these two men Nathaniel and Rachel are exposed to a never-ending stream of eccentrics that flows through their house. It is a confusing time for Nathaniel during which he discovers that his mother may have been less than truthful about her whereabouts. He also meets his first love, Agnes. A violent episode occurs and Nathaniel discovers that giving up the children was part of a deal his mother had made to ensure their safety.
The second part of the novel takes place in 1959 with Nathaniel working at the Foreign Office in London where he has been recruited to help censor records of post WWII espionage activities. Through this work Nathaniel hopes to reconstruct his deceased mother's activities during that period. He also makes efforts to reconnect with some of the characters from the first part of the book, a time that Nathaniel now remembers with some fondness.
Warlight is a mesmerizing story seen through the shadows cast by the war. Ondaatje does a masterful job of pulling all the memory shards together into a satisfying ending. It's a beguiling but powerful novel that takes the reader on a journey through time and imagination.