The Secret Keeper – pp. 34-45 – just the Blitz descriptions
The air-raid siren began to wail then…
The shelter here was a nightmare: all of them packed together like sardines, the damp bedding, the putrid smell, Mrs White’s hysterics…
The rise and fall of the siren was deafening…
The siren cut out just then and the word ’gone’ bounced around the room.
…the first bomber of the night chugged overhead…
A bomb fell somewhere close, landing with a huge explosion, and a great swooshing sound filled the room, making Dolly’s ears ache and every hair on her neck stand on end.
A new wave of bombers had arrived, and Vivien had to shout to be heard…
A blast outside and the whole building juddered and shifted; the bombs were falling closer, and even though there were no windows an eerie flash o flight came from somewhere, flooding the room, so much brighter than the glow of the dull single bulb.
A bomb whistled by and the guns fired back from the ground.
Another bomb, a Molotov bread basket by the sound of it, the impact so loud Dolly had to read Vivien’s lips when she pleaded…
She could smell fire; an incendiary must have hit nearby; the ARP officers would be at it now with their stirrup pumps. Dolly heard someone yelling…
There were more planes, fighters now, not just bombers, and Dolly pictured herself on the rooftop at Campden Grove, watching as they ducked and swooped across the sky, the green tracer lights that swept after them, the fires in the distance.
Another bomb whooshed down and exploded. A terrified cry escaped Dolly’s throat before she could stop it.
Dolly managed to block out the noise of a diving plane, the answering ack-ack fire, the horrible thoughts of buildings and people being crushed into pulp.
A bomb landed nearby with a thundering crump…
…a series of bombs landed with heavy crashes.
She ignored the deafening noise outside, the smoke that was seeping in from the fires in the street, the haze that made her eyes sting.
She barely heard the planes outside now, the falling bombs, the ack-acks firing their response. The earth trembled with each blast and plaster dust sifted down from the ceiling. The chain on the door rattled, but Dolly noticed none of it.
The Secret Keeper – pp. 34-45 – questions
Write your answers in your notebook.
How did Dolly and Jimmy meet?
Dolly’s life has changed. How do we understand this and what do we find out about her life before and her life now?
What had Dolly and Jimmy planned for the future?
Dolly’s feelings about the Blitz have changed. How? And how do we understand this?
What do you think has happened to Jimmy?
What kind of relationship does Dolly and Vivien have?