Product Description

Martin Conway comes from a family filled with heroes and disgraces. His grandfather was a statesman who worked at the US Embassy in London during WWII. His father is an alcoholic who left his family. His sister is an overachieving Ivy League graduate. And Martin? Martin is stuck in between--floundering.

But during the summer after 7th grade, Martin meets a boy who will change his life forever. Jimmy Harker appears one night with a deceptively simple question: Will you help?

Where did this boy come from, with his strange accent and urgent request? Is he a dream? It's the most vivid dream Martin's ever had. And he meets Jimmy again and again--but how can his dreams be set in London during the Blitz? How can he see his own grandather, standing outside the Embassy? How can he wake up with a head full of people and facts and events that he certainly didn't know when he went to sleep--but which turn out to be verifiably real?

The people and the scenes Martin witnesses have a profound effect on him. They become almost more real to him than his waking companions. And he begins to believe that maybe he can help Jimmy. Or maybe that he must help Jimmy, precisely because all logic and reason argue against it.

This is a truly remarkable and deeply affecting novel about fathers and sons, heroes and scapegoats. About finding a way to live with faith and honor and integrity. And about having an answer to the question: What did you do to help?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #536547 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-26
• Released on: 2006-09-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9–Using the literary technique of magical realism, Bloor brings readers a serious tale of justice and redemption, of fathers and sons, of the privileged and the common. John Martin Conway feels out of place at his exclusive prep school, where he is constantly reminded that he is a scholarship kid. After a confrontation with Hank Lowery, the great-grandson of the schools founder, he requests to work at home on an independent study project. The World War II-era radio that his grandmother left him brings him into contact with Jimmy, a boy who lived during the war and who needs his help. He takes Martin back to the time of the London Blitz. In his own time, he focuses his research on the things Jimmy shows him and the people he encounters. Along the way he uncovers some new information about his grandfathers and General Hank Lowerys dealings during the war and discovers how he can help put Jimmys soul to rest. He also comes to terms with his alcoholic father and with his own depression. Readers will identify with the modern elements of the story and be drawn into the tension of the historical events. Evocative descriptions and elegant phrasings make the writing most enjoyable, and because the author uses a first-person voice, the story seems very personal, and readers will feel Martins turmoil and angst. Bloors fans and those who like a little light fantasy with their history will find something intriguing here.–Cheri Dobbs, Detroit Country Day Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Martin Conway, who numbly attends an upscale private school, is pulled out of his ennui by a strange call from his grandmother right before her death. His curiosity increases when the art deco radio she bequeaths him introduces him to Jimmy, a figure from the past who asks for his help. Martin is introduced to a maze of mysterious parallels and alternating times and places, all of which are kept straight through the strong narration of Robertson Dean. Dean shifts accents easily as Martin time-travels to Jimmy's world, Blitz-filled London of 1940. Dean's resonant tones have a haunting quality for a tale that has otherworldly elements and a dream-like mission that may bring redemption to several characters. S.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. When an old radio transports Martin back in time to London during the Blitz, the seventh-grader makes startling discoveries that fuel twin quests: one to expose the unflattering truth behind two World War II heroes casting long shadows in his life, and the other to answer a young Londoner's eerie pleas for help. Every bit as provocative and open-ended as Bloor's Crusader (1999), this genre-defying novel incorporates mysticism steeped in Martin's Catholic faith and a present-day trip to London that connects two troubled father-son relationships across the decades. Bloor demands much of his readers, especially concerning the diplomatic issues leading to U.S. involvement in World War II, and many will have questions about where the facts end and invention begins. Ambitious yet unwieldy, this may work best as a fictional supplement in history classrooms, where it will open discussions of both the slippery qualities of historical truth ("Who decides what the real history of a time is?") and the nature of genuine heroism. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Sad Commentary
I liked this book. I really did. But it is a very sad commentary on the state of education in today's world. This young man, Martin, a teenager, attends a fancy private school where he is supposedly getting a good education. But he knows NOTHING about history, or art, does not know that a 'seraphim' is an angel and so on. Did I know at 13 what a seraphim was? Yes. I read voraciously then and now. I knew. I am no genius but I knew.

But this is overall a very well written, extremely entertaining book. I truly enjoyed it and would like to read other works by this author.

Are two stories better than one?
Other reviewers observe that London Calling is part problem novel, part historical fiction, and part time-travel adventure. Despite the author's skill at creating vivid locations, as a whole, I think the story suffers from this mixture of stories more than it benefits.

Martin hates his school and his life, but the revenge he seeks against classmate Lowery, grandson of the WWII hero, seems small and unsatisfying. That's because the story morphs into that of the relationship between Martin and his alcoholic father. But that's somewhat underwhelming too, because the story also is about helping Jimmy, his time-travel friend from 1940, and Jimmy's father.

I had difficulty hanging in there long enough for Martin to get to the real issues in all three stories-- just past halfway in the book. I think I would have preferred a straight story of any one of the elements rather than all three weaved together. And of them, the story of Jimmy and his father has the most potential for development on its own.

Is it fantasy? historical fiction? time travel fiction? Yep
It never fails to surprise me how certain books will turn out. You start a book, and you think you have its number. You say, "Book, I know exactly who you are and where you are going." Many times, you are right. But therein lies the joy of discovering a book that adds to your life. Edward Bloor is one wacky guy. He comes up with original plots, but he is also a very good writer. In Story Time, his protagonists went to a private school where the students sat in windowless rooms, taking standardized tests, and drinking noxious shakes blended to keep the students chained in their educational prisons (Yes, down with standardized tests!). With many authors, they are good at only one aspect of writing (plots, characters, pacing). Bloor has all of these elements of writing nailed down, plus he creates characters that will touch your heart.

In London Calling, Bloor again shares his loathing of private schools. Our protagonist is Martin Conway, a bright, unhappy 12-year old with little drive. He is a self-proclaimed hermit. He lives in the basement, where his crazy uncle once lived, and his dad used to live before he set the place on fire. Martin's nuclear family consists of an alcoholic dad that works for an airport steakhouse chain, an unhappy mother who works as a secretary at the school so that Martin can attend (She thinks he will have better opportunities.), and a sister who is a genius and works at an encyclopedia company as a fact checker. See what I mean? You have to be pretty creative to make this stuff up.

Martin has only two friends at his private Catholic school, which appears to be run by the Lowery family. The Lowery family claims that their ancestor, Hollerin' Hank Lowery, was a World War II hero. They have some money, and so the school kowtows to that family.

The current reigning Lowery loves to pick on the weak, and he makes regular sport of picking on Martin and his friends. On one such occasion, Martin's friend, Manetti, takes a piece of concrete and chucks it at Lowery's head, causing Lowery to whine like a little girl. It also, unfortunately, breaks off a chunk from a statue the school is getting ready to unveil for the Hall of Heroes. The school, in a guise of a fair trial, rules that Martin and his friends are completely responsible, suspending Martin from school.

At the same time, Martin loses a family member. His Grandma Mehan, his mother's mom, passes away. Grandma Mehan is another wacky family member. She believes that she came back from the dead while in hospital. No one really takes her seriously. Martin, however, is quite fond of Grandma Mehan. When she passes away, she gives Martin a vintage radio from the 1940s.

This is where our story elements come together. Martin begs his mom and principal that he be allowed to remain on regular suspension. In lieu of attending school, he asks to do a home study about the radio his Grandma gave him. He gets permission, but Martin has a secret agenda. The radio is actually a time travel device. When he sets it to a frequency that receives static, Martin is transported back to 1940s London, where he meets a Jimmy Harker. Jimmy says Martin has something he needs to do, but he doesn't know what. Martin reluctantly follows Jimmy on several late night adventures, involving blackouts and Germans bombing London. Martin suspects he is going crazy, but this is where his sister comes in. As a fact checker at an encyclopedia, she can verify or deny the facts he records from his travels.

Martin discovers he does have a mission to fulfill, and it will impact not only the Harker family, but his own family as well. Martin is asked repeatedly, "What will you do to help, when the time comes?" Martin finds out that he, yes, even he, a 12-year old boy, can make a difference. He also learns to hope again, and his family receives some healing.

I just loved this book. Any book that causes me to shed a tear is usually a winner for me. There was also a lot of talk of a higher power; that we can't do things on our own without the help of a higher power. In addition, this story had so many elements. It was historical fiction, and it was also fantasy. It had the adventure and purpose that boys crave, and it had relationships that would appeal to girls.

I would recommend this to teens that love historical fiction. I would also give it a fantasy fan that has to read historical fiction.