London

The novel is set in London in three separate timelines, one in the year 1940, one in 1950, and one in 1951. Though it is always the same city, there are distinctive changes over the years, particularly as he city is bombed repeatedly during WWII and still being rebuilt ten years later in the 1950 timeline. In both the 1940 and 1950 timelines, the author describes the city in glowing terms. Juliet visits Cavendish Square Gardens (a park) on her lunch break from the BBC on the eve of spring and observes "a blush of crocuses on the grass and daffodils...bravely spearing their way out of the earth" (14). She visits another park, Kensington Gardens, several times in the novel, and in 1940 she takes note of the tulips, declaring that "It wouldn't be long probably before they dug them up and planted cabbage or onions instead" (101). This is because resources, including vegetation, were scarce...