If I Could Tell You

If I Could Tell You is a novel written by Elizabeth Wilhide. The story is set in England in 1939. Julia is married to Richard and they have an 8 year old son, Peter. Peter is away at boarding school most of the time. Richard is a lawyer. They have a maid who cleans the house and does all the cooking. Julia is a trained pianist and she plays for hours every day. One day a film crew comes to town and Julia meets Dougie Birdsall, a film director. Even though both Julia and Dougie are married to other people, they have an affair. When Richard finds out he asks Julia to leave. Julia moves to London. She is completely unable to care for herself. She doesn't know how to cook or clean. She has never had a job. Now she is in London where the Germans are dropping bombs every night. How Julia copes with the consequences of her affair was interesting. The scenes describing the time in the bomb shelters and the experience of living in a city under attack were interesting. I had a hard time liking Julia because she put her lust for a guy named Dougie ahead of the interests of her son.