Strangers in Time

A World War 2 Novel

By: David Baldacci

Narrated by: David Baldacci, Stewart Crank, Alexandra Boulton, John Lee, Nicola F. Delgado, Matthew Lloyd Davies, Joe Pitts

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Calamity of Souls comes a David Baldacci novel, set in London in 1944, about a bereaved book shop owner and two teenagers scarred by the second world war—and the healing and hope they find in one another.

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, ducking school but barred from actual work, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.

Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of people to have been evacuated to the countryside via “Operation Pied Piper,” Molly has been away from her parents—from her home—for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: neither of her parents are there, only her old nanny, Mrs. Pride.

Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his book shop, The Book Keep, where "a book a day keeps the bombs away". Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other—over the course of the greatest armed conflict the world had ever seen—they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.

But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is reeling from a secret Imogen long kept from him while she was alive—something so shocking it resulted in her death, and his life being turned upside down.

As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.

©2025 David Baldacci (P)2025 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

“David Baldacci’s foray into historical fiction is a meticulously precise account of what it was like to live through the Blitz in London—a visceral reminder that war not only levels social classes, but creates the most unlikely and indefatigable bonds between unlikely souls.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Oliver Twist meets the Blitz when powerhouse author David Baldacci turns his pen from thrillers to historical fiction. Two brave and capable teenagers find themselves thrown together in the rubble and chaos of WWI-era London: fifteen-year-old Molly, sent away from her Mayfair home to escape the German bombings and returned to find both her parents inexplicably missing; and fourteen-year-old Charlie, an East End orphan barely surviving as a petty thief. Charlie and Molly find shelter with mysterious bookshop owner Mr. Oliver, but he has secrets of his own that will come home to roost with deadly consequences. Baldacci beautifully explores the dark side lurking under the London Blitz's romanticized image—Strangers in Time is a beautiful read that will linger long in the memory."—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Briar Club

"#1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci takes on World War II with the touching Strangers in Time, a character-driven tale of three disparate souls whose paths unexpectedly intertwine during the last year of the Second World War. Baldacci's meticulous research is evident in his deep sense of place and time, and bomb-shattered London comes richly alive on the page under his capable pen. Through his own Wish You Well Foundation, which supports literacy, Baldacci has long celebrated the way books can change lives, and in Strangers in Time, it is indeed a bookshop—the lovingly chaotic The Book Keep—that brings together 13-year-old Charlie, 15-year-old Molly, and recently widowed bookstore owner Ignatius Oliver, all of whom are alone and adrift. As German V-1 and V-2 rockets wreak havoc on the city, the three forge a new family, the existence of which is soon threatened by deadly secrets that simmer beneath the surface. Absorbing and deeply researched, Strangers in Time is a celebration of the books that change us, the families we choose, and the capacity we all have to rise from the ashes and find our way home."—Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter