The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Set in the time of the Blitz, just before the United States threw our hat into the arena of WWII and before the horrors of Nazism became known. When we relied on the wireless and the telegraph to bring us our news. When a censor with a button in front of him had the power to blank out any air time, at his discretion. When to speak to someone who wasn't in the same room, you either had to go find them, or write them a letter. Al Gore hadn't "discovered" the internet, there wasn't any texting, or cell phones, or even a portable tape recorder, and the operator and the postmaster had hands that guided telephone calls and letters where they were intended to go. People touching. The Postmistress leads us into this time of uncertain reception and human connection, weaving together the lives of the characters through distance like frail threads of a spider's web. No one escapes the web, and several get tangled irretrivably.
Frankie Bard, the tough girl reporter, in Europe to tell it straight. Will Fitch, the young doctor with a chip on his shoulder, just married to Emma, whose identity is through the existence of her husband. Iris- the Postmistress herself, an old maid falling in love with Harry Vale, kind and flawed. It is a captivating book in its realness, and frustrating as to our ignorance given hindsight. And, although it is a good, quality adult read, its realness envelops the notion of casual, nameless sex or perhaps even "stress relief coupling". So, another I'll not recommend for my own kids, nor yours.