Miss Carter and the Ifrit

To look at Miss Georgina Carter you would never have suspected that a woman of her age and character would have allowed herself to be so wholeheartedly mixed up with an Ifrit.Its the final months of World War II and Georgina Carter a single woman in her late forties with a drab job in the Censorship office is convinced that nothing very shattering nothing very devastating could happen to one after that age. But then she buys some wood blocks from a blitzed roadway one of which when burned in her fireplace releases a long-imprisoned Ifrit (dont call him a genie) eager to do her bidding. Nicknamed Joe he zaps in exotic foods and luxurious decor and takes her on a dizzying hurtle through space to visit a beloved nephew in Canada. Then an old flame visits and Joe senses possibilities . . .This delightful 1945 novel alongside its fantasy elements depicts the mood of the later war years with bombed out buildings dirt cravings for impossible-to-find foods and the surliness and fatigue of many Londoners--but all are considerably enlivened by an energetic well-meaning but slightly overly-enthusiastic Ifrit.