Ragnorak: The End of the Gods

Ragnorak: The End of the Gods is a 2011 book by A.S. Byatt, tracing the explorations of Norse mythology and Christian faith of "the thin child" -herself- living in the English countryside during the bombings of WW2. Her father is away, a fighter pilot in the North African desert, and she is certain he will never return. This is a fascinating re-telling of the Norse myths in the context of a moment in a young girl's life.

from the back of the book:

As the bombs of the Blitz rain down on Britain, one young girl is evacuated to the countryside. She is struggling to make sense of her new life, who dark, war-ravaged days feel very removed from the peace and love being preached in church and at school. When she is given a book of ancient Norse myths -beautiful, terrifying tales of the gods meeting their cataclysmic end- she glimpses a parallel with her own suddenly precarious reality. Rapturously acclaimed, Ragnarok is a landmark piece of storytelling from the inimitable and brilliant A.S. Byatt.

The Guardian describes it this way: "Ragnarok is a clever, lucid, lovely book. But it isn't a novel, or even a story in the usual sense. It's a discourse on myth..." The Telegraph says Byatt "has entwined the epic stories with her memories of childhood reading and her love of the natural world" and that "Byatt’s writing, impassioned and liberated from the strictures of the novel, has never been so beautiful."