Parents of an 11-year-old girl, Beatrix, choose to send her to safety in America during the London Blitz in 1940. Bea is welcomed into the Gregory family in Massachusetts and as she grows more at ease, she flourishes in the family, which includes 13-year-old William and 9-year-old Gerald. She is treated like the daughter the Gregorys never had, and the war seems far away. The descriptions of the family home and the Maine vacation home they visit contrasts with the London apartment she shared with her parents. Each character has a voice with each chapter, so the reader gets to know them well.
When the war is over, Bea must return home to London and a home that has changed forever. Her father has died and Bea and her mother struggle to regain any sort of closeness. Skipping ahead 5 years, then 9 more years, we find Bea is an adult, still remembering her time in Maine. When William has a stopover in London, they reconnect. The choices they make will last a long time and a tragedy a few years later sends Bea to Maine again. I found myself eagerly reading to learn more about Bea, her parents, and the Gregory family. This story has stayed with me long after I finished reading it. It's a coming-of age story, a family story, a romantic story, and a character study all wrapped within a 40-year historical fiction timespan.
It's been months since I read this, and it still resonates with me. I can't get it out of my head.
When the war is over, Bea must return home to London and a home that has changed forever. Her father has died and Bea and her mother struggle to regain any sort of closeness. Skipping ahead 5 years, then 9 more years, we find Bea is an adult, still remembering her time in Maine. When William has a stopover in London, they reconnect. The choices they make will last a long time and a tragedy a few years later sends Bea to Maine again. I found myself eagerly reading to learn more about Bea, her parents, and the Gregory family. This story has stayed with me long after I finished reading it. It's a coming-of age story, a family story, a romantic story, and a character study all wrapped within a 40-year historical fiction timespan.
It's been months since I read this, and it still resonates with me. I can't get it out of my head.