Beyond That, the Sea

Author: Laura Spence-Ash
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Celedon Books, 2023
Pages: 368
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: As German bombs fall over London in 1940, working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send their eleven-year-old daughter, Beatrix, to America. There, she'll live with another family for the duration of the war, where they hope she'll be safe. Scared and angry, feeling lonely and displaced, Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys. Mr. and Mrs. G, their sons William and Gerald, fold Bea seamlessly into their world. She becomes part of this lively family, learning their ways and their stories, adjusting to their affluent lifestyle. Bea grows close to both boys, one older and one younger, and fills in the gap between them. Before long, before she even realizes it, life with the Gregorys feels more natural to her than the quiet, spare life with her own parents back in England.

As Bea comes into herself and relaxes into her new life - summers on the coast in Maine, new friends clamoring to hear about life across the sea - the girl she had been begins to fade away, until, abruptly, she is called home to London when the war ends.

Desperate as she is not to leave this life behind, Bea dutifully retraces her trip across the Atlantic back to her new, old world. As she returns to post-war London, the memory of her American family stays with her, never fully letting go, and always pulling on her heart as she tries to move on and pursue love and a life of her own.

Review: I loved this book so much. While it's still early, this could be my favorite book of 2023. I loved the plot, the characters, the writing, absolutely everything. It's a good thing we had no plans today because that meant I could read all day, and I finished this in just a few hours.