Beyond That, the Sea

Laura Spence-Ash

Description

A sweeping, tenderhearted love story, Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash tells the story of two families living through World War II on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and the shy, irresistible young woman who will call them both her own.

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 stay safe.

Scared and angry, feeling lonely and displaced, Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys. Mr. and Mrs. G, and 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 her go, and always pulling on her heart as she tries to move on and pursue love and a life of her own.

As we follow Bea over time, navigating between her two worlds, Beyond That, the Sea emerges as a beautifully written, absorbing novel, full of grace and heartache, forgiveness and understanding, loss and love.

Review

Beyond That, the Sea takes us to both sides of the Atlantic Ocean beginning in London 1940 where two working class parents make the tough decision to send their only daughter, Beatrix (Bea), to America for safety, escaping the London bombings. As the war years go on, Bea becomes a part of her American family, so much so that her family in England begins to fade as she adjusts to her new lifestyle and spending her summers on the coast of Maine. After the war, Bea dutifully heads back to London to begin her life anew there, but finds that her American family is still heavy on her heart and mind. Trying to make sense of these two different lives, themes of love, loss, forgiveness, and understanding emerge. This is so well written that you will feel a part of the story and the characters lives.

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