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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Title: Beyond That, the Sea
Author: Laura Spence-Ash
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: March 21, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Tender • Bittersweet • Layered
📖 S Y N O P S I S
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.
💭 T H O U G H T S
For 2023, I designed a personal Book of the Month project, where I pre-order one of my most anticipated releases each month. Beyond That, the Sea was March's selection and although it may have taken me a little longer than expected to get to it, it was a delightful read.
Told from multiple points of view, this character driven story sheds light on the journey many children were forced to take during WWII. It was a completely fresh take on WWII historical fiction. Laura Spence-Ash does a fantastic job telling what it may have been like for the parents left behind, the child themselves, and the host families. Although many children were not as lucky as Bea, and ended up in dire situations when they were sent to North America.
The story unravels at a slow and steady pace that really allows for fully fledged out relationships between the characters. The descriptions of the scenery created a vivid picture bringing the story to life even more. There were many different ways this book could have gone, and I really liked the route the author chose to take it - it felt the most realistic.
Beyond That, the Sea is a beautifully written exploration of love and loss, of sacrifice and resilience, of understanding and forgiveness, and most importantly, the meaning of home. There is pain and there is joy. And it left me deeply satisfied when it ended. While it doesn't pack the same emotional punch as other WWII novels, it is still a quiet, powerful story that introduces a fresh new voice in the historical fiction genre
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• WWII historical fiction fanatics
• fans of realistic fiction
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Together, they would always be fifteen and seventeen, on the cusp of something. How sweet that moment is, that moment of before. When anticipation is everything. When everything is new. When there are no consequences, when there is no after."
"Some secrets are weights to be borne. Others are gifts, little bits of warmth, to be revisited again and again. No one else ever needed to know. No one else had the right to know. It was theirs and theirs alone."
Author: Laura Spence-Ash
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: March 21, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Tender • Bittersweet • Layered
📖 S Y N O P S I S
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.
💭 T H O U G H T S
For 2023, I designed a personal Book of the Month project, where I pre-order one of my most anticipated releases each month. Beyond That, the Sea was March's selection and although it may have taken me a little longer than expected to get to it, it was a delightful read.
Told from multiple points of view, this character driven story sheds light on the journey many children were forced to take during WWII. It was a completely fresh take on WWII historical fiction. Laura Spence-Ash does a fantastic job telling what it may have been like for the parents left behind, the child themselves, and the host families. Although many children were not as lucky as Bea, and ended up in dire situations when they were sent to North America.
The story unravels at a slow and steady pace that really allows for fully fledged out relationships between the characters. The descriptions of the scenery created a vivid picture bringing the story to life even more. There were many different ways this book could have gone, and I really liked the route the author chose to take it - it felt the most realistic.
Beyond That, the Sea is a beautifully written exploration of love and loss, of sacrifice and resilience, of understanding and forgiveness, and most importantly, the meaning of home. There is pain and there is joy. And it left me deeply satisfied when it ended. While it doesn't pack the same emotional punch as other WWII novels, it is still a quiet, powerful story that introduces a fresh new voice in the historical fiction genre
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• WWII historical fiction fanatics
• fans of realistic fiction
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Together, they would always be fifteen and seventeen, on the cusp of something. How sweet that moment is, that moment of before. When anticipation is everything. When everything is new. When there are no consequences, when there is no after."
"Some secrets are weights to be borne. Others are gifts, little bits of warmth, to be revisited again and again. No one else ever needed to know. No one else had the right to know. It was theirs and theirs alone."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, War
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Car accident, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Classism
sibling death
Character driven vs plot driven has to really hit me in the right spot for me to enjoy it. This one absolutely did that.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Slow start, but fell in love with the story. I knew Bea would eventually find herself back into the states and become a Gregory with one of the boys (was not expecting Gerald though). You got to know and understand each character which made the book so special. Even though it was a slow start, the second half of the book was great and I highly recommend!
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Well written, tugs at the hart strings. A tale of love, loss, and moving on during and after tragedy.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Simply a lovely beautifully written book. With an old fashioned writing style..book is written with the story being told by each of the characters and their viewpoints, the difficulty of sending your child away to save their life and the different families on each side of the Atlantic, the difficulties for Bea the girl cost between the two lives is very well crafted. She feels pulled in two different directions. Fitting into a family that she grows to love even though she knows it’s not hers!! The different sets of parents who love her especially the two mothers have struggles over jealousy and the conflict over Who Bea ultimately belongs to.. the first half of the book is the five years that that Bea Spends in America in the Boston area and summers on the coast of Maine on an island. The book is a beautiful testament to that part of the country. Bea comes to love this place along with the family, even though it is so different than her original urban life and home in London. The second half of the story takes place once again on both sides of the Atlantic, and takes the characters on a ride of loss and love over several decades. Highly highly recommend this gem of a book. The narrator of the audiobook has a lovely voice also.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No