As World War II descends on London, Reg & Millie make the heart-wrenching decision to send their daughter Beatrix to America. Their need to keep her safe during this tumultuous time is their sole reason for sending her. Bea lives with the Gregory's, Mr & Mrs G and their sons William and Gerald, who are similar ages to her. They take her into their home and treat her as one of their own. She spends five years with her American family, and when Bea returns to London, she has to readjust to life there. So much has happened in her absence, and, of course, she herself has grown up. What follows Bea's return in the book are snippets from the ensuing decades as life continues and alters dramatically for all involved. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was beautifully written with well-developed characters. I anticipate reading more from this author, who is new to me.

Millie and Reg send their 11 year old daughter away from the London blitz, across the sea to America. She lives with the Gregory family and their two sons who are around her age.
The first half of this novel, about Bea's experience during the war, was wonderful. The anguish of sending away your child to keep them safe, having her live with complete strangers. There are so many ways it could have gone. There is a mix of sadness, joy, jealousy and love. The emotions leap off the page and fill you with bittersweet longing.
The second half of the novel covers the decades after the war. It was just so boring. Instead of the detailed nuances of the two families lives, it is a series of events with little context. I stopped caring about the characters.
I would definitely read more by this author, and I am so glad I read the first half of this story.

This book presents a unique perspective on the impacts of WW2. Not the devastating violence or the impact of the violence, but a quiet reflection of the lives of children who were altered through fostering. Beatrix is sent to the Gregory family in the USA from London to spend the war with away from the threat of bombings. Beatrix is everything I love about a main female character, unassuming but strong, a girl/woman that knows her mind and will stand up for herself. I loved the way the author crafted complex characters but I did find the pace a bit too slow for me.

this book felt so real. the writing was on point and so clever. the plot was as tight as could be and there didn't seem a detail lost or overdone. i wanted to know everything she gave me abut her characters and was thinking over and over it as i was reading nd long after.
i often think of what children at that time might have felt or thought. i always try to figure- well home is home right? its always. and you'd always want to go back. but after so long and being kept safe in another family do these children have mixed feelings? i remember one of my favourite books and then movies is goodnight Mr Tom. and we all know how that one goes. so this book for me was a perfect extended exploration of that.
we have a little girl who is sent for safety into another country. another world. upon arrival she fits, likes she one of their own. so what happens when war is over? when she has to...go back home?
and i am completely in love with this book. i enjoyed every part of it and was immersed in their world and invested in every one of these chapters and the characters stories they told old.
the book gives us 1940s London an Millie and Reginald make the difficult decision to send their young daughter of 11 to live with a family in America.
the American family of the Gregory's or should we say Mr and Mrs G take her in and scoop her in to their fold completely. alongside their two sons William and Gerald she now makes them five. this of course is hard for Beatrix who knows she still has family back home but now she has family there in America? but years go by. and the memories she has of back home appear younger and begin to blur. knowing she must go back fills her with confusion and questions, as well as guilt over not feel so needy to be back as she thinks she should be.
i loved how Laura writes about the time the family grow together in America. its so descriptive and you are right there with them, you can feel their blossoming relationships and togetherness.
the book felt so real then when we get to see what happens when Bea goes home. and we follow her then through those times and characters back in America. the chapters gives us each characters points of view. so we still get to know them, we become more and more familiar and like we do now care for these people.
this book lingered in my very reading bones once id finished. and i wanted to read more but also didn't want it to leave me once it was going to be over. i also wondered at one point if i was going to be ok with how it would end. because it shared some raw and exposing moments emotionally. and i didn't know if id be ok now without some sort of happy ending? or at least some way to it. i didn't want these characters to not be ok.
this book was one of the faves of the moment. im so glad and feel lucky i got to read it. books are incredible and this one goes right up to the top of explaining why. because of this. because of books like this.

This is the story of navigating life with two families, as one young woman discovers, located on opposite sides of the Atlantic and different in more ways than can be imagined.

After Beatrix's family is forced to send the young girl to America for her safety during the World War 2, have no idea how great this will be on their daughter. For Beatrix herself, returning to Britain after the war and her time spent with the affluent Gregory family in America, requires an adjustment that she will never quite get over.

A beautifully written historical novel which touches upon questions of Identity, family and love, this book is well worth a reader's time. It gets 3.5 stars.