"Spence-Ash has written the novel in eight points of view, but each
character is utterly three-dimensional and distinct. This debut novel
captivated me from start to finish."
--Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton Series
**
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.
