Beyond That, the Sea

 

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash

Fiction

2023

Finished on March 12, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

A sweeping, tenderhearted love story, Beyond That, the Sea follows two families living on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the 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, where they hope she’ll stay safe.

Scared and angry, Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys, who fold her into their world. She adjusts to their affluent lifestyle and grows close to both Gregory boys, one older and one younger, filling in the gap between them. Before long, before she even realizes it, life in America feels more natural to her than her quiet, spare world back in England.

As Bea comes into herself and relaxes into summers on the coast in Maine, 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 the Gregorys behind, Bea dutifully retraces her trip across the Atlantic. As she returns to post-war London, the memory of her American family stays with her, never fully letting her go as she tries to move on, pursuing 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.

I loved this book! I've read dozens of novels set during World War II, but Laura Spence-Ash's debut is the first I've read about a British child taking refuge with a family in America. Told from eight perspectives, readers are privy to the inner thoughts and emotions of each main character. Usually, this many POVs would be clumsy and confusing, but the author's use of short, alternating chapters keeps the story flowing smoothly. Even with the short chapters, I was quickly drawn into the lives of each character, all of whom are fully drawn and believable. The linear narrative also aides in the seamlessly woven story of both families, spanning nearly forty years (1940-1977). 

I can't begin to imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for parents to send their young children off to either the countryside or to another country during the Blitz.

That is what's worrying Millie. How small life would seem when Beatrix got back. There would be no fancy parties or baseball game outings or trips to the symphony. She's happy, of course, that she seems so well cared for. She seems to have a nice group of friends. But that will make the return more difficult. She will no longer be a little girl. She no longer is a little girl. They sent her away so she could have a childhood. They hadn't realized, though, that their decision meant that her childhood would, instead, be taken away from them. Millie feels as though something has been stolen from her, never to be returned.

This novel would have been a 5-star read had there been more tension, and had the conclusion not been so predictable. I also dislike the author's dialogue format. Instead of a new paragraph for each person speaking, she embeds the conversation within a paragraph, often several sentences in length. Additionally, the words are in italics rather than quotations marks. There were times when it was hard for me to distinguish who was speaking. These quibbles aside, this is an excellent novel and one I look forward to reading again. I'm also eager to see what Laura Spence-Ash has to offer next. And I'd love to find more books (fiction or nonfiction) about the evacuation of British children during World War II.

I echo Alice Elliott Dark's sentiments:

"I was utterly captivated by this beautiful story from the first page to the last. The characters are so real, their feelings so well portrayed that I had to keep reminding myself that I don’t actually know them. But I do! And I will return to the book to experience the well-wrought details of these lives again. This is a new favorite novel, and I can only hope Laura Spence-Ash has more coming soon." Alice Elliott Dark, Author of Fellowship Point and In the Gloaming