We Must Be Brave
By Frances Liardet
Blurb
She was fast asleep on the back seat of the bus. Curled up, thumb in mouth. Four, maybe five years old.
I turned around. The last few passengers were shuffling away from me down the aisle to the doors. ‘Whose is this child?’ I called.
Nobody looked back.
December, 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, the city’s residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly-married Ellen Parr finds a girl sleeping, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone.
Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband Selwyn had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all. But with the end of the fighting comes the realization that Pamela was never theirs to keep…
A story of courage and kindness, hardship and friendship, We Must be Brave explores the fierce love we feel for our children and the astonishing power of that love to endure.
Our Review
We Must Be Brave was slow-paced and unengaging. The protagonist was dull and even the flashbacks of her childhood were uninteresting.
We Must Be Brave is set in 1940’s Southampton as the German’s are dropping bombs and its residents are fleeing a young child is found alone on a bus.
Ellen Parr is the one to find Pamela and despite thinking she never wanted children she accepts Pamela into her home and stirs up memories from her past.
I normally enjoy historical fiction, but We Must Be Brave just didn’t capture my attention. I only made it to about 20% of the way through.
This is not a book I would choose to read again, and I felt like it was a bit of a waste of my time if I am honest.
Our Final Rating...
Read & Shared 57 Times.
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