MY THOUGHTS
I absolutely loved this book. It's a very heartwarming story of a young woman and her strange marriage and beautiful child. One that will stick with me for a while. Julia Kelly has hit this out of the park for sure.
There are a lot of characters in this story but the ones that count are Viv and her daughter Maggie. Also Joshua. I can't forget about Joshua. He's a very important part of this story. He's also Maggie's father.
Viv Byrne meets Joshua Levinson where Joshua plays a Saxophone in a club band. They are almost immediately smitten with one another. They only have two official dates and the second one results in Viv becoming pregnancy. She's not a bad girl by any means. She was just attracted to Joshua and it happened. Her family are Catholic while Joshua's is Jewish. Now the fireworks begin....
Viv and Joshua decide to marry and both families seem to be ok with that. For the unborn child's sake at least. At the wedding though Viv's mother offers Joshua a deal he just can't refuse. He leaves right after the wedding and Viv doesn't hear from his again.
Joshua wants to be a famous Saxophone player so he goes from Liverpool to the US to seek his fame. He tries to make it as a big time musician. He's a struggling Sax player though. When WW2 breaks out and he learns that things back home are not so good he decides to go home and join up.
Viv gives birth to a little girl she names Margaret Anne. She loves this child like she's never loved anything. Viv's parents though are very indifferent to Maggie. Like she is not their grandchild. Viv's sister has three children who they adore very much. Maggie however is like an unwanted part of their lives and Viv's mother is not very quiet about it. She makes a huge difference between the grandchildren. Viv has no choice but to live with her parents. She's a married woman and can't live on her own or have a job. Women were treated like property back then. When she did get a job she had to give her money to her mother.
When the war is about to hit Liverpool the children are being sent to foster homes in other areas to keep them safe. Viv has to send Maggie even though she really does not want too. It breaks her heart to part with her beautiful and very sweet child. It's during this time that she goes to work for the postal delivery again and saves some money so she can visit Maggie. She has to actually take her own money before her mother can take it all. Needless to say Viv's mother is not a very nice woman.
When the unthinkable happens Viv is devastated. Her world is turned upside down and will never be the same. In the meantime Joshua is in the service and has started to straighten up his life. He misses his wife but she told him to never come around if he left and leave he did do. I didn't much like Joshua for a long time but he was young and impressionable so I kind of felt bad for him too. They were too young to be getting married but if they didn't Viv would be labeled a fallen woman. Not that it was much better that she married a Jew. People shunned her because of it. She carried on though as did Joshua.
A lot goes on in this story that will have you turning the pages. A lot of tears will be shed also. It's a heartfelt story that in parts had me weeping. What Viv goes through is so horrible but she is also very strong when pushed. She does not give up easy and that works to her benefit. With Joshua's help things get better. I kept rooting for them to end up together after they got older and can't tell you if they did or not. They did work together for a great cause and got things back the way they should have been.
This is one of the best books I have read this year. You should read the very end, the acknowledgments, to find out where the author came up with this story. I found it quite interesting. Well done Julia Kelly. Very well done.
This story is told in three parts and between Viv and Joshua. Also Maggie has a few chapters in here. Each one is great and gives you insight to what they feel and have to say. I enjoyed this book so much.
Thank you #NetGalley, #JuliaKelly, #GalleryBooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts.
Five huge stars and a very high recommendation.
SYNOPSIS
The acclaimed author of the “sweeping and beautifully written novel” (Woman’s World) The Light Over London weaves an epic saga of love, motherhood, and betrayal set against World War II.
Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what’s expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous Jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. Her only solace is that marrying Joshua will mean escaping her strict mother’s scrutiny. But when Joshua makes a life-changing choice on their wedding day, Viv is forced once again into the arms of her disapproving family.
Five years later and on the eve of World War II, Viv is faced with the impossible choice to evacuate her young daughter, Maggie, to the countryside estate of the affluent Thompson family. In New York City, Joshua gives up his failing musical career to serve in the Royal Air Force, fight for his country, and try to piece together his feelings about the family, wife, and daughter he left behind at nineteen. However, tragedy strikes when Viv learns that the countryside safe haven she sent her daughter to wasn’t immune from the horrors of war. It is only years later, with Joshua’s help, that Viv learns the secrets of their shared past and what it will take to put a family back together again.
Telling the harrowing story of England’s many evacuated children, bestselling author Julia Kelly’s The Lost English Girl explores how one simple choice can change the course of a life, and what we are willing to forgive to find a way back to the ones we love and thought lost.
Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what’s expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous Jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. Her only solace is that marrying Joshua will mean escaping her strict mother’s scrutiny. But when Joshua makes a life-changing choice on their wedding day, Viv is forced once again into the arms of her disapproving family.
Five years later and on the eve of World War II, Viv is faced with the impossible choice to evacuate her young daughter, Maggie, to the countryside estate of the affluent Thompson family. In New York City, Joshua gives up his failing musical career to serve in the Royal Air Force, fight for his country, and try to piece together his feelings about the family, wife, and daughter he left behind at nineteen. However, tragedy strikes when Viv learns that the countryside safe haven she sent her daughter to wasn’t immune from the horrors of war. It is only years later, with Joshua’s help, that Viv learns the secrets of their shared past and what it will take to put a family back together again.
Telling the harrowing story of England’s many evacuated children, bestselling author Julia Kelly’s The Lost English Girl explores how one simple choice can change the course of a life, and what we are willing to forgive to find a way back to the ones we love and thought lost.
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