Member Reviews

Although slow at times, "We Must Be Brave" is a delightful exploration of the life of a woman who rescues a lost child from the chaos of war, and realises that her life was missing something before that moment. It's a heart-warming tale of fulfilment, friendships, secrets and love in all its forms, with excellent period detail and a wonderful ending that'll bring a tear to your eye.

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I liked the description of this book, but I found it didn't really live up to my expectations. Ellen Parr rescues a small girl who is on a bus out of Southampton after an air raid. When it transpires that her mother has been killed and there doesn't appear to be a father on the scene, the child lives with Ellen and her husband for the next few years. Eventually the child is reunited with her family. The rest of the book tells of Ellen's life up until then and after. I found it very long and quite frustrating, although the ending was satisfactory. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
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The book starts during an air raid on Southampton in WW2. A child is found on a bus, with no sign of any parents, so she is taken to a nearby village where a newly married young woman and her older husband take her in. After a rocky start, they develop a comfortable and loving relationship. Eventually, the child's father turns up …
Throughout the book, parallels are drawn between three storylines of young girls - the adoptive mother, the girl from the air raid and a schoolgirl some years later. The author develops the relationships and characters well, but occasionally the parallels appear a little contrived.
Despite this, the book is a very enjoyable read - evoking the struggles during WW2, the problems left over from WW1 and the changes in England in the post-war years.
Definitely recommended.

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Not my usual kind of book but I really enjoyed it. Characters were interesting and a good storyline. Would highly recommend.

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This is a story about different relationships and love. It spans decades and tells how Ellen took Pamela to live with her during World War 2 and the love they had for each other. Overall it is a beautiful story. I feel though that is muddled and rambling in places and I felt lost in places.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

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This is an enjoyable tale of rural life in southern England, mostly set just before and during WW2. The hardships suffered at a time before benefits, the NHS, etc are described in a way which allows the reader to empathise with the characters. Ellen herself is a complex person who goes through many trials and tribulations before finding a better lifestyle. All the children in the book are lovingly described and there are some interesting dynamics between them and adults such as Ellen, Lucy, William and Althea. A heartwarming read.

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For me, the book had three parts, the beginning where Ellen first finds Pamela, she loves her to bits and Pamela grows to love her. There is however a niggling fear in the back of Ellens mind wondering when the bubble will burst and Pamela will be taken away. I think I was so desperate to find out what happened in the end that it spoiled my enjoyment of the middle chapters, this was entirely my fault and nothing to do with the writing. I did, however, love the ending.

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I felt that this book was very emotional and touching and handled a difficult subject well. However, I found the lack of punctuation made it really tricky to read, I don't know if this is just an issue with this version or if that's how the book is written.

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I gave this novel three stars partly because I didn't enjoy the style of the narrative and was frankly irritated by the lower case "i" throughout. The early poverty of the protagonist and the resulting impact on her future relationships was harrowing and beautifully portrayed. I think the story lost its way after Pamela was sent to Ireland and never really got back on track. A book of two halves.

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A poignant and tough read. Well written and worth sticking with, this book offers enjoyable characters and a new view.

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A moving emotional read, sweeping the 20th century. During ww2 4yo Pamela is left on a bus, Ellen takes her home to keep the little girl safe and we’re off from there. It’s a beautiful read, with emotional storytelling without ever descending into cheese.

A story about love, sorrow and the ability of people to carry on despite everything.

This will be a massive hit come the New Year!

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I couldn't get through this at all due to the terrible punctuation and lack of any order in the book. I understand it's an arc but this is one of the worst I have read to date on how badly turned out it was. Sorry just couldn't enjoy it because of that.

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Newly-married Ellen Parr finds a young girl apparently abandoned at the back of a bus that’s taken people from Southampton as it is bombed in World War II, and efforts to find the girl’s parents fail. Ellen and her husband take the child in and the story develops from there, as Ellen finds herself, rather unexpectedly coming to love the child as her own.

The novel subsequently follows the life of Ellen going forwards and also backwards as we hear about Ellen’s own childhood, and without giving anything away deals with love and friendship on all kinds of levels and between generations … and inevitable through pain and loss as well.

I felt the author told Ellen’s story beautifully, although at times I felt the narrative dragged rather and was not helped particularly by the backwards and forwards timelines.

I didn’t warm especially to the character of Ellen; rather, I found the character of her husband Selwyn and her good friend William the more attractive characters. I was moved to tears in places and thought the story was concluded with great skill and beauty. All in all, a pleasant gentle read with some very good moments but but I probably wouldn’t keep this book on my shelves or persuade other people to read it as on the whole it was rather slow moving.

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What an emotional rollercoaster ride this book was. This is a story set in WWII and the hardship that people enjoyed. Warning you will read this book and finish with tears in your eyes.

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An interesting book, not exactly gripping but a very well written slow burner that kept me reading. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Ellen's childhood that really gave an insight into how and why Ellen became who she did. Spanning the whole of the 20th century gave this book such authenticity.

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I really enjoyed this book and stayed up half the night to finish it in one sitting. Other reviewers have told the story (some at length), so I will just comment. The setting during the war was atmospheric and so was Ella's early life. The male characters in Ella's life were all supportive and kindly - maybe a little friction would have been more realistic. The jump between 1974 and 2010 was too great, I felt, but made for maximum poignancy. However, I thought it was beautifully written, unusual and very, very emotional.
(There are capital letters missing for I and some names, and the speech is not punctuated correctly, which irritated a little, but presumably these will be corrected before publication.)

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Set in a fictional village near Southampton (Southampton beingca real place) this story starts during WW2 in 1840 when Ellen finds a young girl four or five years old called Pamela on the back seats of a bus carrying passengers from Southampton who are escaping from a very heavy air raid over there homes that had been going on for some time now, days not hours
Pamela was out on the bus but some Ladies who were so scared for their lives they thought wrongly was on the previous bus carrying another full load of worried passengers. Ellen ended up having to take her home where she already 3 boys who are already being sheltered at their house she shared with her husbands Selwyn and by chance it was their first wedding anniversary and what an anniversary to remember but maybe not as they would have hoped for.
Obviously life was very different in 1940 to what these people were used to and hopefully something that none of us have or will experience but everybody seem to pull together community really was community not everybody out for themselves which so often happens nowadays. But off the soapbox and back to this story sitting in the round the village of Upton with so many wonderful characters existed and in this novel. They are very believable and the detail of life for them at this time is proof that Frances's has done the research and knows the times.
I love this book from page one and really was glued to it to the very end and I hope that you enjoy it too. I love the fact that we get to see the lives of these people and how it was affected not just by the War but by the years afterwards as they recovered and had to learn to live again in post-war Britain. There are secrets that get revealed as you read through the book and most any make sense with what you've read before as you'd expect from any good author. It's a story you have to read as it's written and one you can't take a sneak look at the end because it really won't make any sense, I loved that as well, but what's not to love if you want to simple chill with a good book, be entertained and educated at the same time then be brave and buy this book, after all we must be brave but don't worry you don't have to be to read this book and i do highly recommend it to you.

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Thank you net galley for the opportunity to review this book.

A really interesting story, wound around the question, what does it mean to love a child? Childless Ellen has little reason to expect that she will be able to give a child the love she needs, at the moment that it is desperately needed. Despite her own childhood experiences, for three years she makes this child the centre of her world, only to see her torn away. How she deals, bravely, with the loss this child is the heart of this story.

The details of a poverty stricken childhood, Dickensian in detail of cold and hunger, and the way in which Ellen fights against this, with the help of her friends, are compelling, as are the descriptions of war time rural life. An excellent read.

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A captivating, epic saga of wartime and its aftermath, of love and loss and unfulfilled dreams, and of how relationships can restore our hope and faith in the human spirit to endure all things. Centering on the domestic and infinitesimal, this book also spans the depth of the human heart and the universal.

Few things clutch at our emotions like an abandoned child, which is where this story starts. Caught up in an air raid, chaos ensues and a young girl gets separated from her mother. She is discovered by Ellen on a bus after all the other passengers have disembarked.

Having no idea of her identity at first or where Pamela's parents might be, Ellen seeks to protect her from harm and takes her into her home, where other refugees are also being temporarily housed. Much to her surprise, and despite her husband's initial disapproval, she soon develops a close and loving attachment to the lost child.

Their adaptation isn't without problems and Ellen does all in her power to find Pamela’s parents. A brief period of bliss occurs before she discovers that Pamela's mother died in the Southampton bombing and her absent father, who had been actively searching for her, wants to take her away to live with relatives in Ireland.

In the interests of protecting Pamela from future distress and helping her to settle in with her cousins, a decision is reached to cut off all contact with Ellen and Selwyn. This devastating news causes Ellen to correspond privately with Pamela instead, penning letters that never get sent.

Life goes on but Ellen never forgets this child of her heart, who she considers to be her own. Will Ellen and Pamela fully recover from their enforced separation? Will they forget one another? Will they ever meet up again? The author manages to resolve these questions satisfactorily with tenderness and grace. A beautiful book I absolutely loved and hated coming to the end of.

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We must be brave by Frances Liardet is set in the Second world war in the 1940. This is a story of Love and loss and sacrifice for the main character Ellen.
It’s 1940 in a small town called Upton near Southampton. A bus load of survivors, turn up fleeing the bombing raids. When everyone gets off the bus a little girl (Pamela) is left sleeping on the bus. Ellen Parr takes her in, trying to find out where her mother is. At the same time, Ellen who has newly married and decided not to have kids, starts to have doubts, and wants to adopt Pamela when they find out that her mother has died in the bombing raids. Life is sweet and they both form a bond. Even though Ellen’s husband Selwyn has warned her not to get too close. One day Pamela’s father turns up and takes her away to Ireland. Ellen is heartbroken and the book then describes on how she deals with that.
I love books about the war, the rationing and how people get together in times of need. I really enjoyed the first half of this story and I thought it was beautifully written but, for me I was disappointed with the second part. It was far too long and the author just kept repeating the same thing over and over again, which seemed unnecessary. The story was just about Ellen. I would like more of the background in the other characters. Because of this, I skimmed read the last part of the book. Three stars from me.

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