Upon reading the first look of this book, I knew that I had to have it. Historical fiction at it's best, this book follows the story and life of Bea, a young girl at the beginning of the story who is sent to America to live with a family during World War II. Although it could be considered WWII historical fiction, it surpasses that, and is a great, timeless story, that is elevated above your typical WWII story.

This book is told from multiple perspectives, and shows how one act in your life (such as being away from your family for five years) can really shape and form your own life into something that it may not have been, had the event not occurred.

This book was beautifully written, with short vignettes that switch off from perspective to perspective. I loved the short and sweet chapters, which made it easy to follow and easy to read and come back to at a later date. Definitely recommend this book!!!

The narrator definitely made the book, and was easy to listen to.

I'm not usually one for WW2 fiction, but this one is so much more than that. To keep her safe from air raids in her native London, Beatrix's parents send her to a host family in the United States. Over time, she builds a new life with the Gregory family.

Eventually, the war ends, and she travels back across the Atlantic to a home she barely recognizes. Over the following decades, we see Bea struggle to belong in one world or the other. .

This was an intriguing coming of age story watching a young girl transform into a strong and interesting woman.

Thank you to Celadon Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

CW: miscarriage, infidelity, alcoholism, death of a parent, war, alcoholism, death

This narrator is a dream—almost literally for me. I had to restart this book so many times because something about the timbre of her voice lulled me right to sleep. Now that I’ve read the whole thing, it’s so fitting. The book is comfortable, soothing. It feels like wrapping up in a warm sweater or, in this case, maybe a sun-soaked beach towel. There were moments where I thought my heart couldn’t take one more twist in this sweeping saga, but, what’s past IS prologue. Without the past, the current stories would have lacked power.


I just reviewed Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash. #NetGalley

My inner Molly McIntire and Emily Bennett American Girl was screaming at the premise of this book and I cannot express the amount of times I was brought to tears. This book is beautiful in precisely the way life is beautiful. Read it. Read it if you love historical fiction. Read it if you have never read historical fiction before. You simply need to read it. The narrator of the audiobook is outstanding, too. Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC!

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me.
I wasn't invested in the characters and the plot felt very anti-climactic.

My feelings about this book are so complex. I wanted to love it so much, but I had a hard time staying invested. The premise is like a gut-punch to your feelings. The character development is well written, but it was just a little too slow for me. It took me a while to read it because, as a mood reader, and had to be in the mood to enjoy it as much as I wanted to. It's a heartbreaking story based on real historical events, and yet its so beautifully balanced with this tender coming of age story of a young girl's world torn so perfectly in half that she struggles to identify with both her past and present. What does this mean for her future? If you liked the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I think you would like this story as well.

PHENOMENAL!!

Loved these characters.

Loved this story!!!!

Laura, what else can I read by you?!

I loved this book so much! I really didn’t know what it was about when I started reading it, but I quickly was obsessed! The characters are well developed, and I couldn’t help but love them all!

I loved this book SO much. It was an epic, time sweeping story that follows such fascinating characters. I was so invested in the story, the journey and the history that this story covered. It was an emotional tale, with heartbreak, hope and resiliency. I think that this story is so deep, well fleshed out and character driven. You will get caught up in it and have hard time putting it down. I loved it so so so so much!

I really liked this one! It was a beautiful story about Beatrice and how she was sent over seas to American from london during the war to have a better childhood. We get many POVS in the this story from Beatrice and her family in London and her family In America and get to really know how this decision really impacts everyone and this story goes from when they are young to right up in-till late adult hood. I really enjoyed the parts of when Beatrice was younger and In american growing up, I loved her relationship with the family in America. I really don’t have to much to say other than it was a beautiful historical fiction!

4.5 Stars, Rounded Up.

Beyond That, The Sea is a debut novel by Laura Spence-Ash. While this is historical fiction and WWII adjacent, it doesn’t feature any brutal details of war or throw facts at you like a Wikipedia page. Rather Beyond That, The Sea was character driven and I was swept up in a story of two families, forever connected.

The book tells of 11-year-old Beatrix Thompson who has been sent to America to escape the threat of war and bombs in London. Bea is taken in by the Gregory family and the first part of the novel tells the story of her five years in America spent at the family’s home in Boston and their picturesque summer home in Maine. Bea is sandwiched between Nancy and Ethan Gregory’s two children, William and Gerald. Parts two and three take place when Bea returns to the UK and follows the three children, and their families, as they grow into adulthood.

A few things I loved about this novel:
- Short Chapters: the chapters are often only a few pages, sometimes only a few paragraphs, and this kept me going, especially when the book felt slow at the start.

- The different perspectives: throughout the novel, you get the perspective of all three Thompsons and all adult members of the Gregory family.

- The time jumps: I loved how, especially in parts two and three, the novel seemed to move quicker - very much how time as an adult does - compared to the slower pace of the characters’ childhood.

- The found-family dynamic. I was enthralled with Bea’s relationship with the Gregory’s and my heart ached when they were parted.

- The beautiful descriptions of New England. I felt like I could smell Mrs. G’s Maine Wild Blueberry Muffins and fresh sea air as I read the story. I was swept up in the setting and it made me long for my own New England childhood.

A few things I didn’t love:

- Some problematic content is never explored or glossed over. Nancy and Rose both do some questionable things that are never explained, explored, and seem out of line with their character.

- While the relationships in parts one and two seem very well developed, I thought the ending of the book and the pivotal relationship in part three felt rushed. I wanted more and felt so invested in that story but then kind of let down by how quickly it wrapped up and jumped into the future with the epilogue.

- Most of the chapters have dialogue that is italicized and does not use quotation marks. While that’s not the end of the world, I found it difficult to follow who was saying what at certain points and found myself re-reading paragraphs repeatedly to figure out who said what when. I also listened to a few chapters on audio and would recommend the audio experience because this doesn’t come into play there!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books, Celadon Audio and Laura Spence-Ash for an Advanced Reader Copy of Beyond That, The Sea.

A different kind of look at the effects of WWII through a child separated from her parents to protect her from the London warfront. The book provides a look at the relationships that were formed and maintained, spanning decades. It was refreshing that all the characters were likeable. I loved everything about this book including the title and cover!

I talked about it on our monthly podcast, Fairfield What Are You Reading? linked below

What a well written and sweet story.I did not see that ending coming!
It was wonderful to take the journey of the main characters life with her. I loved reading about the family she lived with in the states and then everyone’s lives through the course of their lives. It was fascinating.
Then as the story is coming to an end there’s a fun twist that I never saw coming.

There has been such a glut of World War II novels--especially those set on parallel timelines with a contemporary character who finds a notebook, diary, photo album (take your pick!) and investigates the past through its pages--that I was a bit wary that "Beyond That, the Sea" would be more of the same. But Laura Spence-Ash's captivating debut breathes new life into the genre, as it follows Beatrix Thompson, an eleven-year-old English child evacuated to America by her frightened parents during the London Blitz, to her new home in New England with her American hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Gregory, and their sons William and Gerald. Spence-Ash's choice of a polyphonic format is perfect for her story, allowing chapters to move back and forth between the perspectives of Beatrix's bereft parents, Millie and Reg, back in war-torn London, and those of each of the Gregorys toward their new charge. Each of these characters felt wholly-developed and I liked them all--this wasn't one of those books where I wanted to skip over some of the narrators' chapters--but the real beating heart of "Beyond That, the Sea" is Bea, who we watch transform over the years from a shy and homesick child to a self-assured young woman torn between the home she left behind and the one she's grown fiercely attached to. Those readers looking for a fresh angle on World War II won't be disappointed, even when the latter half of the book moves on to the post war years, which are equally well depicted and engrossing. Spence-Ash is a writer to watch and I look forward to seeing what she does next. (Note: This review refers to the audiobook of this title, which I listened to along with reading the ARC. The narrator does a nice job of differentiating the characters and dealing with the English and American accents.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in return for my honest review. Very enjoyable.

A breathtakingly beautiful historical fiction novel that begins in London in the 1940’s. Bea’s parents send her to Boston to be safe from the war where meets the Gregorys. Bea quickly becomes part of the family and forgets that her life is not there. She falls in love with one of the two Gregory brothers, but she eventually has to return to London.

The second part of the book begins with Bea as an adult. She intermittently meets up with the Gregorys for reasons both sad and joyful until Bea finally finds the family that was always meant to be.

I loved the writing and the narrator of the audiobook was perfection.

5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for the audioARC of this book.

This is such an interesting book. The story spans across decades and explores the ideas of home and family. What makes a place the place where you belong? What makes someone family? What does it mean to be someone else to different people?
Even though the novel includes 3rd person narrations from the viewpoint of nearly every character, the book felt like Bea’s story to me. She was the person I most connected with and felt the most invested in.

The audiobook is narrated by Ell Potter. Even though the narration jumps around to the perspectives of various characters, Ell Potter narrates the entire thing. I really liked this approach because it reinforced the idea that even though other characters are taken into account, this is essentially Bea’s story.

Beyond that, the sea

In 1940’s London, Millie and Reg make the impossible decision of keeping their daughter safe amid WW2 by sending her to safety in America, where she is taken in by the Gregory family. This novel is split into 3 parts, all following Bea’s story, at first in America and then in her life post war.

This was a very different WW2 novel in the sense that the war was very much in the background and not a prominent part of the story and I really appreciated something different.

This book creeped up on me. In the first few chapters I didn’t expect to love it, but oh love it I did. It’s very much a character driven novel which normally isn’t my thing but for some reason this one just really worked for me. The narration was just beautiful. The ending of this one took me totally by surprise but I adored it!

This book was interesting, I was pretty captivated for the first half of the book. It is a character-driven book over plot, which is sometimes hard to stay connected, but it felt like I was reading letters or people's journals that carried along together building the story.

I have not read a book about children being sent to the States during WW 2. I was so excited and enjoyed the first half and the last part of the book. I found the middle where we jumped from childhood to adulthood a bit hard and forced, but maybe I just wasn't ready to let go of the first half of the story.

If you enjoy a multiple-character-driven story, you will love this book. The chapters are short which makes it easy to follow the characters without forgetting what is going on

Two families that live on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean are united by unusual circumstances but their bond will last forever.

WWII began when Beatrix was a little girl. To keep her safe, her parents decide to send her from London to Boston, to live with another family. Even though they don’t know this family, their daughter’s life is more important than being with her right now so they ship her to America.

At first, Bea feels very lonely, but the Gregorys and their two boys welcome her as one of their own and as time goes by, she learns to love them too.

Bea feels like she has two families now, but one of them will always feel like they failed her and the other one will always fear that they’ll eventually lose her. But life will show them that whether they’d planned or not, they’ll be in each other’s lives forever.

I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for all those parents who sent their children away to keep them safe. I didn’t know all of this before reading this book, and that’s exactly why I love historical fiction so much.

I loved every single one of the characters in this book, especially both mothers. I enjoyed watching Bea and the boys grow up too. I could totally imagine them, swimming and sunbathing in their summer cottage in Maine.

This beautifully written story is told from multiple perspectives and throughout the course of almost 3 decades.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me a copy of this amazing book.

Beyond That, the Sea begins with eleven-year-old Beatrix Thompson, who is sent overseas to America by her parents Millie and Reginald in 1940 as bombs dropped over London. Fearing for her life, they made the impossible choice to send their daughter away for the duration of the war to keep her safe.

In Boston, the Gregory’s take in Bea and she slowly but surely becomes a part of their family they hadn’t realized they were missing. She bridges the gap both in age and temperaments of the Gregory’s sons William and Gerald. For Mrs. G she finally gets a girl she can bake and sew with, and spoil with new pretty dresses. Initially, Bea struggled with the level of affluence the Gregory’s had, but quickly came to enjoy Boston, specifically the Red Sox, and their summer cabin in Maine. Spending her prime adolescent years in America makes the transition back to England all the stranger for Bea.

We follow not only Bea’s perspective, but also William, Gerald, Millie and Mrs. G’s during and post war. Beyond That, the Sea, is a slow, but tender tale of the blending of two families during a tough time in history. It read’s like literary fiction rather than historical fiction, and offers plenty in the way of interesting characters and family dynamics. Mrs. G, also known as Nancy, was my favorite—flaws and all.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and of course Laura Spence-Ash for the advanced copy of the book. Beyond That, the Sea is out now. All opinions are my own.