Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

Starred review from January 25, 2016
When war is declared in London in 1939, Mary rushes to the War Office to sign up. She is assigned to be a teacher (not the glamorous war job she’d pictured), but the children soon win her over, especially a child in her class named Zachary. When her class is evacuated to the country, Mary persuades Tom, her lover and a school administrator, to allow her to teach a small group of rejected children who are forced to remain. Meanwhile, Tom’s roommate, Alistair, volunteers for the army and must endure a horrifying retreat in France before assignment to the island of Malta, where he and his fellow soldiers receive little food and are constantly under fire. On leave between assignments, Alistair meets Mary and the two are instantly attracted to each other despite their loyalties to Tom. Slowly at first, they begin corresponding as the war plunges forward and the personal losses pile up. Real, engaging characters, based loosely on Cleave’s (Little Bee) own grandparents, come alive on the page. Insightful, stark, and heartbreaking, Cleave’s latest novel portrays the irrepressible hopefulness that can arise in the face of catastrophe. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM Partners.

Luke Thompson delivers a fine and nuanced narration of Chris Cleave's moving new novel, which is set in London during the Blitz and on the battlefield amid the shocks of WWII. At its heart a love story inspired by Cleave's grandparents, the book focuses on two friends and the woman with whom they both fall in love. One character goes to war; the other two remain in London as teachers to the city's forgotten disabled and children of color. Thompson draws telling vocal portraits of the three very different protagonists; does nice sketches of lesser characters, including an American black child and his father; and paces his delivery perfectly for a story that shuttles between peace and desperation. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

August 1, 2016

Inspired by his grandparents' love story, meticulously recorded in his grandfather's extant letters (his grandmother's replies were sunk), Cleave's latest feels like his gentlest--in spite of the backdrop of World War II. At the novel's core is privileged, headstrong Mary North, who signs up to serve England at noon, 45 minutes after war is declared at 11:15 on September 3, 1939. She's hired as a schoolteacher in London, despite her lack of experience. She falls in love with two men--Tom, who is deemed socially inferior by her mother, and his roommate Alistair, whom she desperately tries to dismiss. Beyond her love life, Mary's relationship with best friend Hilda serves as an intriguing barometer of her engagement with the events around her. In addition to these four young people--each inspired and devastated by war in different ways--Cleave weaves in a fascinating supporting cast, including the omniscient family butler, Mary's young student, and Alistair's fellow officers on the front. Narrator Luke Thompson moves effortlessly among characters, voicing various genders, ages, and social stations with ease. VERDICT Cleave (Little Bee; Incendiary) groupies have already made Brave an international best seller; avid audiophiles will surely appreciate the opportunity to experience the well-deserved hype. ["Well crafted and compelling but a tad shy of perfect": LJ 3/15/16 review of the S. & S. hc.]--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

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