This richly layered historical novel draws inspiration from the British program known as Operation Pied Piper, which evacuated more than one million people from urban areas during World War II. In Laura Spence-Ash’s reimagining, Reginald and Millie Johnson, a working-class couple in London, make the agonizing decision to send their only child away to keep her safe from German airstrikes. Her name pinned to her best dress, trying to be brave, 11-year-old Beatrix journeys alone by ship, train, and ferry, arriving two weeks later in Massachusetts.
Beatrix has been assigned to the Gregory family, Ethan and Nancy, and their two sons, William, a bit older than she is, and Gerald, a bit younger. Following a brief letter exchange, the strangers finally meet on a sweltering dock in Boston Harbor: “…his accent is funny and his freckles are everywhere and he’s a wide-open American boy,” Beatrix says about Gerald.
With rotating points of view, Spence-Ash gives us complex characters and offers striking contrasts between wartime England and peaceful New England. I empathized with Millie’s regret over sending Beatrix overseas, her anger at Reginald for forcing her hand, and her worry for her daughter’s welfare.
Lovingly cared for, Bea is one of the lucky ones. She is the daughter Nancy always longed for but couldn’t have after multiple miscarriages. She’s a surprise sister, tie breaker, and partner in crime who fits perfectly in the middle of the brothers, who are opposites in nearly every way. The girl changes Ethan too, despite his vow to remain neutral. It’s a temporary arrangement after all, he reminds Nancy: “She’s not your child, Nan. One day soon she’s going to leave and never come back.”
Through telegrams and the rare phone call, Beatrix stays in touch with her parents, who largely spare her from their daily hardships. She misses them terribly. At the same time, she’s happy in America. She loves school and has made friends. She adores William and Gerald (when they’re not being annoying). They spend summers on a private island off the coast of Maine, an idyllic place that plays a central role in the novel. Yet, Beatrix is careful not to share too many specifics with Millie and Reginald – or that she might be starting to forget them: “She wants to tell them about the colors here: the way the yellow leaves cover the ground under the trees; the tiny purple flowers on the wallpaper on her bedroom wall; the golden raspberries from the garden that ooze out of the breakfast muffins. But she can never find the words.”
These complicated emotions and inner struggles drive the narrative as Spence-Ash skillfully, and with gorgeous detail, explores universal themes of identity, family, and belonging. Over the five eventful years that Beatrix lives with the Gregorys, from 1940 to 1945, she develops deep attachments to each family member (and they to her), attachments that shape the rest of her life.
In Spence-Ash’s powerful last section, we watch the aging characters on both sides of the Atlantic carry on with their adult lives, celebrating joys and enduring disappointment and tragedy. For our heroine Beatrix, who has never forgotten the Gregorys or the girl she once was, her past comes full circle.
Beyond That, the Sea is Laura Spence-Ash’s debut novel. I can’t wait to find out what’s next for this gifted author.
