BEYOND THAT, THE SEA
Laura Spence-Ash
Celadon Books
March 23, 2023
368 pages
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Right from the start, I loved this book! I wanted to describe it as a saga but when I checked the definition it had to be a multi-generational story. While this story covers many years, it stays within one generation.
Beatrix is our main character. Sometimes she is Bea and sometimes she is Trix. She is a little girl in England when WW2 breaks out. Out of fear for her safety, her parents (with very heavy hearts) sent her to America for the duration of the war. Bea becomes a very welcome member of a new family as she spends 5 years with them before returning to England.
Bea adjusts very well to her new family. The parents treat her kindly and start to love her. The 2 brothers are thrilled to have a sister. Bea misses her English family but when the time comes to return to England, she misses her American family more than she thought possible.
The format of the book is different. All the characters have their own chapters. The reader gets every side of the story. The chapters are very short. At first, I thought it might affect the flow of the story but it worked well. The other thing that is different is that quotation marks are not used. The speech part is in italics. At first, I found that strange but soon got used to it.
This is not an action packed story. It is definitely very character driven. It takes place over 37 years. At times there is a big jump forward in time. The reader gets to see a lot of changes in the characters. The whole story is based on the relationships of the characters with each other. It’s a story of relationships and life.
In my mind, it had a perfect ending!
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