From the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Little Bee, a spellbinding novel about three unforgettable individuals thrown together by war, love, and their search for belonging in the ever-changing landscape of WWII London.
It's 1939 and Mary, a young socialite, is determined to shock her blueblood political family by volunteering for the war effort. She is assigned as a teacher to children who were evacuated from London and have been rejected by the countryside because they are infirm, mentally disabled, or—like Mary’s favorite student, Zachary—have colored skin.
Tom, an education administrator, is distraught when his best friend, Alastair, enlists. Alastair, an art restorer, has always seemed far removed from the violent life to which he has now condemned himself. But Tom finds distraction in Mary, first as her employer and then as their relationship quickly develops in the emotionally charged times. When Mary meets Alastair, the three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—while war escalates and bombs begin falling around them—further into a new world unlike any they’ve ever known.
A sweeping epic with the kind of unforgettable characters, cultural insights, and indelible scenes that made Little Bee so incredible, Chris Cleave’s latest novel explores the disenfranchised, the bereaved, the elite, the embattled. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven is a heartbreakingly beautiful story of love, loss, and incredible courage.
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“Luke Thompson delivers a fine and nuanced narration of Chris Cleave’s moving new novel…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. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
“With dazzling prose, sharp English wit, and compassion, Cleave paints a powerful portrait of war’s effects on those who fight and those left behind.”
— People“The novel’s ability to stay small and quiet against the raging tableau of war is what also makes it glorious…An absorbing account of survival, racism, classism, love, and pain and the scars left by all of them.”
— New York Times Book Review“Beautifully written, funny, gut-wrenching, and, above all, honest.”
— Daily Mail (London)“Magnificent and profoundly moving…This dazzling novel of World War II is full of unforgettable characters and the keen emotional insights.”
— Shelf Awareness“Insightful, stark, and heartbreaking.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Loosely inspired by the experiences of Cleave’s grandparents…As four young people—including Mary, a teenage socialite—are drawn into the war effort, Cleave explores their experiences of love, friendship, and tragedy with rare insight.”
— BookPageBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Chris Cleave is the author of Incendiary and the #1 New York Times bestseller Little Bee. He is also a columnist for the Guardian.