THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A powerful story that proves how love itself requires courage." --Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Spanning World War II and the sweep of the twentieth century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itself. A woman. A war. The child who changed everything. December 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England during World War II, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone. Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home, the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband Selwyn had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all. But with the end of the fighting comes the realization that Pamela was never theirs to keep. Spanning the sweep of the twentieth century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itself.
Download and start listening now!
"I just finished the book. I’m surprised this author does not have a number of books her writing is so very good. I also feel like this author went through this story. The deepest life long love as deep as this one had to be real. I fell in love with both of these women-and child. I felt my heart laugh, and love the day, to only existing after so much loss. I’m so glad I found this story. Thank you for writing it. "
— Sandra lipiec (5 out of 5 stars)
“Narrator Jayne Entwistle outdoes herself with this moving story…Entwistle captures the kind, childless Parr…[and] particularly shines as precocious Pamela…Juliet Mills’s spirited narration begins in 2010, when Parr and Pamela are finally reunited in a conclusion that is satisfying without being sentimental. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile“Veteran narrators Entwistle and Miles craft a memorable recording that captures the pain, love, and loss of the war years in England and beyond and into the present.”
— Booklist (starred audio review)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Frances Liardet is a child of children of the Second World War. She has an MA degree in creative writing from the University of East Anglia and studied Arabic at Oxford, before traveling to Cairo to translate modern Egyptian novelists. She lives in England and helps to run a summer writing session called Bootcamp. We Must Be Brave is her American debut novel.
Juliet Mills is a highly acclaimed actress. She won an Emmy Award for QB VII and a Tony nomination for her role in Five Finger Exercise, and was one of the stars of the daytime drama show Passions.
Jayne Entwistle is a voice talent and Earphones Award–winning narrator.