ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – A Child Far from Home by Lizzie Page
A Child Far from Home by Lizzie Page is published by Bookouture and available now in paperback, eBook and audiobook. Thank you to the author for very kindly sending me a copy for review which I have done just in time for book two of this trilogy which comes out this week. Happy publication week, Lizzie! 🎉
England 1939. I desperately push my way through the crowded platform and try to find my darling daughter’s face in the fogged-up windows. As the train pulls away I frantically wave and force a smile. I’m sending her away to protect her but it’s only ever been the two of us. My heart breaks at not knowing when I’ll see her again…
With the country on the brink of war, single mother Jean embraces her ten-year-old daughter, Valerie, before she puts her on a train to Somerset alongside hundreds of other evacuees. Jean promises Valerie that the war won’t last long and that they’ll be together again soon. But as the bombing gets closer to home, she realises this might be a promise she can’t keep…
Wrenched away from her mother and everything familiar, little Valerie soon discovers that life in the countryside isn’t as idyllic as she first thought. Every night she dreams of returning home to the arms of her mother. But when she learns her old street has been devastated by the Blitz, it’s like her heart is torn in two. With no home to go to, where does this little girl belong?
Meanwhile in London, the chaos of war has unearthed a heartbreaking secret from Jean’s past she has kept hidden from Valerie for years. A secret that has the power to keep them apart forever.
With their old life in tatters, and hundreds of miles between them, will this mother and daughter ever be reunited? And if they are, will Jean’s secret change Valerie’s life forever – and will Jean lose the only person she has left in the world?
A heartbreaking historical novel set in World War Two that will have you completely gripped. Perfect for fans of Diney Costeloe, Shirley Dickson and Sandy Taylor.
Lizzie Page is one of my favourite authors and A Child Far from Home is a gorgeous start to a new trilogy of linked stories about evacuees in WWII. At the beginning of the book there is a paragraph about a study undertaken in 1941 which concluded that separation from their parents was a worse shock for children than a bombing. It must have been a terrible decision to make, especially for those living in large cities like London.
It is London that houses the two main characters in this book, Jean and Valerie, mother and daughter. Jean makes the decision to send Valerie, aged 10, away to the Somerset countryside. Some children had a wonderful evacuation and others didn’t fare so well. The book is told in chapters from both characters’ points of view and so we see the highs and lows from both sides. I loved Jean and Valerie, and how this book follows them through the war and out the other side. This is a chunky book but I’d have been happy to carry on reading for longer. I suppose you’d call it a slice of life story, with the main focus being on the dramatic and long-lasting effects of the evacuation on both Jean and Valerie.
My heart broke for them but there are good times. Valerie finds solace in radio and I particularly enjoyed how it ended up being prominent in her life. Jean has a war that many women had, being needed and stepping into the breach, only to be cast aside when the men came home. It’s hard to put myself in the place of either of them but with the help of Lizzie Page’s empathetic writing I can at least understand it a lot better.
I really loved A Child Far from Home. Even the most minor characters stand out and are perfectly described, and the role of a woman in a man’s world is explored to great effect. It’s ideal for anyone who likes books about life on the home front. I’m very much looking forward to book two now.
Lizzie Page lives in a seaside town in Essex, England where she grew up. After studying politics at University, she worked as an English teacher, first in Paris and then in Tokyo, for five years. Back in England, she tried and failed various jobs, before enjoying studying a masters in creative writing at Goldsmiths College. Lizzie loves reading historical and modern fiction, watching films, and travelling. Her husband Steve, three lovely children, and Lenny the cockapoo all conspire to stop her writing!
