Concise Title: Beyond That, the Sea: A Novel

In her debut novel, Beyond That, the Sea, Laura Spence-Ash has written a sweeping, tenderhearted love story that tells the tale of two families living through World War II on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and the shy, irresistible young woman who will come to call them both her own. Spence-Ash has crafted the narrative in eight distinct points of view, yet each character is utterly three-dimensional and uniquely captivating.

As German bombs rain down on London in 1940, working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson face an impossible choice: they decide to send their eleven-year-old daughter, Beatrix, to America to live with another family for the duration of the war, in the hopes that she will stay safe. Scared, angry, and feeling lonely and displaced, Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys. Mr. and Mrs. G, and their sons William and Gerald, seamlessly fold Bea into their world, and she becomes a part of this lively family, learning their ways and their stories, adjusting to their affluent lifestyle.

Bea grows close to both boys, the older and the younger, and fills the gap between them. Before long, life with the Gregorys begins to feel more natural to her than the quiet, spare existence she had known with her own parents back in England. As Bea comes into her own and settles into her new life – summers on the coast in Maine, new friends eager to hear about life across the sea – the girl she once was begins to fade away, until the war's end abruptly calls her home to London.

Desperate not to leave this life behind, Bea dutifully retraces her journey across the Atlantic, returning to her new, old world. As she navigates the post-war landscape of London, the memory of her American family stays with her, never fully letting her go, and always pulling at her heart as she tries to move on and pursue love and a life of her own.

Through Bea's story, Beyond That, the Sea emerges as a beautifully written, absorbing novel, full of grace and heartache, forgiveness and understanding, loss and love. The novel captivated me from start to finish, and I have no doubt it will do the same for readers, just as Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton Series, found it to be a captivating debut.

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