For Those Who Are Lost
Imagine being given 24 hours’ notice to evacuate your children or let them face the wrath of Nazi occupation. In June 1940, over 5,000 children were evacuated from Guernsey. Thomas’s focus is on the lives of two of them and the impact of this split-second decision. Amid chaos and anxiety at the harbor, islander Ava Simons reluctantly trusts her husband’s judgment in placing Henry, age nine, and Catherine, age four, in the care of Henry’s teacher. Childless Lily Carre trades places with her sister, Henry’s teacher. Taken with blonde, cherubic Catherine from the outset, Lily later watches Henry board the train for grimy industrial Manchester as she absconds with his little sister. We’re shocked she could abandon Henry. Yet Thomas creates sympathy for Lily, who has been trapped in a violent, abusive marriage. She tells herself she is protecting this innocent child, hiding her real motive from even herself, having yearned for a daughter. She makes no effort to remind the child of her parents in Guernsey.
Thomas’s extensive research realistically conveys life under Nazi occupation: harassment, isolation, medicine and food shortages, and constant fear of reprisal or impressment in a camp. Ava worries constantly about her children. One scene is particularly poignant as she picks up smooth rocks at the sea as Catherine does the same in Cornwall, not knowing why she collects rocks. And when the war ends, what then? I could empathize with the richly drawn characters, their grief and guilt. This is Thomas’s second novel (see also Penhale Wood) featuring a grieving mother searching for truth. What a compelling story of love, courage and forgiveness. Highly recommended.
