Bookish Reviews

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by: Chris Cleave

Everyone Brave is Forgiven is a riveting tale set during WWII that focuses on love, loss, and bravery at its finest moments.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven is about Mary, a privileged young socialite, Tom, a school administer and the ticket to Mary getting a job in teaching, and Tom's friend Alastair, an art restorer that ends up enlisting. This has to be one of the first novels I have read by Chris Cleave. I have to say that I throughly enjoyed reading it. Each character were all equally important and creative in their own way. The struggles that they go through make them both honest, realistic, and believable.

The transformations that each character goes through is not only strongly shown throughout the novel but also depicted quiet beautifully. The descriptions of the Siege of Malta and London, during the bombing, left me on the edge of my seat wanting to read more. The courage that these characters show during such traumatic events left me feeling both moved and deeply emotional.

The plot was both interesting, intriguing, and engaging throughout the novel. Truly highly emotional and captivating until the very end. This is an honest view on how war changes a country and the people in it.

Overall, Everyone Brave is Forgiven is definitely a novel you should pre-order today.

Expected Publication:

May 3 2016

Rating:

★★★★

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Special Thanks:

ARC was kindly provided by publisher, Simon & Schuster, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

About The Author:

Chris Cleave was born in London and spent his early years in Cameroon. He studied experimental psychology at Balliol College, Oxford. His debut novel, INCENDIARY, won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and is now a feature film. His second novel, LITTLE BEE, is a New York Times #1 bestseller with over 2 million copies in print. GOLD is his third novel. He lives in London with his wife and three children. Chris Cleave enjoys dialogue with his readers and invites all comers to introduce themselves on Twitter; he can be found at twitter.com/chriscleave or on his website at http://www.chriscleave.com