WAR BONDS

The fates of two extended families are intertwined during World War II in Norsworthy’s stirring historical novel.

When the story opens in 1939, 10-year-old Londoner Colin Clarke is still adjusting to his new home in the country in Elsworth, where he’s been sent by his mother, Beryl, as war looms. Beryl, a nurse, has remained in London to treat the anticipated wounded. Colin’s new “family” for the duration includes Ivy Hughes, her son, Hugo, and twins Patsy and Margaret, whom Ivy took in so they wouldn’t be separated. But the war soon intrudes even on this bucolic scene. First, Colin’s father, Gordon, becomes a German prisoner of war in France. Next, Hugo’s dad, Wills, is listed as missing in action. Colin and Hugo meet American flier Jack Philip, who eventually develops into a surrogate father for them. Annalise, the German POW camp commandant’s younger wife, takes an interest in Gordon, both for his construction skills and his physical attributes, and eventually makes him a tempting offer (“If she wished him to notice her, he would. If she was laying a trap, he preferred to find out sooner instead of later”). Gordon exploits this opportunity to aid his fellow prisoners and the local Resistance cell. After Beryl receives notice that Gordon has died from typhus, she and Jack grow much closer, with Colin’s reluctant approval. But those involved will learn that not all is as it seems during this confusing, chaotic period of war and upheaval. In this debut work, based partly on her father’s experiences as a POW, Norsworthy masterfully captures the action on two fronts: home and battlefield. Her thorough research lends an immediacy to the narrative that makes the reader feel present for each scene. Her story smoothly navigates among the various characters and the war’s varying effects upon them. Initially, the novel appears to be about two boys’ introduction to war, but it’s really the story of one couple, Gordon and Beryl, and the difficult choices they face because of misinformation and doubt. Most of the characters get their happy endings, though not always the ones they—or the reader—expected.

A dramatic family saga that captures the widespread fallout of war.