Told in the dual time periods of WW I and WW II, the story follows two English sisters, Vivienne and Olive and the others in their lives as they live through two wars. While this is a work of historical fiction, some of the characters are based on actual people. The sisters are very different people and they handle the situations they find themselves in very differently. Both wars shape their lives. It is Vivienne that readers get to know the best as she goes from being a young woman waiting for an obviously troubled young man to propose marriage to her to a married woman in a horrible marriage. Even though she had faced danger and exhibited incredible acts of bravery as an ambulance driver during WW I, her troubled marriage defined her. When a child who is evacuated from London is unexpectedly placed in her care, Vivienne comes into her own and she changes. Can this child give her purpose?
This is a complex story that deals with relationships, prejudice and second chances. The author brings to readers a wide variety of characters. Several have their own back story. Well presented is what life was like before and during both wars including the horrors, losses and tragedies. This emphasizes the unique resources people have within themselves and what they can offer their communities.
WHEN I WAS YOURS is the well told story of people who found themselves living through not one, but two wars and the impact this had. Highly recommended.
An emotional and unforgettable historical novel, perfect for fans of Natasha Lester and Lisa Wingate.
We stand in the back of the hall as the children troop in. Big ones, little ones. Straggly hair, cropped hair, curls... the adults surge forward to choose and soon there is just one child left, a little girl sitting on the floor. She is thin as a string bean and her sleeve is ragged and damp - like she's been chewing it.
1939: War has broken out -- hundreds of children are evacuated to the countryside to keep them safe from the bombs raining down on the cities. Wrenched from her family in the East End and sent more than a hundred miles away, seven-year-old Pearl Posner must adapt to a new life away from everything familiar.
Vivienne didn't ask for an evacuee child. In fact, she's not sure her heart can take it. So many years, so many disappointments . . . Vivi's ability to feel love left her the day she learned the truth about her husband, Edmund, and when she made the worst decision of her life and left her cherished sister to her fate. But like it or not, Pearl is here to stay, and with the rumors about what's happening to children in mainland Europe, it might be the last safe place for her.
As Pearl and Vivi learn how to live together, they discover that they have a connection that runs more deeply than they could ever have guessed -- from before Pearl was born and deep into Vivienne's past. And will it be Pearl -- the little girl who says so little and sees so much -- who forces Vivi to finally confront what happened in her marriage . . . and to the long-lost sister she loved so dearly and let fall so far?
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