Hazel Gaynor has written another wonderful historical fiction novel that will leave you both content and in tears.
Set in China during WWII, a British-run missionary school, filled with British and American students and teachers, is taken over by the Japanese army. Different chapters are told from the perspective of different characters, but the main character is Nancy Plummer (aka “Plum”) who is 10-years-old and has been left at the school by her missionary parents along with her older brother. She especially feels the absence of her mother and sees her young teacher, Miss Kent, as a sort of replacement. The story tells the struggles of Plum, her close group of girlfriends, and her favorite teacher, and how they each struggle to survive as they wait and hope for liberation. This book becomes even more sad when you find out that it is apparently inspired by actual events.
This book will make you feel a lot. You obviously feel horrible for the children who are living through this without true understanding of what they are experiencing or why, and I felt a lot of empathy for the teachers who originally just had a job but now have the responsibility of trying to keep their students alive long enough to make it to the end of the war, even though they don’t know if they have to keep them going another six months or six years.
Nancy is obviously the main character, so we trace her through the war itself and we also get a glimpse of her in 1975 in a handful of chapters, so we know she makes it through. I thought the author did a great job capturing the initial innocence of Nancy and her friends through all of this.
I did think that there could have been a lot more with Miss Kent’s story, especially later in the book, or maybe I just wished there would have been more from her perspective. I think I related more closely to her since she was the adult and mother-figure throughout, so I was disappointed that she just kind of dropped off.
But overall, this was a really good book, and it was interesting to read a WWII book that didn’t focus on Europe for a change. It was nice reading a new perspective, even as much of it was pretty disturbing.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the Book Club Girls of William Morrow in exchange for my honest review. It did not influence my opinion.