Everyone Brave is Forgiven

LoveReading Says

One of our Books of the Year 2016.

May 2016 Book of the Month.

'War was declared at 11.15 and Mary North signed up at noon.'

With these words begins the most breathtaking novel of the year, Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave. Join Mary, Alistair and Tom as they try to survive in a war which seems to have consumed everything, everything that is except for love and honour.

WWII and Mary North escapes finishing school (unfinished) in Switzerland to sign up. Much to her surprise she gets a teaching post and later becomes an ambulance driver. Inbetween she falls for two very different men, both beneath her class, for it is class and prejudice, change and destruction that dominated this tragic novel.

Set mostly in London and later in Malta with some truly horrific set-pieces, this haunts you well after you’ve finished it. The writing is brilliant, the dialogue sharp, the changing attitudes that the war imposes on folk beautifully realised. He is a very clever writer indeed. If you do not know you must read his best book The Other Hand too.

Click here to read 10 reasons why you should read Everyone Brave is Forgiven.

Reviewed by Sarah Broadhurst
Sarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst

About Everyone Brave is Forgiven

The breathtaking new novel from the multi-award-winning author of THE OTHER HAND. When war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to give it a miss - until his flatmate Alistair unexpectedly enlists, and the conflict can no longer be avoided.

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