What Was Rescued

What Was Rescued by Jane Bailey
Published by Lake Union Publishing
Ebook
Expected publication 1 August 2017
386 pages
Kindle First

Connect with the author Buy the book (affiliate's link) WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT

In the autumn of 1940, four children meet on a train. Behind them is London, under heavy aerial attack; ahead of them is a ship bound for the safe shores of Canada. Arthur has promised his mother not to let his little brother, Philip, out of his sight. Pippa and Dora are on their own: polar opposites, brought together by the adventure of a lifetime. But disaster strikes mid-Atlantic, and in the chaos one of the children makes a choice that will determine the course of their lives forever.

As the years pass and the survivors become adults-forging their futures and falling in love-they are still haunted by the events of that night at sea. It's not just what was lost that darkens their lives: what was rescued casts a long shadow, too. One of them has a terrible secret that they thought sank with the ship. But a secret is just a truth waiting to be revealed, and this secret could shatter everything.

EXTRACT

I remember the night the whales came.

WHAT I THOUGHT

This is my first time reading the author.

I loved reading What Was Rescued. It wasn't what I expected which is a good thing. I liked the fact the chapters are narrated by three different characters, Arthur, Dora and Pippa so get to read different versions of some events. This worked really well. I liked the characters, they are well written, flesh out and real - I wanted to give Arthur a shake and slap Pippa across the face more than once. I liked the way the plot slowly builds as different events start to merge together. I thought Pippa was an awful person and it made me mad she got away with what she did on the boat. I appreciate she was a child at the time but this niggled me - she should have been punished in some way. I thought the characters were quite naïve at times especially Arthur but given when the book is set this was fine. The ending was excellent, happy and sad at the same time, guaranteed to give you the warm fuzzies. What Was Rescued is well worth a read.

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