Beyond That, the Sea - Laura Spence-Ash - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Laura Spence-Ash

NARRATOR: Ell Potter

GENRE: Historical Coming-of-Age Drama.

RATING: 3.75 Stars

In a Nutshell: A drama spanning a couple of decades, focussing on two families on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, with one woman who is common to both of them. Unlike what the blurb says, this isn’t a romantic story, with romance being a minor track. Better suited to those who enjoy character-oriented fiction.

Story Synopsis:

When the German bombs start falling over London in 1940, Reginald Thompson decides to send his eleven-year-old daughter Beatrix to an American family in Maine, much against the wishes of his wife Millie.

Uncertain of what awaits her in America, Beatrix arrives at the Gregory’s place, where Ethan, Nancy, William and Gerald Gregory are curiously awaiting their little British guest. Their open nature and different lifestyle soon melts away Beatrix’s reservations and she begins enjoying her life in the US. But they all know that this is only until the end of the war. Once the war is over, and Beatrix has to return, how can life be the same in post-war London?

The story focusses on all the key characters via a third person limited narration over a period of almost two decades.

Where the book worked for me:

😍 I had all but given up on WWII fiction as I am so saturated of that genre – every story was beginning to look the same! But stellar reviews by many of my GR friends pushed me into giving this one a go. I am glad I did! The story focusses not on the war itself, but on the life of Beatrix and the other characters during that period. With the war staying in the background, we get to glimpse a realistic perspective of ordinary life without repeated mentions of wartime atrocities.

😍 The book is divided into multiple sections, grouped together by years. Because of this, we get to see the characters at different stages of their lives, and they always seem to match the age in thought and action. In other words, the characters grow almost in front of our eyes.

😍 The blurb declares this “a sweeping, tender-hearted love story.” It is unfair to call this just a love story because it is so much more! I am always happier when stories focus more on every emotion than just on love, so as a historical drama, or even a coming-of-age story, it worked much better for me. But if you go in expecting romance, you *might* be disappointed.

😍 The writing explores an array of human emotions, be it pride or envy or anger or frustration or hope. It even shows the intricate connections between the key people, Beatrix’s struggle between her loyalty toward her own family and her feelings towards her foster family are especially well-written. It was a treat to see an author portray characters as realistic humans instead of caricatures.

Where the book left me with mixed feelings:

😐 We see the story unfurling from the point of view of five Gregorys (the fifth coming in later) and the three Thompsons. This gives us a wonderful look at the individual thought process of all the key characters. But it also increases the complicatedness of the storyline. The perspective changes are quite frequent, with a changeover sometimes happening within a few paragraphs. The third-person writing is a boon. (I would have gone nuts keeping track of so many voices in first person!)

😐 While I am happy that it didn’t focus too much on the war itself, the fact is that the blurb promised this to be a WWII-era story. But the wartime narrative lasts only up to the first one-third or so. The rest is set much after the war, leading right until the mid-1960s.

😐 The descriptions of the places, especially in the Maine scenes, is beautifully handled. (This isnt surprising, considering the author hails from New England.) London feels dull in comparison, though the author does try her best to do justice to the UK locales too.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

😖 The final third of the book feels too dragged. Some decisions taken by the characters in the second half seemed at odds with their personality.

😖 I would have loved for the focus to stay on the original Gregorys and the Thompsons. But the added point of view of a character who comes into the plot much later, felt like an overkill.

😖 One thing that seriously creeped me out was how Nancy Gregory insisted on giving almost-teenaged Beatrix a bath, and couldn’t even see the flaw in her behaviour, even after her husband pointed it out. Nancy is shown to be a level-headed woman in every other scene, so this weird habit just didn’t make sense.

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 12 hours 18 minutes, is narrated by Ell Potter. She reads the book well. With too many third person perspectives, she takes the smart decision of not giving individual voices to each character, but just focusses on narrating everyone well. I liked her performance. Also, as character-oriented stories are relatively slow, the audiobook was a good way of going through it at a steady pace.

That said, remembering all the characters and whose point of view is currently active, gets a bit tricky. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend the audiobook to newbie listeners.

All in all, this is definitely a good debut work, albeit with minor flaws. It will work well for readers who would enjoy a slowburn, character-oriented family drama with characters that are human rather than perfect. Keep in mind: it is not exactly a romance, and it is not exactly a WWII story. Go in with the right expectations.

My thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the DRC of “Beyond That, the Sea”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Content warnings: Death of characters, some fat-shaming and religion-shaming (both because of characters’ conservative opinions).