Until We Find Home

This was a bit of a surprise to me because of how light it was for a WW2 story. It's home front WW2, but aside from a few bits about rationing and Home Guard and blackout, it's more of a woman and her aunt learning to know each other, and of ten Jewish children adjusting to life in the English countryside.

The best part of the story is seeing the relationships unfold. Claire tends to act like she's 15 for the first half of the book and I got annoyed with her more than once. The other MC is Claire's aunt Miranda, who I liked a lot better; it was easier to see a hurting woman behind her often abrupt manners, and Dr. Raibeart has a strong leading role.

The story's side characters are several of the ten children and their adventures. The rest of the ten are shadowy and undeveloped. I'd have liked to know more about all of the children, since it felt like only half the story when the non-POV ones get a generic “the children ___”

Overall, the story tries to be too many different things at once and ends up staying on the surface of most. There's a lot of talk about God but no real mention of Jesus until a nice, deep scene at 95%. I had lots of questions throughout that didn't get answered in any sort of way...from the cross-country train which had for some inexplicable reason closed or removed its restroom facilities (and no historical note to tell me why) to the wonder why the children weren't taken to the village church (it's great to bring someone in to enrich their Jewish heritage and I loved the parts with the Rabbi, but to take things to the extent of not going to church themselves and not taking the kids along I felt was a mistake). It mentions kosher eating in wartime, which would have been fascinating, but gave me no details and then later tossed in a worry about what would happen if someone had to deliver rabbit for supper (which is definitely not kosher). It also didn't tell me why there were no prayer shawls to be had for a boy's bar-mitzvah during wartime, just gave a statement and moved on. Why couldn't they be made in England?

So overall, though the story was enjoyable, it raised more questions about WW2 home front culture than it answered. Claire's romance was also frustrating because her story began in the middle of many personal things and then resolved without mentioning again half the things that were touched on...or summarizing major influences from her past in a single sentence like “she and her mother corresponded by letter.”

I had a hard time with David as a side character because his thoughts and motivations are never really explored, so something he does near the end was rather a shock simply because there wasn't much depth to his character.

If you're looking for a gentle story about the English countryside with WW2 refugee children, this is your next read. If you're looking for heartthrob romance it's probably not going to check that box.

Thanks to the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.