Flatlands

by Sue Hubbard

A moving tale of unlikely friendship and the beauty of nature, set in the wild wetland landscape of the English Fens during World War II

Perfect for fans of Atonement , this gorgeous coming of age explores the connection between Philip, a conscientious objector, and Freda, a young London evacuee housed by a cruel family

Freda is a twelve-year-old evacuee from East London, who has been sent away at the start of the war, leaving behind everything familiar to her, to escape the expected German bombing.

In her new temporary home in Lincolnshire, Freda finds herself billeted with a strange, cold and, ultimately, abusive couple, whose lives mirror the barren landscape in which they live a hand to mouth existence, based upon subsistence farming and poaching. There, deprived of any warmth, she meets a young man - Philip Rhayader -a conscientious objector who has left Oxford and his prospective vocation in the church following a nervous breakdown.

Together they explore the wild, beautiful landscape of the Wash, teeming with migrating birds, and nurse an injured goose back to health. As they do so, Philip introduces Freda to the wonders of the natural world and its enduring power to heal.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, World War II, Historical, War, Nature, Birds

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2023

About the author

Sue Hubbard is a freelance art critic, novelist and poet. Twice winner of the London Writers competition she was the Poetry Society’s first-ever Public Art Poet. She was also commissioned by the Arts Council and the BFI to create London’s biggest art poem that leads from Waterloo to the IMAX. Her latest collection Ghost Station was published by Salt Publishing in 2004. Depth of Field, her first novel, was published in 2000. John Berger called it a “remarkable first novel.” Sue is a regular contributor to The Independent and The New Statesman where she writes on contemporary art. In 2006 she was awarded a major Arts Council Literary Award.

Reviews

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

“As I’ve got older, I’ve come to realize that memory isn’t a question of simply recalling the things that happened day after day, year after year, but a patchwork of events etched across our hearts.”

Eighty-seven-year-old retired librarian Freda, now a resident of a senior living facility, spends her days taking walks in her neighborhood, reminiscing about the years gone by, and documenting her memories. As the seventy–fifth anniversary celebration of the Dunkirk evacuation approaches, she finds herself flooded by her own memories of that period and she reflects on how her experiences have impacted her throughout her life.

In 1939, twelve-year-old Freda, along with several other children was sent to Lincolnshire from her London home in Bethnal Green as a part of Operation Pied Piper- an effort to keep children safe from German aerial bombings. Billeted with the Willocks, who treat her like free labor, barely providing for her basic needs despite collecting the allowance paid to them for sheltering her, she is lonely and misses her mother and Nan. One day while exploring the marshlands, she finds an injured goose and approaches reclusive painter Philip Rhayader, who lives in an abandoned lighthouse on the marshlands. Philip is a sensitive human being, a conscientious objector who left Oxford after having a nervous breakdown and now works for a local farmer. When not working he spends his time amid nature, with his painting and providing a sanctuary to the birds who take shelter with him during the winters. Philip nursed the goose back to health and the christen it “Fritha”, a name that means “protector of peace” – as Philip points out is a “good name for a goose during wartime”. Her friendship with Philip who shares his love for books and nature with Freda is the only happy memory Freda has of her time as an evacuee. But as WWII rages on, will their sanctuary be able to shelter them from the world outside?

“Life soon becomes reduced to a pile of ephemera. Why do I keep these things? These bits and bobs, meaningless to anyone other than me. Because they take me straight back, provide tangible evidence of what really happened. Proof that everything isn’t just a figment of my overblown imagination.”

Flatlands by Sue Hubbard is a beautifully-written novel. I was captivated by its vivid imagery and poetic prose. The author mentions that her story is inspired, in part by Paul Gallico’s novella “The Snow Goose”. While the author stays true to the central theme of The Snow Goose, also naming her characters Freda and Philip, (Frith and Philip in Gallico’s novella) Hubbard’s characters are developed with much depth. In doing so the author gives us a broader perspective of life during that period. The author does a commendable job of exploring life in wartime England both from the perspectives of a child separated from her family and a recluse who is a conscientious objector.

Freda and Philip come from different walks of life. Philip is in his twenties and Freda is a child of twelve/thirteen. Philip’s family is affluent while Freda belongs to a family of shopkeepers. Their backgrounds, perspectives on war and life in general and struggles are distinctly different yet, their friendship is beautiful and serves as a source of comfort for both of them. Philip’s concern for Freda is the only kindness she experiences. Philip’s storyline covers his life from his early childhood and details the events that led to his reclusive life in the Fens, his conflicted feeling about war and violence, his stance as a pacifist and conscientious objector and how the events of WWII impact the same. The author also addresses sensitive issues such as mental health, sexual identity and societal expectations during those times. The plight of evacuee children such as Freda sent away from their homes to live with strangers and the uncertainty associated with the same is at times difficult to read. The neglect and eventual abuse Freda suffers are heartbreaking and the author is unflinching as she explores the darker side of human nature as represented by the Willocks. One can sympathize with their economic hardships but that cannot justify their treatment of Freda.

Though the author skillfully weaves Freda’s and Philip’s storylines into an engaging narrative, I found the transitions between the timelines and between the characters' individual stories to be a tad abrupt, which took a while to get used to. I also would have liked more scenes between Philip and Freda.

I should mention that this is a slow-paced and descriptive novel (the first half moves very slowly, in fact) that needs to be read with time and patience. However, the historical context, the characterizations, the imagery, and the elegant prose make for a thought-provoking and poignant read.

This is my first Sue Hubbard novel and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
I received a digital review copy from the author and publisher via Edelweiss+. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

“Stories are created from silence and absence, though the space between words can be so wide you feel you might drown.”

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

’I was twelve when I was sent to that cold place. I could never have dreamt that anywhere so lonely existed. In my mind’s eye it was always cold, though I arrived in September. A hot day, the sort of day for picnic not a war. From the stuffy train we could see gangs of women in the fields dressed in old sun bonnets and aprons, weeding rows of potatoes and stacking bundles of hay.’

’But still, what stays with me are the winter flurries of sleet over the tidal estuaries. The whalebone coloured skies and frozen tidal creeks. The eerie honking of wintering geese as they lifted their strong muscled necks and angel wings in the mist above the reed beds and frosted fields. Hands and toes chapped raw with chilblains. No, after Bethnal Green with its crabbed back-to-backs, its soot-blackened tenements, bustling markets and noisy pubs, I could never have dreamt that such a place existed.’

’Now I’m old. My life mostly behind me. I don’t expect anything else much to happen. I live each day as best I can. Try to be positive, despite the sciatica. Inside, I’m the same person I’ve always been. That’s the thing. The heart remains unchanged. It’s just the body that ages. But the longing remains. The longing for those moments all those years ago in that place where sea and sky met.’

In 1939, as the war is unfolding, children are being evacuated from the cities to areas which the enemy is less likely to target. Freda ends up in the Fens with Mr. and Mrs. Willock, where Freda is expected to care for their son, work for what little food she is given, and to be subjected to Mr. Willock’s desires.

Not long after she arrives in the Fens, she finds a goose whose one wing appears to be hanging at a strange angle, she reaches out to touch it, but the goose hisses at her, but she knows she can’t just leave it there, and so she heads to the lighthouse to see if she can get help. When she knocks, she tells the man about the goose, and he follows her to where the goose is. As they talk about the prospects of the goose’s recovery, a bond begins to form.

A bond is formed between these two, as a conscientious objector he is considered somewhat of an outsider, someone who doesn’t really fit in with his family, or with a country at war, and she is definitively an outsider, a child far from home.

This is a breathtaking, quietly lovely story of the impact of war, the lifelong memories shared of a brief moment in time, and the bond of friendship. This is one that I won’t forget.


Pub Date: 13 Jun 2023


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Pushkin Press

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flatlands is the story of two people who are lifted out of their normal lives and find themselves on the bleak, flat Fens of the northern coast of England as the country girds itself for war with Germany in 1939. Twelve years old Freda is an evacuee from London sent away for fear of what might be coming soon to the capital. Her luck of the draw is a cold, sometimes cruel, family who see her not as a child but as a house worker and stipend. Phillip has failed as an Oxford divinity student and had a nervous breakdown. He is a conscientious objector to the war and has chosen the Fens for its solitude, its natural environment, especially birds, and an opportunity to attend to his loves of nature and painting.

Freda and Phillip meet accidentally after the wounding of one of the marshland’s many geese. They share a quiet, but beautiful, friendship as each answers some unspoken need in the other. We hear this novel from both points of view.

This is a lovely study of two lonely, struggling people, of life in a lonely but ruggedly beautiful place that offers glimpses of that beauty to those who seek it and are open to it. It’s also a beautifully written book.

Recommended

Thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. This review is my own.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book about how connections and kindness, no matter how brief, can make a difference in someone's life. Freda is a 12 year old girl evacuated from London during WWII into the country to live with a family there, safe from the bombing. For Freda, and probably others as well, she was mistreated and used as a servant. Neither well fed nor adequately clothed for the harsh winter, she helps to care for an injured goose with Philip, a conscientious objector living in a nearby lighthouse. Both these people are lonely and confused and find solace in each other's company. The story is told by 87 year old Freda, looking back at her life and how her course was changed by her short time with Philip.

This is my favorite type of book, quiet and introspective, with an ending that is surprising but appropriate.

[CanadianReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5

Based on Paul Gallico’s The Snow Goose, which I’ve never read, Hubbard’s wartime novel focusses on the friendship between Freda, a twelve-year-old girl evacuee from East London and Philip, a young man in his early twenties, a former Oxford student who’s recently spent time in an asylum after a nervous breakdown. While training for the priesthood, he had a crisis of faith. A sexual relationship with a male friend only amplified his shame and psychological turmoil. Registered as a conscientious objector, he has come to the remote fenlands to labour in the fields, but also to paint and to heal through close communion with the natural world. He is increasingly troubled by the safety he’s chosen when it becomes clear to him that stopping Hitler is a moral imperative.

Freda, the child evacuee has been assigned to a terrible, brutish family. The Willocks are themselves outcasts of sorts, living a hardscrabble existence in a squalid cottage on the periphery of the small community. Freda is neglected and taken advantage of in every way. Her beloved nan dies early in the war, her father’s run off with a bar maid, and her mother shows little concern for Freda’s welfare, apparently preoccupied with trying to run a hardware shop in Bethnal Green.

In this sensitive but very slow-moving and unrelentingly sombre story, Freda’s and Philip’s paths cross. This event is frankly a long time coming, occurring at about the halfway point of an almost 300-page novel. The pair bond over an injured pink-footed goose. For a time, Freda has a refuge of sorts at the lighthouse where Philip lives and paints. The author’s main purpose is twofold: to explore how the relationship between the two lonely, isolated people changes the life of the younger and to show how the elder, Philip, finally gains a sense of meaning. (I have to say, however, that I did not find the action he ultimately took to be plausible. I don’t think sailing skills one learned at age twelve—which have gone unpractised for a decade or more—could be applied with the readiness Philip demonstrates. I’m doubtful, too, about the philosophical conclusions he’s able to reach while in the midst of chaos and crisis at Dunkirk.)

There is beauty in this novel, but I felt the book was much longer than it ought to have been. Yet another case where less would have been more. The sections focussing on Philip were unduly repetitive. The ruminations of a deeply introverted, psychologically injured person may be realistic enough, but they do not make for riveting reading. In addition, the author evidently did a lot of research and appears to have not wanted it to go to waste. Too many names of prominent artists and intellectual figures of the time and too many details from BBC Home Service war reports also added to the tedium. With these things in mind, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend Flatlands.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It had all been so short and what had it been for? What difference had he made?
from Flatlands by Sue Hubbard

What do we leave behind after we are gone? Are we like the ripple when we throw a stone into still water–a quick disturbance that flashes into nothingness?

Say you are a young man with strong ideals, someone who never fit in. And you discover peace and serenity living close to nature. Say you befriend a girl who is separated from her mother, unprotected and mistreated. Say you show her things she never knew–poetry and art and how to care for the wounded. Say you do one courageous thing, and it brings death. Was your life without meaning?

We all stand on the brink, he thought, with our toes hanging off the edge of the world.
from Flatlands by Sue Hubbard

At eighty-seven years old, Freda marvels at how old age crept up on her. “Wrinkles have a way of making you disappear one line at a time,” she thinks, but she is the same, her heart is the same. To make sense of her life, she sorts through the ephemera that are “tangible evidence of what really happened.” As a girl, Freda was evacuated from London during WWII. She was small and plain and unclaimed until taken by a poor family, a family that worked hard just to survive, a family without the luxury of love.

Freda worked at the worst jobs, endured cold and hunger, and finally abuse. Then, she met Phillip. He lived at the abandoned lighthouse, spent his days in manual labor and his evenings making art and reading, listening to his gramophone records. Philip showed Freda concern and care, and taught her about the world, art and poetry. He had been at university, talked theology with the Inklings, loved two beautiful people, a brother and a sister. But he had no faith, was a broken man, and hated the violence of war. A conscientious objector, here along the flat lands of the fens, working on the land with his hands, he had discovered peace.

The writing is stunning, twisting my heart so many times in its words. The marshlands beautifully described, the character’s inner lives flayed open with great sensitivity. The novel asks the great questions of life, and it affirms the healing power of nature and art–and love.

I was surprised to read that the novel is a retelling of Paul Gallico’s children’s story The Snow Goose; I remember reading it and many other novels by him when I was a teenager, fifty-some years ago. And that Gallico was inspired by a real person and place.

This is a real gem of a novel.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and very heartbreaking story. The description on the back cover doesn't really do it justice... Freda is a 12/13yo girl who, after having been evacuated from London, is housed with a family in the harsh landscape of the fens. The wife is cold and the husband is abusive. She forms a very lovely and quiet friendship with Philip, a young man in his 20s who is trying to make sense of his own feelings about who he is, who he loves, and his objections to the war. Peter, who has taken up residence in an abandoned lighthouse, teaches Freda about birds and books, so of course I love their friendship. This is a really lovely and well written book, reminiscent of All The Light We Cannot See.

[❀⊱RoryReads⊰❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Beautiful, painful at times.

[Helen Ahern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sad book. Philip is a lonely young man who has ended up living in an abandoned lighthouse. He loves the desolation and wildness of the mudflats and enjoys being on his own with his painting and the wild birds and the struggles of trying to earn enough to keep himself alive. He is a conscientious objector who having had a breakdown will not get the call to go to war. Freda is a 12 year old girl who becomes one of the many children evacuated for their safety from London to this lonely place where she is faced with the harsh realities of country life. She is treated very badly by her host family, working all hours, with little food and little time to attend school. An injured snow goose brings Freda and Philip together to form a kind of friendship. The loneliness of both of these young people is just heartbreaking. It is told from both points of view throughout. A thought provoking story.

[Scott Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Telling her story in a journal, Freda evacuates from London in anticipation of German bombing. She comes from a humble family with weak bonds to each other. Her grandmother Nan is the only person she feels close to, but she soon dies after Freda’s departure. Her mother and father have recently divorced as her father has left for another woman. As a mere twelve-year-old, she is alone in the world.

After a railroad trip, she is taken up in the flatlands of Britain by a family paid by the government to shelter her. She soon learns that this family seems only to care about the stipend and not for her well-being. Uncared for, she remains alone in the world.

A parallel story unfolds about Philip, a twenty-something and recent student of Oxford. A conscientious objector, he is not involved in the war effort and seems more interested in the arts than in the craft of war. He, too, has a history and a past, filled with complicated relationships that leave him alone.

Philip and Freda meet, and for a short time, they are not alone. He teaches her and inspires her to become who she really is, despite whatever poor background she was offered or hardships she will encounter. He becomes the center of her life as a mentor. Then life happens again, and decades upon decades later, she remembers him with detail in her journal.

This story is appropriate for adults who must find the courage to confront the hardships of their day. It reminds me that singular acts of love can do more to influence life than all the horrors of hate can do to oppress it. Doing the right thing may not have an obvious payoff, but human faith maintains that it will eventually pay off. Most will not hold a perfect hand in life’s poker game, but serendipitous happenings can propel us forward into our futures if we’re willing to give each other a chance.

[Kate Lock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was sent to me as a recommended read as part of a reading subscription and I put off reading it for months because it sounded dull. I was gripped once I started, and read it in 2 days. It’s sad. There’s the odd bit that read to me like a page from the author’s research, but it was still good overall.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is the purpose of our one life? Is it possible to make a difference in the short time we are allotted on this earth? Are we connected to each other in any way? These are the important questions the author puts forward in this quiet and beautiful but sad book.

Freda is a twelve year old girl from the poor, working class area of London called Bethnal Green. Her and her classmates are evacuated at the start of the Second World War to a small village adjacent to the Wash, a large shallow tidal bay in the Fens of eastern England. It is a poor and isolated area, extremely flat because it was reclaimed from marshland several centuries ago. Freda ends up in one of the poorest and most isolated homes. Here she is used as a drudge, with no kindness or even civility shown her. She is horribly lonely and homesick. By chance she happens to meet Philip, a young Oxford student who treats Freda with kindness. Philip has chosen his isolation for various reasons. He is horrified by the thought of the senseless killing that will ensue from the declaration of war. His father was killed in the First World War, so Philip is determined to be a conscientious objector to this new war. Philip shows Freda friendship, helps her rescue a wounded goose and also introduces her to the arts, showing her that there is beauty in the world. When Mr. Willock (Freda’s “host”) attacks her sexually, she flees to the lighthouse where Philip was living - but, unknown to everyone, Philip has left to assist in the chaotic Dunkirk retreat. Ms. Hubbard describes in detail the murderous rout that occurred as the defeated English and French troops fled from the advancing German forces. The horror, blood and rampant death are impossible to imagine. Philip felt that this was a way he could help in the war effort without having to lift a gun and kill the enemy.

These events have been told to us by Freda, who is now in her eighties and living in a retirement home. She is writing her memories of the wartime years as the seventy-fifth anniversary of Dunkirk approaches. After the war she became a librarian with a love for books and poetry. She still remembers Philip and his gifts of kindness and the love of learning. Her life would have been very different if she had never met him, and she certainly will have passed these gifts on to the young patrons of her library.

The book is quiet, cold and sad from the most part, but in spite of this, it is a compelling and beautiful read. I found it so moving that as soon as I finished reading it once, I picked it up and read it again in a more thoughtful and contemplative manner. And I hardly ever re-read. The story is serious and gritty, so mature readers would be a suitable audience, particularly those who enjoy historical fiction. It is not a “happy” book overall, but I found it well worth my time. It really touched me and is still swirling in my mind.

CONTENT WARNINGS
This is a book about war and there are descriptions of war, injury and death. There is also a scene of sexual abuse and one under-age rape (although not described in detail).

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for providing the e-ARC in return for my honest review.

[AJ Worsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a…surprise.

Given how slow the beginning is I didn’t think i’d end up loving this story as much as I do. This book could’ve opened with Philip’s storyline and I think it would’ve gripped me a lot sooner as I was far more invested in his character and his story than Freda’s. But alas, I understand that Freda is our main character.

I found it incredibly moving to see how deeply our two main characters affect each others lives with only knowing so little about one another, but the beauty is in the comfort they find in one another during this time of turmoil.

Philips struggles with his faith and pacifism really gripped me and made for a lot of beautiful, thought provoking one-liners throughout the book and even though it starts off really quite boring, if you can make it past the first 50 or so pages it actually is a quite beautiful story of friendship between two people the world forgot about during a time of war and hardship, showing just how vital love can be during a time where it may seem like hate is winning.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in England at the start of WWII, this is the story of a special friendship between a young girl from the East End of London and a young conscientious objector. Freda, an evacuee, is separated from her mom and sent to live in the outer marshlands, or the Fens. Philip, a pacifist and would-be artist has left university after suffering a breakdown, and has isolated himself in an abandoned lighthouse in the Fens where he spends his days painting and trying to sort out his life. Freda’s account is in first person as she looks back on this time. Philip’s account is third person. The story, beautifully written, is a moving example of human connection against the harrowing backdrop of war and the power of that connection to inspire hope even in one’s darkest moments. I absolutely loved this book.

[Emily Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very tough read at times, and a tragic story of two young characters searching for meaning in a war torn world, and finding peace in nature and simple human connection. I liked this way more than I thought I would..definitely not for everyone though.

[Beverley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning reimagining of the Snow Goose. This is a very special read, one that leaves a lasting impression - as powerful as the original, yet very much stand alone. Thoroughly recommend.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written! Tragic and moving.

[Nick Yonts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful writing and lovely character development.

[Lauren Chamberlain · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - lovely prose. Abrupt ending but such is life in wartime.

[Char Markou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give this 3.5 if I could! I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would but just didn’t quite deserve a 4 for me

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flatlands is an engrossing, slow, tender, raw and heartachingly beautiful story about hardship, friendship and the intense relation to and magnetism of nature. As I sit and type this, my mind is trying to find adjectives which encapsulate my feelings on the magnificent writing and storytelling. It is evocative and thoughtful, sometimes crushing and always lovely. My heart finds indescribable serenity in nature and felt completely at home in the descriptions in this book.

During WWII in England, Freda became an evacuee and billets in Lincolnshire where bombs may potentially fall. As she waited for that to happen literally and figuratively, she met Philip, ten years older and a broken man who connected deeply to nature and to the land. Though very different in age and stage, they become fast friends who learn from each other. They are both suffering, Freda with her cold and cruel billet and Philip with his own demons which contribute to his being a conscientious objector, a difficult position to be in during war. An injured goose (oh, the parallels!) becomes a balm on so many levels. Then a poacher enters the scene which adds another layer.

Years later, at eighty seven, Freda reflects on her past and understands the reasoning for her billet's treatment of her and other life experiences. Her introspection is one of my favourite aspects of the book as it is written with such wisdom. I'm sure in ways we can all see slivers of her and/or her thoughts in us. As a nature lover myself, Philip's love and respect for the land is very understandable.

This book has wide appeal from General Fiction to Women's Fiction, Literary Fiction to Nature writing. If you seek a soothing and gentle yet not always pretty story with vivid narrative and wonderful characterization, this is precisely for you. Let yourself go completely and get enveloped in it.

My sincere thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this enchanting novel.

[Shofam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first ARC - Advanced Reader's Copy - and I have to say I wasn't thrilled. I found this to just be okay. The setting was gorgeous and haunting, the characters were decently complicated, but I felt like the story dragged on for quite a while and then ended suddenly on a rather hopeless note.

Silence, he was beginning to understand, was a form of letting go. An abandonment of the chase, which allowed us to see the world more clearly.

The story follows two main characters, Philip and Freda, during the beginning of World War II. Philip is probably mid to late twenties, and following a nervous breakdown related to his leaving his life's goals behind, finds himself holed up in an abandoned lighthouse. There, he falls in love with the landscape and finds himself again through art and rescuing birds. Freda, meanwhile, is a London evacuee of about 12, taken in by an abusive family in the English Fens. She survives tragedy, great violence, and parental abandonment. The two become unlikely friends, but just when you think things will take a turn for the better, in comes the end of the book.

I feel bad because this got multiple 5 star ratings from other ARCers but I just did not feel as drawn in as others did and the ending really ruined it for me.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 1/2 haunting stars.

A moving tale of unlikely friendship and the beauty of nature, set in the wild wetland landscape of the English Fens during World War II

Perfect for fans of Atonement , this gorgeous coming of age explores the connection between Philip, a conscientious objector, and Freda, a young London evacuee housed by a cruel family.

Freda is a twelve-year-old evacuee from East London, who has been sent away at the start of the war, leaving behind everything familiar to her, to escape the expected German bombing.

In her new temporary home in Lincolnshire, Freda finds herself billeted with a strange, cold and, ultimately, abusive couple, whose lives mirror the barren landscape in which they live a hand to mouth existence, based upon subsistence farming and poaching. There, deprived of any warmth, she meets a young man - Philip Rhayader -a conscientious objector who has left Oxford and his prospective vocation in the church following a nervous breakdown.

Together they explore the wild, beautiful landscape of the Wash, teeming with migrating birds, and nurse an injured goose back to health. As they do so, Philip introduces Freda to the wonders of the natural world and its enduring power to heal.

- - - - -

I just finished reading this, and think I will be processing/ recovering from it for awhile. Haunting, atmospheric, it feels like it captures the mood perfectly, what it must have felt like to exist in such chaotic times. The friendship between Freda and Philip, the natural world, and art and music were the little escapes/ points of life in the darkness of the story and the world within it.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[LPR · Rating 2 out of 5]

i had trouble connecting to the characters while they navigated their separate lives. they felt artificial, contrived, and unreal. as if the author focused mainly on research (mentioning the names of towns & villages, describing houseware and gifts of the period, etc) rather than fleshing out her primary players.

in the second half, however, (once the characters came finally together), the story became much more interesting. everything before was so bleak, but their relationship infused some hope into the narrative. it no longer felt like a chore the get to the chapter’s end, but i still wasn’t entirely invested.

still on the hunt for a good summer read! (probably shouldn’t have selected a novel set in WWII)

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nostalgic, melancholic prose with a poetic touch. This one should be read and enjoyed while sitting in a garden, under trees, listening to birds Not in a metro, bus, or in a dentist waiting room.

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful prose but too slow for me. DNF’d

[Maddison Manley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like I was left hanging/disappointed at the end. There just wasn’t enough substance in my opinion..I also hate when books have animal abuse 😒

[Naomi Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty depressing

[Jeanne Baker Stinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book during our Book Club Yankee Book Swap (fun night where I got to open three different things but had them stolen and where the book Ketty helped me pick out was first picked and often stolen -- lots of swapping this year). This one was given by Lucy -- nothing she knew but well reviewed and written by a poet. Not a first novel.
It is the story of a evacuee child (12 year old girl) from London who lands with a horrible family and eventually makes a friend of a young (23 yr. old) painter living in the same (desolate) area.
I really wanted to like this book. I loved the sense of place and time. It felt like the writer herself had been evacuated as she described what the little girl packed to bring. (I had to look up almost all of the clothes -- didn't know what they were for sure and in a long list couldn't let them all just drift by!) It it turned out the whole book was like that -- Hubbard seemed to understand everything about England at that time and the way she wrote about attitudes, material possessions, class distinctions, native animals, scenery, etc. as if she were swimming in that water was remarkable. I know I missed lots of important things. The writing is very poetic --at times too much so as it drug me out of whatever plot there is.
But, the "plot". This is a story told from 2 points of view and it takes awhile to figure out that the man's story is in the present and the little girl is looking back. The man is a pacifist in WWII, working in the fields, living in an old lighthouse, painting in his spare time, and thinking constant circular thoughts about the purpose of his life and if he is right to be here, if pacifism is right, if there is a God, etc. He especially ruminates on a sort of love triangle he was involved in at university. He had an unhappy childhood with a distant mother and a father who was killed in WWI. Perhaps Hubbard is a genius and deliberately made you feel exactly what it was like to be him by letting you swirl around and around in the same thoughts endlessly but it got a little old when the other character was in immediate danger from her neglectful and abusive situation and had no power or money to change that (both of which he had in small amounts as a middle class, white, adult, male). In the end, I'm not sure what the message is. He finally takes some action (steals a boat and goes to help at Dunkirk. Which, by the way, was a horrific scene of what it was probably like but in which no one comes out looking like a "hero".) He feels he's learned that all life is connected. (He had a vision in his youth of a potted palm and the soil and the pot all being tied together and he returns to that.) However, his action results in his death and in the little girl having no one to help when she finally gets the courage to leave her assigned "family" and come to him. She does look back (from a good life as a librarian but without family of close associations) and think very tenderly of him -- she tries not to remember their times together too often lest she wear the memories too thin -- and credits him with her ability to see a life with music, art, etc. that she was then able to live. I couldn't get past the part, though, where she was best loved (it seemed) by her grandmother who died while she was evacuated. I didn't see how the message of that daily, thoughtful, caring/caregiving love was reflected in her life. Finally, there was a sense of a "crush" that she had on the painter (would not be shocking in a just turned 13 year old and he certainly never acknowledged it...) but as a very old woman looking back that seemed the cause of the luster of some of the memories -- which seemed strange. Overall, a much longer review than usual becasue I can't get it out of my mind but, at the same time, I couldn't love it.
On a final note -- it did make me read just a little about the evacuee program and I had never thought about how it was mostly for poor children. More wealthy families generally had other places to go that they could arrange on their own. One dad in the story from the little girl's neighborhood even says, "The government was never interested in helping my kids before. Why would they "help" them now by taking them away?" and refused to send his child. Apparently, there were many horrific stories from those times.

[GP Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A celebration of two people’s steadfastness

Philip and Freda are outsiders, one by his choice of pacifism and the other by her circumstances, who struggle to survive as WW2 breaks out in Europe.

Philip is a young man conflicted with anxieties and doubts about his relationships with Jess and her brother Peter. He struggles with making his way in the world, flunks his finals at Keble College, becomes a conscientious objector and withdraws to a disused lighthouse to endeavour to scratch a living as a farm labourer. Here he discovers ‘only two things mattered. The natural world and painting’.
Freda is a child of a family running a hardware shop in the East End of London. She is evacuated out to a family whose lives are ‘nasty, poor and brutish’ in the desolate flatlands of south Lincolnshire. Here she is neglected and faces dreadful hardship.

Freda visits Philip in the lighthouse and these two lost souls find companionship and discover a shared project – that of caring for a wounded albino goose.

But this friendship is broken when Philip overcomes his pacifist objections, steals a small boat and sails to assist the evacuation from Dunkirk.

There are two narrative voices. The first is the interior monologue of Freda as an old woman whom we gradually learn is in a care home. She is revisiting scenes from her life on a day when the residents are due to gather to watch the TV coverage of the 75th anniversary of the evacuation from Dunkirk. The second is an unnamed narrator. Plot is less important in this novel as it moves slowly between Freda’s memories as captured in the journal she has been writing. The unnamed narrator recounts scenes from Philip’s early life at home and at college. There are no distinct chapters. Instead the novel unfolds in a series of scenes which cut back and forth across the years.

This is a slow-moving novel which allows it the time to dwell on period details. The research is very well done with every page bringing evocative insights into the 1930s and early 1940s. This is a great achievement as it is skilfully woven into the narratives.

The first half of the novel is exposition with dramatic events beginning to gather pace only in the second half. But having spent so much on the exposition, I wanted to know much more of Freda’s life from surviving the stress and squalor of being an unwanted evacuee to her life in a care home 75 years later. We can surmise Philip’s fate but not to offer any glimpse as to Freda’s life seems frustrating and unsatisfying. Did she make a transition from her sad lonely life as an evacuee to one that was warmer and more fulfilling?

This is a sad tale set in the middle of the 20th Century that’s distanced now so as to be a historical novel. It’s not a happy tale but it does celebrate the steadfastness of two people who struggle against grim situations to find a fulfilment of sorts.