Flora and Grace

by Maureen Lee

It's 1944 and Flora Knox is enjoying a beautiful spring morning in the Swiss mountains, waiting on a railway station platform for a train. Having been educated in Switzerland, Flora has been unable to return home to the UK since the outbreak of war, much to her delight. She is far happier there than she had been with her elderly aunt. As Flora watches, a cattle train draws closer to the station, pulling a fleet of slatted trucks behind. But the trucks don't contain animals. From within come the sounds of humans, groaning, pleading, on a desperate journey across the Swiss countryside. Horrified, Flora runs to the train as it slowly clatters through the station, and as she does so, a filthy bundle of rags is pushed out into her arms. Through the slats of the train, she hears a desperate plea: 'Take him. His name is Simon.'

As the train disappears, Flora is left holding a tiny baby boy. Everything looks just the same as it did moments before - the sun, the sky, the station - but nothing will ever be the same again.

SUNDAY TIMES bestseller Maureen Lee has written a powerful, moving story of war, motherhood and love.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2013

About the author

Maureen Lee was born in Bootle, England, UK, near Liverpool during the World War II. She attended Commercial College and became a shorthand typist. She married Richard, and they had three sons, now adults. The last years the marriage lives in Colchester, Essex.

During years, she published over one hundred and fifty short-stories, before published her first novel Lila in 1983. She continued published dramatic historical sagas mainly setting in Liverpool since 1994. In 2000, her novel Dancing in the Dark won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read by Maureen Lee. I always enjoy her books. This story is a bit different, it's historical fiction and takes place between 1943 and 1959, it starts off with a pretty amazing happening, Flora, at only seventeen, is handed a baby boy from a train heading for a concentration camp. The story follows Flora as she returns to England with baby Simon when the war is over. She ends up in Liverpool where most of Maureen Lee's books are set. I liked reading about Flora, Simon and their friends and family, it's an easy, gentle read but touching and emotional in places. The story is unlikely, but aren't many great stories? I was a bit puzzled by the title and the picture on the front of the book showing two girls, I felt it should have been called Flora and Simon and had a picture of a teenage girl with a toddler boy. I suppose Grace, although she doesn't have much of a role in the story is actually the hero of the book as she saves her son from certain death.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved It !!
I have read 'After the War is Over' by Maureen Lee before, and it was just amazing!
So when I found this in the charity shop... it was mine... 😊
I just love the way Maureen Lee writes. It's like snappy and quick but can also take the words across 15 years !! And that's another thing I love about the book, just on how it takes the reader with the book through the years.
We get to see Flora's life from the age of 17 until she's 33! We see her ups and downs ! And not just that, due to the third person writing you get to travel away from Flora in England and go to our other main characters in America ! (It really scratched that itch in my brain at points)
It's fr a smooth storyline in terms of writing ofc (not the storyline itself... very busy... very bumpy... very interlinked...) AND YES DEFO INTERLINKED! INTERLINKED! INTERLINEKD!
So yes 😌, I loved this book.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story of love and sacrifice during the war and after.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl happens to be at a train station in Switzerland one day in 1944 when a train pulls in. She hears human sounds coming from one of the cattle cars and goes to investigate. Suddenly a baby is shoved towards her through a break in the side of the car and a woman asks her to take the baby and care for him, his name was Simon. Then the train disappears. Flora takes her task seriously and it changes her life. The rest of the book details just how that life works out. It's really a story about family and love and what comprises a family group...even in the middle of a World War.

[Samira Salimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another devastating & emotional story of what world wide second has brought to people's life. Flora's life changes forever in spring 1944 in Zurich station. Grace leaves his 6 months old son in Flora's hands to look after. She has high responsibility to raise the baby & make him ready to encounter his destiny in coming years.

[Karen Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good read

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel had an abrupt start, with Flora seeing someone off at a train station, in the opening pages you got the idea that the war wasn't affecting Flora; she was in neutral Switzerland in a school for frail children and there was a nice description of the sunny day and the circumstances surrounding the school. This seemed to magnify Flora's horror when a cattle train pulled through the station and she realised there were people on board. She is given a baby and takes him to the school. It's only then that the reader gets a bit more information and context about the war through Andrew and Else (the founders of the school), which mirrors nicely how Flora finds out about the war and what is going on in the rest of the world.

The characters were likeable and believable, with the exception of Ed whose mood I found to swing from one extreme to the other. This may have been to reflect his indecision at the situation, but it was too extreme.

I had always dismissed Maureen Lee's books as aimed at older people, but this had genuine heart, charm and warmth. I have discovered a new author and possibly a new genre!

[Liz Chapman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose this is what you might call a gentle read. It is essentially a story about family love (or lack of it) and is set in Switzerland during WW11 and after the war in Liverpool . The book is an easy read and the story line mostly aimed at women . I think that the story line was quite strong but the writing of it was watered down . If the writing had been given a bit of grit and strength this book could have been taken to the next level.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank the lord I've finished this book! I wanted a gentle read at a time in my life when I was stressed. It certainly fitted the bill! However after a quarter of the way thru' I found it too gentle and wanted grit, depth and a bit of action (not just of the horizontal variety). It's def aimed at ladees of a certain age, but a bit too easy to read for me. Also, not very well edited, several grammatical errors which were annoying. I give it 3 stars generously.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had been sat on my shelf for a couple of years and it had never been one I'd reached for over others, but on a day I had free I decided to sit down with it. I couldn't put it down, Maureen Lee takes the reader to another era, a period of history so well known yet still creates a page turner. I fell in love with the characters, and am eager to read as many of her books as I can now. I don't offer a 5* rating lightly, one of my favourite books I've ever read.

[Alice Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over one sitting- something that rarely happens unless a book truly captures me. A testament to the author.

In 1944, 17 year old Flora becomes a parent to a stranger's child. The story follows Flora as her family, both immediate and wider, changes. I thoroughly enjoyed following Flora through her journey and becoming familiar with the various characters she met along the way.

This is definitely going on the re-read list.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a baby boy, Simon, whose mother (Grace) passes him from a train on the way to a concentration camp into the arms of a teenage girl (Flora) in Switzerland. The story follows the complicated decisions Flora makes to raise this baby in the time period following WWII and gives fascinating insights into life in Switzerland and England following the war. A great read.

[Arianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Potentially great plot but disappointing writing.

[Helen Willmont · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea at all

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and emotional book. Couldn’t put it down.

[Louise Bleakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book with some predictable turns and some not predictable. Gripped from the blurb on the back cover.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a story! A 17 year old girl is stood at a small station in Switzerland when a train is passing slowly by. To her horror she realises there are people inside, not animals! In a desperate act of self sacrifice a hole is made in the side of the truck and a woman gives up her baby, just shouting his name, Simon. She gave up the baby so he could live. Although she didn’t know it at the time….the mother did save his life, as she later died in Aushwitchz.

Flora, the 17 year old, is an orphan herself and feels she had been given a sacred charge. She looks after Simon and brings him up, despite what stigma that would mean, by some people who definitely wouldn’t believe how Simon came into her life.

She gives him a happy childhood….then his fathers d grandparents turn up!

[Jean St.Amand · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 260 ish pages of this book were really good. But then, it just turned into nonsense. I was slightly annoyed the first time Flora ''fell in love'' two minutes after meeting Kerry, but she was only 19 so I thought, ok......she's young, naive, etc but then, she inexplicably did the same thing a dozen or so years later with Ed......''fell in love'', slept with the guy immediately....it all just annoyed me A LOT. The last 75 or so pages kind of ruined the story for me.

[Susan Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely story about a Flora who, at the age of 17, was handed a baby by a woman who was being transported from Italy, through Switzerland to a concentration camp. We follow their lives through ups and downs until Simon was found by his rich American grandparents and he had difficult choices to make. Although the story ended neatly I would have loved a sequel.

[Charley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my normal type of story but I like to try new things. I actually quite enjoyed it.

Only thing that 'grated' on me slightly was that some of the commentary and story-line felt rushed. One paragraph jumping into next, but on the whole if you like an easy read, post Wartime, bit of a mystery then you'll probably like this too.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This book was okay - interesting storyline (if somewhat unbelievable at times), diverse characters, historical context - however what was lacking for me was depth. Obviously the story covers a large time frame and is a small book but it felt like events were being skimmed over. I missed the human experience of those moments.

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up from a charity shop (my new hobby), and it was a lovely quick read. Lately I'm really enjoying reading quick, (somewhat) lighthearted books like these in between the beastly academic/non-fiction books I've picked up. It helps to keep my brain working a bit.
I gave it to my Mum who then passed it on to her Mum to read. A truly heart-warming story that will entertain you, make you cry, ugh it's just lovely.

[Vanshika Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must say that the author made a bang on start with the plot but eventually lost to maintain the interest. It is a simple , light read but not so captivating for me. Certainly not a type of book one would read in a stretch.
An average 3/5 from me.

[shelley taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book

It is the second time I have read this book and it is better the second time
I enjoyed it so much more because I am a retired lady and can read any time of the day

[Armel Abel-Seedoyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely family Drama
Real sweet how children came to change Flora’s life
Beautifully written as always
We travel from Switzerland to Italy to London. And finally settle in Liverpool. There is a touch of New York too.
And also how the War affected all people of the time.

[Kathleen Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed, easy read! Young Flora was handed a baby at seventeen from a desperate mother who was in the train headed for the concentration camp.
Flora brings up the little boy as her own, but always knows one day he will have to know his history.

[Sharon Brailey-Poulter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maureen Lee never disappoints. Beautifully written story.

[Bronwyn Rykiert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed this book about Flora and her life.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book
Will read more by this author

[Linda Hobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read by Maureen Lee