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Out of Place
Where is home when nothing is certain? 1913.Martha, fifteen years old is sent from an orphanage in Dublin to relatives she’s never met in Canada, to her cousin Anna, a kindred spirit, to her aunt who loathes her. Here Martha uncovers a tragic family history. When WW1 occurs, Anna, voyages to France to care for wounded and loses herself in shell shock. Martha leaves the emptiness of her adopted family and becomes a wartime farmerette. Her life is as a farmer, a mother, a wife to Charlie coming home from war, broken. In 1938, Simon Lansky, a German Jewish professor asks for help in rescuing his daughters from a dreadful fate. Martha and Anna, hardened to war and its torments, travel to Europe to rescue the girls.
Will Simon survive the war and reunite with his daughters?
Will war define Martha and Anna?
Will Simon survive the war and reunite with his daughters?
Will war define Martha and Anna?
350 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 2, 2021
In Out of Place, Milree Latimer brings readers along on a compelling journey that explores the meaning of family through the devastation of two world wars.
Through the strong characters of cousins Martha McGrath and Anna Johnson, destined to have their lives intersect by unimaginable circumstances, the story celebrates the strength of women and the resilience of the human spirit.
With her crisp writing style, Latimer crafts a well-researched story, moving from heart-wrenching to hopeful, set in Ireland, Canada, England and France.
March 19, 2021
I'm a mystery/thriller fan so it surprised me to fall so hard for this epic historical novel. It's the characters that hooked me, and the author's intense grasp of emotion that drove the story. Young Irish girl Martha loses her mother and becomes a Home Child, essentially residing in an orphanage. A time comes when a number of the children, Martha included, are to travel to Canada and live with families on farms there. Martha is the lucky one, though; an aunt she didn't know about has agreed to take her in. From the time she arrives, her cousin Anna becomes her best friend and we, the readers, are taken along as the young women live through both World Wars, experience love and loss, and care for family and humanity in general. Bravo, Ms. Latimer!
April 18, 2021
Orphaned Irish lass Martha is only 15 when she leaves Dublin with a group of other Home Children on a journey across the ocean. Headed to Canada, the plan is to find new homes with farm families. But Martha has a better future awaiting her. A letter explains that she has family in Kingston, Ontario, Canada: her Aunt Emily, her cousin Anna and her aunt’s husband, Owen. Martha is excited --- and nervous. She knows nothing about these people, and now she’s supposed to live with them? If her Ma thought this best, then she won’t question it.
To her relief, Anna meets her at the train, and the two form an instant bond. When they arrive at Martha’s new home, though, the feeling is altogether different. Aunt Emily seems not only cold but openly hostile. Anna assures Martha that she’ll come around. But then World War I breaks out, and Anna joins the nursing corps, leaving Martha to face Emily’s chill alone. Will she ever be able to do enough for her aunt to warm to her?
As the years go by and Martha matures, she, too, moves away from her adopted home. It is a time when everyone has a calling --- everyone must step up and do their part. So Martha takes on the role of farmerette. She continues to visit Uncle Owen and Aunt Emily, yet she longs for the day when Anna will be home from overseas. In the meantime, she settles into a somewhat satisfying routine. Then, in a stroke of good fortune, she meets Charlie and falls desperately in love. All too soon, though, he heads off to France, where he fights a war that ravages his psyche, as it does to many young men, and leaves him a shell of his former self.
When Charlie comes home, it is with a broken spirit. We’ve heard that time heals all wounds, but not so much for Charlie, who recedes ever inward and shuts Martha out. When Anna finally returns from France, she meets Charlie and understands exactly what he is going through. Suffering from shell shock herself, she reassures Martha that he needs time and patience. The horrors of the war have taken a devastating toll; they both have seen things no human should see. Yet when World War II breaks out, Anna is eager to enlist again.
The story takes us through both World Wars and beyond. It takes us on one family’s epic journey through life’s joys, heartbreaks and myriad difficulties. We follow Martha as she struggles to fit in, see her gain confidence and ultimately find comfort in her place in life. We watch, too, as Anna pursues her passion for nursing broken soldiers back to health, almost like an empath, ever yearning to be there for the damaged. We see both women become the best they can be through their hardships and their snatches of happiness. Martha grows to understand how her past has always shaped her future and how it has made her the woman she grew to be. Anna, ever the healer, carries on in her role as a sort of angel on Earth. Even Emily makes a remarkable transformation.
Author Milree Latimer has breathed real life into her characters and given them ultra-dimensional depths of emotion, along with all of their flaws and delightful quirks. What’s most wonderful is how in touch with Martha, Anna, Aunt Emily, Uncle Owen and every minor character in this story Latimer truly is. It’s as though she puts the reader’s hand on the beating heart of each of them and allows their sadness, anger, yearning and happiness to be fully felt. OUT OF PLACE is a gem of a novel.
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
To her relief, Anna meets her at the train, and the two form an instant bond. When they arrive at Martha’s new home, though, the feeling is altogether different. Aunt Emily seems not only cold but openly hostile. Anna assures Martha that she’ll come around. But then World War I breaks out, and Anna joins the nursing corps, leaving Martha to face Emily’s chill alone. Will she ever be able to do enough for her aunt to warm to her?
As the years go by and Martha matures, she, too, moves away from her adopted home. It is a time when everyone has a calling --- everyone must step up and do their part. So Martha takes on the role of farmerette. She continues to visit Uncle Owen and Aunt Emily, yet she longs for the day when Anna will be home from overseas. In the meantime, she settles into a somewhat satisfying routine. Then, in a stroke of good fortune, she meets Charlie and falls desperately in love. All too soon, though, he heads off to France, where he fights a war that ravages his psyche, as it does to many young men, and leaves him a shell of his former self.
When Charlie comes home, it is with a broken spirit. We’ve heard that time heals all wounds, but not so much for Charlie, who recedes ever inward and shuts Martha out. When Anna finally returns from France, she meets Charlie and understands exactly what he is going through. Suffering from shell shock herself, she reassures Martha that he needs time and patience. The horrors of the war have taken a devastating toll; they both have seen things no human should see. Yet when World War II breaks out, Anna is eager to enlist again.
The story takes us through both World Wars and beyond. It takes us on one family’s epic journey through life’s joys, heartbreaks and myriad difficulties. We follow Martha as she struggles to fit in, see her gain confidence and ultimately find comfort in her place in life. We watch, too, as Anna pursues her passion for nursing broken soldiers back to health, almost like an empath, ever yearning to be there for the damaged. We see both women become the best they can be through their hardships and their snatches of happiness. Martha grows to understand how her past has always shaped her future and how it has made her the woman she grew to be. Anna, ever the healer, carries on in her role as a sort of angel on Earth. Even Emily makes a remarkable transformation.
Author Milree Latimer has breathed real life into her characters and given them ultra-dimensional depths of emotion, along with all of their flaws and delightful quirks. What’s most wonderful is how in touch with Martha, Anna, Aunt Emily, Uncle Owen and every minor character in this story Latimer truly is. It’s as though she puts the reader’s hand on the beating heart of each of them and allows their sadness, anger, yearning and happiness to be fully felt. OUT OF PLACE is a gem of a novel.
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
April 29, 2021
Wow! This book was emotional and poignant. I loved it.
Martha is only 15 years old when after being orphaned for 2 years, she is sent to Kingston, Ontario, Canada to meet her aunt that she never knew about. Although she didn’t bond with her aunt, Martha immediately connects with her cousin Anna and her father. When World War I starts, Anna is sailing to France to work as a nurse in the war, whereas Martha takes a job in the Canadian farm as a wartime farmerette. The story shuffles from Martha's life to Anna's. We follow both of them through the struggles they experience, the love they find in hard times, the losses and the pain. After the war, they try to repair what was lost in the war; the damaged hearts and broken minds. Nothing however prepares the world and those two courageous woman for the next war, World War II. Again, both Martha's and Anna's families, face terror of the war. Anna, being a nurse for so long requests for military service. In Europe, she heals wounded soldiers, but also tries to find her father's friend and the father of two Jewish girls who were rescued and shipped to Martha's farm in Canada.
I loved this book, all the characters in this book were extremely strong and inspiring. Very well written, provoking, moving, captivating and heartbreaking. The story describes Canada's role in providing homes for Irish orphaned children, and involvement in World War I and World War II.
I recommend this book to everyone, especially to fans of historical fictions.
Martha is only 15 years old when after being orphaned for 2 years, she is sent to Kingston, Ontario, Canada to meet her aunt that she never knew about. Although she didn’t bond with her aunt, Martha immediately connects with her cousin Anna and her father. When World War I starts, Anna is sailing to France to work as a nurse in the war, whereas Martha takes a job in the Canadian farm as a wartime farmerette. The story shuffles from Martha's life to Anna's. We follow both of them through the struggles they experience, the love they find in hard times, the losses and the pain. After the war, they try to repair what was lost in the war; the damaged hearts and broken minds. Nothing however prepares the world and those two courageous woman for the next war, World War II. Again, both Martha's and Anna's families, face terror of the war. Anna, being a nurse for so long requests for military service. In Europe, she heals wounded soldiers, but also tries to find her father's friend and the father of two Jewish girls who were rescued and shipped to Martha's farm in Canada.
I loved this book, all the characters in this book were extremely strong and inspiring. Very well written, provoking, moving, captivating and heartbreaking. The story describes Canada's role in providing homes for Irish orphaned children, and involvement in World War I and World War II.
I recommend this book to everyone, especially to fans of historical fictions.
January 8, 2022
Out of Place takes the reader through a beautiful journey of the lives of two cousins, Martha and Anna. Martha becomes an orphan following the death of her mother at an early age and moves across the ocean to Kingston, Ontario, to live with her Uncle Owen and cousin Anna. Martha falls in love with Charlie, a farm boy, who heads off to war with Anna, a nurse on the front lines. Both Charlie and Anna come home shell shocked and devastated with PTSD. Charlie and Martha have a baby and live a beautiful life on a farm outside of Kingston.
The depth and multi-dimensionality of the characters in Out of Place are phenomenal, and as a reader, I could feel the characters become more mature as they grew older and experience love, happiness, and pain in life.
On a more personal level, I'm incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to read this book. Having quite recently experienced some post-trauma issues in my own life, I really connected with the shell-shocked soldiers which reminded me that I was not alone in my struggles. Thank you, Milree Latimer, for your contribution to the world.
The depth and multi-dimensionality of the characters in Out of Place are phenomenal, and as a reader, I could feel the characters become more mature as they grew older and experience love, happiness, and pain in life.
On a more personal level, I'm incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to read this book. Having quite recently experienced some post-trauma issues in my own life, I really connected with the shell-shocked soldiers which reminded me that I was not alone in my struggles. Thank you, Milree Latimer, for your contribution to the world.
July 19, 2021
I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway, but the review is entirely my own.
I quite enjoyed this tale of the life of Martha, Anna and their extended family. It was vividly and emotionally written. I felt all the feelings the author intended me to feel about their hardships.
I couldn't give the book 5 stars because there were some mistakes that a competent editor should have caught. Did Martha know she had an aunt Emily or not? In one page her existence was a surprise, in another she wasn't. Then at the end we already knew that Anna came home from the great war in 1918, but when she wrote to be rehired as a nurse for the new war, she said she returned home in 1921.
Also, I also feel while the last two parts were well written, the story should have ended at the end of part three. The last two parts should have been the beginning of a second novel featuring the same characters 20 years later.
I quite enjoyed this tale of the life of Martha, Anna and their extended family. It was vividly and emotionally written. I felt all the feelings the author intended me to feel about their hardships.
I couldn't give the book 5 stars because there were some mistakes that a competent editor should have caught. Did Martha know she had an aunt Emily or not? In one page her existence was a surprise, in another she wasn't. Then at the end we already knew that Anna came home from the great war in 1918, but when she wrote to be rehired as a nurse for the new war, she said she returned home in 1921.
Also, I also feel while the last two parts were well written, the story should have ended at the end of part three. The last two parts should have been the beginning of a second novel featuring the same characters 20 years later.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2021
The story of Martha McGrath and Anna Johnson spans their lives from young girls to old age telling a story of family connections, youth dreams and ambitions, and perseverance to follow their hearts during world wars and loss of family. It is a fictional tale of true events regarding the transportation of orphan children and homeless girls away from war-torn Europe to the safety of Canada. While the story is fictional, the author has written of actual events that occurred during World War I in Europe and Canada's role in providing safe haven for orphan children. The quotes prior to each chapter allows the reader to ponder what the chapter will be telling. These quotes are a great introduction to the chapter and are very thought-provoking. The author's style of writing invites the readers to ponder about life and relationships. I look forward to her next book.
April 21, 2021
This was a good read for historical fiction. The women in this story possess courage that spans wars and relationships, while holding on to each other for support. Martha, the niece of Emily, discovers why her aunt treats her with contempt as family secrets come to light. The bold characters, Anna and Martha, leave home and go in different directions where life is challenging. This book is hard to put down.
May 2, 2021
I won this book from Goodreads and what a wonderful read it was.
The story of 15 year old Martha who is sent from Ireland to Canada in 1913 to stay with an aunt after her mother dies, and her cousin Anna, who she immediately bonds with. It tells of their life long friendship and the many hardships they endure through love and loss and 2 world wars. It's a deeply emotional riveting story that brought tears to my eyes several times.
The story of 15 year old Martha who is sent from Ireland to Canada in 1913 to stay with an aunt after her mother dies, and her cousin Anna, who she immediately bonds with. It tells of their life long friendship and the many hardships they endure through love and loss and 2 world wars. It's a deeply emotional riveting story that brought tears to my eyes several times.
April 21, 2021
Out of Place is a beautifully written historic family saga. I loved following Martha and Anna through the journey of life filled with war and heartache. The story teller does a wonderful job connecting you to the characters and although the story seems to jump around at times, it is otherwise well worth the read! Thank you GR for this giveaway
August 13, 2021
I really enjoyed this different take on a WWI & WWII historical fiction. I loved that the author focused a lot on mental health and trama, not just physical trama like most war books.
They also highlight the effects the wars had on soldiers, and nurses, families. I can't imagine what it would be like to live through two world wars but this book gives you a good idea.
They also highlight the effects the wars had on soldiers, and nurses, families. I can't imagine what it would be like to live through two world wars but this book gives you a good idea.
May 6, 2021
Thanks for this book which I won on a goodreads giveaway. It took me a while to get into it between the narrative switching between characters, places, and time. Best to be read quickly. I found it to be an easy and enjoyable read.
April 13, 2021
This story is so powerful, emotional, and heart wrenching. Probably one of my favorite reads of all time!
April 19, 2021
Good, easy read.
Seemed a little scattered in the end, story just hurried up and ended. But an enjoyable fast read for me.
Seemed a little scattered in the end, story just hurried up and ended. But an enjoyable fast read for me.
April 28, 2021
Wonderful story about finding a family and place to call home. Thank you to the author for sending me a signed book plate after I won this book on Goodreads.
May 3, 2021
This was a well written story about family. I enjoyed reading and learning about the lives of the characters and their struggles. It was emotional and captivating.
July 13, 2021
A beautiful family and historical saga.
August 23, 2021
What a wonderful book! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
September 2, 2021
Beautifully written story of a family.
May 28, 2021
I received a free copy of Out of Place by Milree Latimer from Goodreads. I love historical fiction and this one did not disappoint. I fell for Martha, the 15-year-old orphan from Dublin. Her courage and ability to make the best out of tragic circumstances was amazing. Her cousin, Anna, welcomed her to Canada and her new family. Martha creates a new and beautiful life in her adopted country. She turns out to be a strong character throughout the story. Anna is also a strong character who goes to help the wounded across the pond during WW1.The characters are woven together in a believable tragedy with signs of hope through WW1 and just prior to WW2. I hadn’t read about Canada’s connection to the world wars and it gave me a new perspective on that time. Definitely worth the read!!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews