The Very Thought of You

by Rosie Alison

Alternative cover edition for ISBN 9781846881008

England, 31st August 1939: the world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unravelling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair, with unforeseen consequences.

A story of longing, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You is not just a love story, but a story about love.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature, Historical, World War II, Book Club, War

311 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Rosie Alison grew up in Yorkshire, and read English at Keble College, Oxford. She spent ten years directing television documentaries before becoming a film producer at Heyday Films. She is married with two daughters and lives in London. Her debut novel THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (2009), which made it onto the Amazon Rising Stars shortlist and was longlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year and the Prince Maurice Prize 2010, was shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book.
Ok, let me start by saying that I'm really sorry about what I'm about to say. I hate having to give a negative review, but I just really did not enjoy this book at all. =/
It just wasn't at all what I expected. I thought the story was about the little girl Anna, but really she was only a small part. The whole book is about cheating on spouses. Literally every couple in this book is involved in infidelity. If they're not cheating, they're planning to cheat. It just drove me crazy. I just think that ruined what could have been a really good story. Every person is screwed up in some way. I suppose the story is supposed to be a study of human heartbreak and psychology, but I just got so annoyed with all of the self pity that every person had. I just wanted to tell them to get over it and move on with their lives. Yes it's sad that Elizabeth can't have children, but she needs to stop wallowing in self pity and live her life, and the same with Thomas being stuck in a wheelchair. Yes it's sad, but after so many years you have to learn to pick yourself up and live your life. And b/c of all their self pity, they ruined their marriage. Ugh! It annoyed me so badly. Boohoo I can't have children, so I'm depressed, so I'm gonna go cheat on my husband with 20 other guys. And boohoo I'm in a wheelchair so I'm worried about having sex with my wife anymore b/c I feel inadequate and b/c of this I've now turned my wife away from me and she doesn't love me anymore, and now I don't love her anymore. So I'm gonna go have an affair with this other woman. blah! What is wrong with these people?!
And then the one person in the book that I liked, Anna, ends up being just as screwed up as an adult. She has an amazing husband who loves her, but she doesn't love him back, b/c deep down she's in love with Mr. Ashton her old school teacher who's old enough to be her father. And she'd rather cheat on her husband with some random old fat guy than have sex with her own attractive husband. I don't get it!
I'm sorry maybe I missed the point on this. But Jesus people if you don't love someone then don't marry them. And if you feel you don't love them anymore then divorce them, and stop cheating! And for God sakes, work out your issues!
I was so frustrated that I didn't have any emotion or sadness when certain characters died throughout the book (I won't say who, b/c I don't want to spoil the book for those of you who haven't read it).
I enjoy World War 2 stories, but I definitely did not enjoy this one. I'm sorry but I just can't recommend this book.
The one good part of the book was around the end. I thought it was somewhat poignant and I enjoyed that.
My favorite parts of the book involved Anna's childhood. I enjoyed her story as she went to school at Ashton. I enjoyed the history of the Ashton estate. I also enjoyed the childhood innocence. But I absolutely hated all the adults in the book.

I'm so sorry for this bad review, but I just couldn't deal with all the cheating, psychological issues, bad decisions, self pity, etc.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I generally enjoy novels set during the Second World War. It's a period when stakes were high and when British society was struggling to reshape itself in the face of imminent catastrophe. So when I saw that this story took place in a stately home converted into a school for evacuees, run by a couple whose marriage was under terrible strain after he had become crippled by polio, I thought it sounded as if it might be a good read.

Unfortunately, this wasn't for me. The narrative seemed to have only one pace and there was altogether too much tell and not enough show. I also wasn't engaged by the way dialogue was conveyed. There were hardly any real conversations. Instead, there were a number of sketchy summaries of attitude and opinions. Finally, the viewpoint was constantly changing so that I found myself asking whose story this was meant to be.

I suspect the manuscript needed more editing than it received and that there was at least one more stage that it needed to go through before becoming a really good novel. But I didn't finish the book. So this isn't a fair review. Perhaps it improved after I gave it up.

[Dougal · Rating 1 out of 5]

All credit to Rosie Alison for getting her first book published, by whatever means. Most of us dream of being a 'writer' and never get past a first page of idle jottings. It requires grit and determination to go all the way.

However, just a few pages into this book I was reminded of the old adage, 'Everyone has a book in them and that is where it is best left'. Words alone can't describe quite how bad this book is. I don't want you to put yourself through reading it, so words will have to do.

I've read a review where someone threw the book over the side of a cross-channel ferry rather than finish it. Another where they binned it as it wasn't worth sending to the charity shop. I know exactly how they felt. I plodded around a fifth of the way through it before throwing in the towel, and that fifth was a real struggle.

Unfortunately, Rosie Alison just can't write. If she was prepared to spend a little time doing a creative writing course (perhaps A174 with the Open University?), or even read a primer on the subject, she might realise that 'less is more'. Overuse and, or, strange use of adjectives and adverbs just doesn't cut it, eg 'Nazi stukas', 'lustrous moustache', 'gummy teeth' or 'eerie warning'. And 'point of view' changes grate; they're continuous and inappropriate. There is even the odd error in tense.

Metaphors are laughable: 'It was as if her heart had been suddenely tuned into a strange new wireless station for other people's sorrows.'

Characterisation of an eight year old child is totally inappropriate. We have Anna, at eight, hearing the wheels of a man's wheelchair squeak and feeling sorry for him and for his wife: 'She worried that Mrs Ashton might not be happy being married to a cripple - they couldn't go dancing together, and she could imagine Mrs Ashton dancing. That must make him sad, too, she thought. How could such a beautiful woman be married to a man who couldn't walk?' It just isn't credible.
Or the following: 'Did the Ashtons have any children of their own, she wondered? She hoped so. He must be a kind father.'

But it's the standard of written English that is truly unforgiveable. Or maybe it is. It's difficult to tell someone their written English isn't up to scratch, particularly a graduate in English Literature from Oxford. But surely her friends could have helped out a little? If you haven't read the book you may be wondering just how bad it is. It's very bad, page after page. Just two examples will make the point:

'He could not contain his own joy...'
'Norton found a woman streaming with blood in a crater, and he pulled her out, while his wife ran to help an old man trapped by a wall.'

I really recommed giving this a miss. Life's too short.

[Siany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have just finished this book and I have to say that even though it has left me feeling a little sad, it was a very good book.

Apart from 2 of them, I didnt find any of the characters particularly likeable but I did find myself wanting a happier ending for some of them.

The main character of the little girl Anna was very sweet, I found myself sympathising with her and was very sad that once the war was over how things didnt work out for her due to her childhood and how it affected her entire life, marriage etc.

The character I really did like was that of Anna's teacher Thomas. His wife was very selfish and horrible and in the end it leads to her doing something so horrible to punish her husband that it was just as well as got her comupance. I pitied her character but could not bring myself to like her.

It was interesting to read the different parts of the war from everyone's perspective, it made the story seem a bit fuller and you got more information on the war from the different perspective's from the different places in the UK.

This was a very good read, I am not sure I would read anything from this author again as it has left me feeling a little sad with the ending etc but thats probably just me. I think a lot of you here would enjoy this one

8/10

[Maggi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very interested in the premise of this book but found it to be a total disappointment. The romantic/sexual adventures of some of the main characters were forced, absurd, and inexplicable, but were however, less melodramatic than the untimely deaths. When the former child evacuee discovers her long repressed love (30 years worth) for her disabled, much older former teacher, and asks if he loved her too (back when she was 10) it was definitely a "wtf?" kinda moment.

[Cecily · Rating 1 out of 5]

A travesty that this tosh was nominated for the Orange prize.

It is the muddled but predictable story Anna Sands, evacuated from London to Ashton Park (a stately home adapted as home and school for 86 evacuees). While there, she becomes aware of illicit adult relationships and her experiences leave their mark into adulthood. It also tells the stories of childless Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, Thomas' siblings, Anna's parents, and, for no particular reason other than to inject a bit of "real" WW2 action, Clifford and Peter Norton (he a diplomat and she an art dealer). It also throws in some parallels with Jane Eyre (including the "invisible thread" and an attic fire), with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

The worst aspect is the appalling writing (and she graduated in English, from Oxford!).

Rosie Alison is OBSESSED with eyes to a distracting and laughable degree. Sometimes there are three or four clichéd mentions on a single page: "eyes on stalks", "eyes bright", "bright eyed", "watchful eyes", "remote eyes", "arresting blue gaze", "level blue gaze", "fresh eyes", "wounded eyes", "complicit eyes", "eyes met... like an electric jolt" and on and on. It is relentless and bizarre. Even some forget-me-not flowers do not escape, being "like brilliant blue eyes". By the end of the book, even the characters are obsessed: after more than 20 years, "he could still see her eyes" and "I have been looking for you all my adult life - that look in your eyes".

Overall, it is totally lacking in subtlety; everything is spelt out too much, making it more like a children's book in some ways. For example, "And then he felt ashamed", which is fine, but it then adds "he did not want to be unkind, or even think unkindly about anyone". Similarly, there is quite a good passage describing "avid faces of the other children, their guilty fascination to know what it might feel like to lose your mother", which is ruined by adding "A part of her felt strangely important: an aristocrat of grief"! Then there are agonising passages such as "was there really something flowing between them, as she sometimes thought, or was it all just her imagination?", which, if the story were properly told, the reader should be able to intuit. As for "Teaching made her happy.", it sounds like something from a learning to read book, not an adult novel.

There are some odd analogies that left me amused and baffled in equal measure: just after an embrace, "that fragile day, its touchless light" (touchless?); "the rapid flicker of her moods... she carried her own personal weather"; "time was freighted with unstated intimacy"; "the tiny gap between her teeth gave her a frank charm"; "uncluttered face easily lit by smiles", and best/worst of all, "It was as if her head had been suddenly tuned into a new wireless for other people's sorrows".

When she finds a word or analogy she likes, she is not afraid to repeat it: parents are "stiff"; Thomas is always "gallant"; within the space of four pages, two women "reinvent" themselves, and spirits "flow around" just a few pages after souls "leak away" in the fires of broken gas pipes.

One weird feature of this and "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (whose author praises this), is that although there is some justification of childish sentences and banal exposition when the story is told from Anna's view, the style pervades the whole book. Yet conversely, there are several times when the child is implausibly adult in their understanding. For example, while waiting to be chosen for a billet, 8 year old Anna noticed a man "who spoke to her [Mrs Ashton] with deference" and after hearing a row, Anna wonders "Did all adults cry out in such pain behind their bedroom doors?

There are also some tedious anachronisms, but in a book this bad, they scarcely matter. (For the record, very few debutants in the 1920s had been to university; wind chimes and "hanging out" were not common before the war (the phrase took off in the 1960s), and in 1965 postcodes were only partially introduced and not something many people knew about, let alone bothered to use.)

I'm afraid the only redeeming feature of this book is that it's a quick read and it is so bad, it may make you laugh.

[Christie K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this! The narrative is so expository, it is all tell don't show. It creates an immense distance between the reader and the characters, and also between the characters. I found it impossible to believe that any of these characters fell in love with each other and that they were heartbroken when people died. When I came to the last section, I realized that the first 260 page we all a set up to explore some interesting themes about what makes us the people we are, but what an extended set up, poorly done and then the themes weren't particularly well explored. Alison continued with her narrative style of skipping and flitting from POV to POV so quickly and shallowly, that the characters are all one dimensional and totally unsympathetic.

[Jo-Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is a great story lurking in this novel somewhere--with the war, separation, marriages, an old estate house...but the writing in this novel makes me feel like a year nine student is trying to be profound.

So many chapters end on questions that the reader should ask naturally. Not the author. Why?

Why was this shortlisted for the Orange Prize?

[MaryannC Victorian Dreamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I myself, thought this was a beautifully written, haunting, achingly sad book. I wont blather on about the details, except that it reminds me of Kate Morton's novels. Happy that it was shortlisted for The Orange Prize.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ack! What a string of bad books in a row. This book loses a somewhat original and daring spark of a plot in heavy handed writing that muses on love as a thing at great length, telling about love and being in love, without showing why or how the characters feel that way. The prose is truly heavy and plodding, and the whole book could have been a lovely 70 page novella but instead dawdles on and on.

There are also wierd extraneous walk-on characters (an ambassador and his wife) who seem to exist only to insert wholly unintegrated "History: you were there" moments in the text. Through their eyes, we see the fall of Warsaw and the liberation of Dachau -- things that have nothing to do with the story and which (since they are hardly unfamiliar aspects of history) could have been better dispensed with, thereby shortening the book.

Yawn again. I'm ready for a good book.

[Sabina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sé que este libro ha recibido unas críticas algo malas, pero la verdad es que a mí me ha gustado. Será porque a mí el Drama extremo me encanta y la verdad que este libro es bastante dramático.

[Virginia Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prepare to have your eyes opened, your heart broken, and your view of the amazing endurance of the human spirit revised and revived. You will experience all of these things when you read Rosie Alison's "The Very Thought of You". A shattering, yet spirit-sustaining, glimpse into loss and survivorship, this is a story which will resonate with many. Few will be unaffected. In the summer of 1939, with the impending threats of WWII devastation looming large, thousands of children were evacuated from London, sent to safer locations in the surrounding countryside. These children were torn from their homes and separated from their parents, and no one could be certain what the future would hold. "The Very Thought of You" focuses on one such child, Anna Sands, relocated to the wealthy manor home of Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton. Childless themselves, the Ashtons welcome the children and provide them with care and an education. It is the gallant and gentle Thomas who becomes a touchstone in Anna's life. He is a man who suffers great loss and unspeakable tragedy, yet he lives his life with appreciation for the beauty he sees among the devastation. True love comes to Thomas in midlife, but it is not a love with whom he will be allowed to share life on earth. However, even death cannot dim the luminescence of this love. Your heart will ache for Thomas, but his soul remains undaunted through it all. As with many who have experienced the shock of wartime desolation, Anna searches throughout her life for real peace of mind. As a married adult, with children of her own, Anna finds some measure of comfort in reconnecting with Thomas. They form a somewhat tentative, but still caring relationship, keeping touch in letters and Christmas cards. Ultimately, Anna's search for fulfillment will come full circle and bring her once again to Ashton Manor. As the song says: "The very thought of you, and I forget to do those little ordinary things that everyone ought to do....". This story and these characters are neither little nor ordinary. They will stay in the reader's consciousness for a very long time.

Review Copy Gratis Simon & Schuster

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story revolves around the evacuation of children from London to the relative safety of the countryside at the onset of World War II. We follow Anna Sands, an eight year-old, as she leaves her mother, Roberta, to go they know not where. As luck would have it Anna, along with more than eighty other evacuees, is swooped up by the elegant Elizabeth Ashton and bused to her husband's ancestral home, Ashton House.

The blurb on the press release informed me that "nyone who loved L. P. Hartley's The Go-Between or Ian McEwan's Atonement will fall for this extraordinary coming-of-age novel". In The Go-Between, Leo is pressurised into passing letters back and forth; in Atonement, Briony is only asked to deliver a single letter, the wrong letter as it happens, but, in The Very Thought of You Anna is merely asked to retrieve letters. All three books are very different but the key element is the same in each of them: the long-term (and to varying degrees detrimental) effects of children being exposed to adult relationships before they can fully grasp what they are witnessing.

I swithered when I was first offered this book for review. It looked like it might be sentimental slush. It has one of those tug-at-the-heart-strings covers, a child, lagging behind, staring forlornly back as she heads off into the unknown with her fellow wartime evacuees. It felt contrived. It looked Photoshopped.

It just goes to show you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

This is not a love story. It is a story about love. Yes, there is a love story at the centre of the book but it is not the novel's only love story. The book deals with two things: loves (of various kinds) and distances (for different reasons). It is also a story about loss and the failure to make the most of the moment.

I enjoyed it far more than I expected. You can read my full review on my blog here.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's 1939 and Hitler is preparing to invade Poland. Thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the Blitz.

Eight year old Anna is relocated to Ashton Park where she meets Thomas and Elizabeth and bares witness to their unravelling marriage.

I was massively disappointed with this book. Rosie Alison has created flat characters that do not move me in any way. I do not believe in their relationships or their feelings and I found them to be rather reckless and ridiculous.

I find it hard to believe that people would actually make these kinds of decisions in these situations.

This book fails as a love story because the writing is too 'flowery' and I feel that the author has pushed the 'romantic' situations too much to be believable.

On the other hand, this 'flowery' way of writing was also used when describing the harsher scenes of WWII and it all came across in a light hearted way.

The end was rushed and raced through about sixty years in twenty pages.

Rubbish!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Given that this was nominated for lots of literary prizes, including the Orange, I was expecting a great novel. What I got instead was a meandering plot, full of clumsy and obvious plot devices, and what on earth was the last section all about?! The idea behind the plot had potential, but it seemed like Alison wasn't really sure what to do with it and then ran out of enthusiasm. Disappointing and goodness only knows who nominated this for a prize!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a terrible book. Amateurish writing, weak plot and borderline creepy with the main character an eight year old girl with an unnatural attachment to her teacher thirty years her senior. The plot meanders between characters and changes points of view at random, half the time you don't really knows who's it even is. All in all, very disappointing. Good thing it was a free book.

[Tess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have been so much better if the author had not descended into the realm of the Romance novel. I loved it right up until the melodramatic last third of the book. I have no idea how this book made it to the Orange Prize shortlist for 2010.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosie Alison non è una scrittrice, ma una produttrice cinematografica inglese. L'idea di scrivere un libro parte da due episodi ben precisi, come lei stessa scrive nei Ringraziamenti:

Several years ago my father gave me a batch of papers belonging to our cousin, a diplomat called Sir Clifford Norton. It was eerie to read his letters and dispatches from the Warsaw embassy, written just before and after the Nazi invasion in 1939. At around the same time, I visited a beatiful house in Cornwall which was open to the public. The visitors' tour included a very touching archive of children who had been evacuated to the house during the Second World War.

The Very Thought of You è la storia di Anna, ragazzina di otto anni che viene evacuata da Londra nel settembre del 1939 e finisce ospite di una magione palladiana nello Yorkshire, Ashton House, di proprietà di Thomas Ashton e della moglie Elizabeth e trasformata per la durata della guerra in una scuola per sfollati. La coppia è senza figli e Thomas è su una carrozzella a causa della polio, contratta subito dopo il matrimonio. Le due disgrazie congiunte sono state evidentemente troppo per i due coniugi, il cui matrimonio è sull'orlo dello sfascio. Anna assiste per caso ad alcuni episodi chiave del rapporto fra Elizabeth, Ashton e un'insegnante della scuola, la giovane Ruth. Ovviamente data la giovane età non ne capisce la portata, ma ne subisce l'influsso, sviluppando per Thomas Ashton un'adorazione che avrà profondi influssi su tutta la sua vita, anche da adulta.

La tematica dei bambini sfollati in tempo di guerra mi affascina molto: non solo mi domando come può essere stato per dei bambini londinesi anche molto piccoli ritrovarsi improvvisamente lontani dai genitori, a volte anche per anni, fino alla fine della guerra, e nelle case più disparate (i bambini sfollati venivano infatti sistemati anche presso case private). Dall'altra mi domando cosa può aver significato questo distacco per i genitori, dilaniati tra il desiderio di occuparsi direttamente dei figli e la necessità di proteggere la loro incolumità mandandoli lontano. Forse la più grande delusione per me è stata realizzare che questo argomento viene affrontato solo perifericamente, anche se la protagonista ufficiale è proprio Anna e il romanzo è strutturato come un romanzo di formazione. Di fatto parla di amore,ma trovando ben poco di positivo da dire al riguardo: si tratta per lo più di storie di persone che non riescono ad amare, o che, quando finalmente trovano l'anima gemella, non sono ricambiate, o lo sono ma la loro storia finisce tragicamente.

La storia viene raccontata da un unico narratore onnisciente in terza persona che cambia spesso prospettiva e indulge in frequenti e lunghi flashback, e non riesce, a mio avviso, a dare una reale profondità ai personaggi: nonostante le loro esistenze siano molto drammatiche, non ho sentito le loro emozioni. La Alison utilizza un linguaggio evocativo (a volte, forse, troppo) ma i sentimenti che evoca suonano a vuoto, e mi hanno impedito di sentirmi coinvolta nelle loro vicissitudini. Le svolte più significative della trama vengono trattate senza enfasi, in modo rapido e sommario. Le varie linee narrative sembrano trattate ed esposte in modo eccessivamente ordinato e pulito, anche se non sempre le concatenazioni funzionano (l'effetto duraturo delle esperienze di evacuata sulla vita di Anna, per esempio, mi è sembrato molto tirato). Il romanzo dice, non mostra, ed è piuttosto ripetitivo, grazie a un narratore che rimugina per pagine e pagine sui sentimenti dei personaggi e alla presenza di pochissimi dialoghi.

Le parti più interessanti (e purtroppo brevissime) sono quelle dedicate ai Norton, che forniscono un contrappunto alla vita ovattata e introspettiva ad Ashton Park, introducendo la realtà della guerra e dei campi di concentramento nazisti. Anche i brevi capitoli dedicati alla madre di Anna, Roberta, che una volta sola a Londra (il marito è in guerra) inizia a lavorare per la BBC in mezzo ai bombardamenti, sono molto interessanti. Viene da pensare che forse The Very Thought of You sarebbe stato un romanzo migliore se si fosse concentrato su questi personaggi, o addirittura un ottimo saggio se avesse utilizzato il materiale originale di famiglia.

Ci sono dei punti in comune con Atonement (Espiazione) di Ian McEwan, anche se siamo, chiaramente, su un piano molto diverso. Molti commentatori hanno anche sottolineato le somiglianze al romanzo The Go-Between di L. P. Hartley, che però non conosco. Forse la narrativa si avvicina di più ai romanzi di Kate Morton, che però non si propone come scrittrice di literary fiction, e pertanto riesce a produrre, nel suo genere, degli ottimi e onesti romanzi di intrattenimento. La Alison sembra voler volare molto più in alto, ma fallisce nel suo intento.

Questa lettrice introduce un concetto interessantissimo: l'idea che questo romanzo potesse essere molto significativo, se solo avesse scelto di esplorare il motivo per cui alcune persone investono eccessivamente nell'amore, destinandosi così al fallimento e negandosi tutte le altre opportunità della vita. Effettivamente, la maggior parte dei protagonisti di The Very Thought of You segue questo schema, che però il romanzo sembra glorificare, molto più che mettere in discussione. L'idea dell'amore romantico come unica aspirazione nella vita, e l'idea di anima gemella, di unica possibilità d'amore nell'esistenza, sono ottime in un feuilleton alla Kate Morton, ma se si punta ad altro, bisogna approfondire.

The Very Thought of You fu pubblicato nel 2009, e le uniche recensioni sui principali quotidiani della Gran Bretagna furono pubblicate quando fu inserito - a sorpresa - nella long list dell'Orange Prize del 2010. A seguire il romanzo è stato tradotto in italiano (nel 2011). E' difficile capire che cosa esattamente abbia spinto i giudici a questa inclusione (il romanzo non vinse, chiaramente; la vincitrice fu Barbara Kingsolver con il suo The Lacuna). Io l'ho trovato abbastanza piacevole ma non particolarmente illuminante e nemmeno coinvolgente.

http://robertabookshelf.blogspot.it/2...

[Brianna J · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT

In the mid 1900’s Hitler and his Nazi army were in power in most of Europe. The Very Thought of You, written in 2009 by Rosie Alison, is an amazing and attention grabbing book based during this time zone. Anna Sands and hundreds of other children have to be evacuated from their homes because Hitler is threatening his attack on Poland. Leaving their mothers and fathers the children board a train to an unknown place. The train let children off at different spots along the journey to meet their “new parents” until the war was over. The Very Thought of You was an amazing book because of its emotional pull, interesting historical setting, and secret love affairs.
The Very Thought of You is heartwarming because of its emotional pull. Anna Sands was taken away from her mother and father and evacuated to an unknown place. ““Good-bye, Mummy!” called Anna, through the glass. Suddenly, she began crumpling inside as she fixed her gaze on her mother. She could feel the pull of her mother’s eyes right through her¬¬—until she was going, gone” (Alison 21). This is very emotional because it would be hard to not be with your parents for a long period of time, but especially when you are only ten years old. When Anna leaves for Yorkshire her father is off fighting in the war so she doesn’t even get to say goodbye to him. When Anna first arrives at the Yorkshire estate she is running down the stairs and badly cuts her leg on the banister. Alison writes, “A stab of pain suddenly juddered through her body as her right knee rammed into a sharp decorative leaf sticking out from the banister. She pulled away her knee, disengaging the iron from her flesh—leaving a deep gash there” (Alison 33). The authors in depth descriptions make Anna’s pain super realistic. Another reason that The Very Thought of You is such an amazing book is because of interesting historical setting.
The Very Thought of You is an outstanding book because the author incorporates real history. This book is based during the time period of WWII in Europe. Hitler and his Nazi army are at the brink of taking over the majority of Europe. Many children were evacuated from their homes so they would be safe from the war. Anna’s father was off at war when she left for Yorkshire she didn’t even get to say goodbye to her father. “Lewis replied to her with wry descriptions of his inaction under the fierce Egyptian sun. We listen to the BBC much of the time, he wrote, so now I’ll be able to imagine you at the other end of the broadcast—right through the wireless, across the sea, back in London. Send me a though wave sometimes, my darling” (Alison 124). Throughout the book Roberta and Lewis send letters back and forth. The letters show their deep love and longing for the war to be over. Being off at war was not only hard for the men fighting but it was also hard for the wives and children they left behind. Another example occurs when Alison describes what Roberta is experiencing in her hometown. “There was a night in the spring of 1941 when the bombing in London was so loud and insistent that Roberta could barely sleep… Several buildings were turned inside out, their rooms exposed to the curious gaze of the outside world” (Alison 186). As Roberta leaves her house in the morning to walk to work, she is surrounded by war itself. The thought that war was outside her window was extremely unsettling and she longs for it to be over and to have her family back. The Very Thought of You is also such a fantastic book because of its secret love affairs that Mr. and Mrs. Ashton, Anna’s host parents in Yorkshire, have with other individuals.
Another reason that The Very Thought of You is such an enticing book is because of the secret love affairs with the Ashton’s. Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton’s relationship appears perfect from the outside, but there are things happening behind the scenes that no one knows about until Anna stumbles upon them. Mr. and Mrs. Ashton appear to love each other very deeply but they are both cheating on each other. “Elizabeth’s face glowed with pleasure, as it always did in Pawel’s presence. All her previous lovers had been strangers, and that was the way she had wanted it, but this attraction was something new and different” (Alison 153). Throughout the book Elizabeth is flaunting herself on different men, but Pawel, the starving artist who could barely speak English, catches her eye and she falls in love, something this anti-commitment woman feared would happen. “For Thomas and Ruth, this was just one encounter in the passion to which they were now both bound. For each of them, every day now brought the hope of touching the other…When they reached the room, they found a key in the lock, ready and waiting. Thomas locked the door from the inside. The space between them was electric… Ruth closed the window shutters, then turned to Thomas; their intimacy began.” (Alison 225). This is one the first major description of Mr. Ashton’s affair with Ruth, the Ashton estate maid. This intense love makes the book more appealing and enticing to readers who enjoy romance and mystery.
The Very Thought of You is such an attention grabbing read because of the enticing love affairs that take place in such a depressing time zone in the world’s history. Because Anna’s father is off at war, Anna is off in Yorkshire, and her mother is in London, the emotional pull and tension is extremely great. All three of these characters long to be back together and not in the mist of destruction and domination. This same emotional tension is true for Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton as they have secretive affairs with others in their Yorkshire estate. Separation and deception are the things that tear our love and affection apart.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison is set in England during the Second World War. Anna Sands, a young girl living in London, is evacuated from the city along with other children and moved to the countryside where it is hoped the children will be safe from the bombings taking place in the city. Anna is relocated to the Ashton Estate in the Yorkshire countryside; Elizabeth and Thomas Ashton, a childless couple, have opened their estate to the evacuees where they educate and care for the youngsters. This haunting war time novel chronicles the suffering during the war but also the impact of the war time experience for years to come.

There is an obvious theme of separation in The Very Thought of You as the children live away from their parents and homes but separation pervades this novel and taints almost all relationships between the characters; in fact, the quote below very accurately sums up the novel:

"one long story of separation, just as Wordsworth had said. From people, from places, from the past you could never quite reach even as you lived it"

Many characters have been shattered by loss and and are separated both literally and metaphorically from those they love. It is as if they are outsiders observing their lives and desperately wanting to participate but they are held back by their inability to express love freely - an emotional stunting arising from pasts filled with too much loneliness and tragedy. Thomas suffered the loss of siblings to disease and WWI and the following is said about its effect upon him:

Thomas felt he had been cut off at the roots. In the months that followed, he grew oddly estranged from himself. A profound detachment separated him from hope, and his heart was numbed, leaving him distanced from the quick of his feelings.

And this quote referring to the children - the evacuees:

Yet none of these consolations could staunch the Christmas-night tears in the dormitories. The remembrance of home, of mothers, of fathers. The emotional wasteland of their lives without them. It would take years for many of them to dare to love again.

The characters experience different losses and are changed in different ways by loss but all suffer from this chronic detachment.

My thoughts
I have seen this book referred to as a love story but I prefer to call it a story about love. It covers marital love, parental love and romantic love but is less about the love story itself and more about the characters' difficulty with love. There are glimpses of the redemptive power of love but they are only glimpses - the theme of unrequited love is much more dominant which lends a melancholy tone to the book. For that reason, I felt the book was the perfect length - long enough to appreciate the history that frames the novel and long enough for some therapeutic wallowing in the sadness that defines the novel but not so long as to plunge you into a depression over the aching loss experienced by the characters. Furthermore, the writing is excellent (hence all the quotes in this review) and I thought the author beautifully captured the emotions and at times, lack thereof, experienced by her characters. I will not soon forget the characters or their haunting stories.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The word that comes to mind is dispassionate. If the author doesn’t seem to care about the characters, why should the reader.

[Carla Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is just full of broken hearts, people for whom life has taken sad twists and turns, and left them sad, lonely, and searching for love and fulfilment. Opening in London in 1939, Anna and her mother Roberta are on a shopping trip, but not a happy one. This shopping trip is to purchase the clothes that Anna will be taking with her as she is evacuated from London. Thousands of children are being evacuated as the threat of bombing in London becomes more real. As Roberta watches the bus with her only child on it pull away from the station, she is alone, her daughter headed to a destination she is not even sure of, and her husband serving in the army. Anna, trying to be brave on a bus full of children she doesn't know, many of them crying for their mothers, is also alone, headed to an unknown destination, away from her home and her parents, only eight years old. On a journey that will forever change her life, Anna's destination on this day is the home of Elizabeth and Thomas Ashton, who have opened their home to eighty six of the London evacuees, turning their home into a dormitory and school in order to take in these temporarily homeless children. Elizabeth and Thomas have also had much sorrow in their lives, and they are trying to make sense of their lives as they have become, Thomas confined to a wheelchair and Elizabeth longing for a child, but unable to conceive. As Anna's life becomes entwined with that of the Ashton's, events occur that will shape Anna's adult life. A haunting story, this is a riveting debut novel.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am being generous with a 3 star rating, it was not as bad as some of the reviews would have you think….this story started out being about a child who was being evacuated from London during WWII & going to live in the country with other children. I enjoyed that part of the story & hearing about the people who owned the home & why they opened it up to children….but there was so much oddness, cheating, drunkenness, & none of it rang true to me. The story kept me interested but the last 30 or so pages left me rolling my eyes….also a major pet peeve of mine is when an author over uses a phrase or a word & in this case it was "leaked away", I have never heard this term & I read it enough in this book to last a life time….

[Lightblue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non era proprio quello che mi aspettavo! Iniziato perchè racconta un episodio legato alle evacuazioni dei bambini in Inghilterra durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale e questo è un fatto storico che mi interessa moltissimo. Purtroppo questo è solo un pretesto per raccontare una storia senza spessore, in cui tutti i personaggi pensano solo a tradire il proprio compagno, senza alcun rimorso. Dubito che tutte le donne inglesi di quegli anni fossero così "sveglie" e senza scrupoli. Il finale poi è frettoloso e ancora più assurdo del resto della storia. Decisamente un'occasione mancata.

[Gillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry...I got halfway through and nothing - and I do mean NOTHING - had happened, I didn't like any of the characters or care remotely what happened to them, and it really just isn't my cup of tea. Very disappointing.

[Deanne Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw so many one star reviews on this but it sounded good to me so I read it to judge for myself. This book will stick with me it was so hauntingly good. Really pulls on the heartstrings !

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a writer, so this review won’t be as eloquent as I’d like.

I felt like the primary point of this book was to put the complexity of human relationships under the microscope. I think it could have taken place anywhere at anytime. It seems like the setting was wasted by focusing on the high drama of these few adults when the world was falling apart around them.

I was very interested in the story of children evacuated from London away from their parents to the countryside. I did not know about that. I also thought the Nortons, who the author is related to and brought to life, were the most interesting characters; and we didn’t get to know them that well.

Some readers dismissed the story because of the adultery. That part didn’t bother me because I understand most of the guilty parties. What bothered me was that the storyline seemed inappropriate for the setting and some of the writing was far too emotional. Seriously, isn’t there a war going on?! Don’t you people have more important things to worry about?

It just didn’t sit well with me, and the writing was inconsistent. There were some good passages and then there were others that made me roll my eyes. I skimmed the last 20 pages. I didn’t see much point in carrying the story past Anna’s return home.

[Ruth McEachern · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different time. A different life. Cannot imagine living through a war having a spouse shipped out and maybe not return shipping your children off to safety during war blitzs and getting a notice that your loved one won’t be returning. Can you imagine the poor POWs. I’m not saying their choices were right but it must have been such a sad lonely emotionally charged time on so many fronts. So many choices based on survival. The book reflected to me how fortunate we are to not have had to survive wartime. I did enjoy getting a glimpse into another world we can never understand

[Charmaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad it was quite an emotional sad read.

[Kimberlie Matteau · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment all around. The actual story did not resemble the book blurb. The characters were disjointed and there were chapters that made no sense to the storyline. If you are looking for a WWII historical fiction this is not it. Nor, is it a coming of age story.