Chris Cleave’s War-torn Love Story

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Photo by James Emmett

Inevitably, stories of war entangle fierce passion, intense danger and incessant fear. Like so many fictional sagas set during World War II, international bestselling English author Chris Cleave’s heartbreaking new novel, Everyone Brave is Forgiven, weaves together a dramatic war-torn love story that also includes deep suffering. Moreover, the profoundly moving characters at the center of Cleave’s story—youngsters Mary North, Tom Shaw and Alistair Heath—are based on his own family history and tell an engrossing tale crisscrossing Europe to the island of Malta, where Cleave’s grandfather served as a soldier.

As a sheltered 18 year old in 1939, young Mary is eager to separate from her well-to-do family and aid in the war effort. Soon after she is bewilderingly offered a position as a teacher, she encounters two young soldiers—best friends—who will change her life in powerful and unexpected ways. Beautifully written and gut-wrenchingly hopeful, Everyone Brave is Forgiven is an insightful portrait of a time when every day felt perilous and no one was guaranteed survival. Strikingly intense, this new novel by the award-winning author of the bestseller Little Bee will resonate strongly with a wide range of readers.

In addition to his incredible sophomore debut Little Bee, Cleave is the author of the novels Incendiary and Gold. He will appear in Milwaukee in conversation with Boswell Book Co. owner Daniel Goldin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 5.

Book Happening

Simon Sebag Montefiore

7 p.m., Tuesday, May 10

Boswell Book Co.

2559 N. Downer Ave. 

People around the world continue to be fascinated with the royal lives of the Russian Romanovs. A new book by prize-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore titled The Romanovs: 1613-1918, traces the dynasty from ruthless empire building through the Bolshevik Revolution. Montefiore, who received his doctorate from Cambridge University, will speak at Boswell Book Co. in an event co-sponsored by UW-Milwaukee’s Stahl Center for Jewish Studies and the university’s Russian and Eastern European Studies program.