We Must Be Brave

By: Frances Liardet

Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle, Juliet Mills

Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best seller

"A powerful story that proves how love itself requires courage." (Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing)

Spanning the sweep of the 20th century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itself.

A woman. A war. The child who changed everything.

December 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England, during World War II, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone.

Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home, the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband, Selwyn, had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all. But with the end of the fighting comes the realization that Pamela was never theirs to keep. Spanning the sweep of the 20th century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itself.

©2019 Frances Liardet (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Poignant and absorbing." (People)

"Be prepared to surrender - to Liardet's gorgeous prose, her haunting storyline, and the question that will lodge in your heart long after you’ve finished: What would I have done? For anyone who has ever loved a child, this stirring debut will work its way indelibly into the folds of your memory, and of your heart." (Georgia Hunter, New York Times best-selling author of We Were the Lucky Ones)

"Dazzling... As a testament to parental love and its relationship to the heartbreaking, healing, almost ungraspable passage of time, We Must Be Brave is a great success: richly observed, lovingly drawn, and determinedly clear-eyed to the last." (Guardian UK)

Good Content w/ eventual emotional attachment .

This was a good book for the most part. It was very, very slow and took a while to gain a real appreciation for the content. In the end you do form an emotional attachement to the 2 main characters and their journey.

It was good enough...

An intriguing story, plausible, and the era was painted well along with the characters. But at times it was a slow and boring. The author sometimes seemed to rely on repetitive and redundant phrasing to make her points. But, overall it was a fine enough listen while doing laundry and working in my garden.

Wonderful Read

This book was heartbreaking. It brought me to tears several times. A beautiful story of surviving hardship through love.

Another wonderful story.

A love story to remember. It brought me to appreciate my own childhood and the characters were wonderful. Narrated beautifully!

The Farmers Daughter

Not What You Think

I thought I knew exactly where this book was going and was happily thrown off my guesses several times. I really love Ellen and Pamela as character and their development. The relationships are very well crafted even though it does make the overall storytelling a little long, it's worth it. To be fair to the author she did craft a story that spans 80+ years. She also does a fantastic job describing everything vividly, which for me made it quite emotional.

Sad but beautiful

I was so hoping for a different outcome for Ellen and Pamela. However, the author was extremely creative in bring it all around. I’m hopeful for a sequel from Pamela’s point of view.

A wonderful surprise

I was totally surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. Simple and sweet and real. Frances Liardet’s words paint every scene so perfectly that I went to see if she had other books. I wanted a little more in the last paragraph, but it was still good. The women reading were wonderful, too.

Lovely story

Enjoyed this story. Felt like the ending was rushed. I wish whomever makes that decision would let the story fold out more. Felt like I missed so much.

Jayne Entwhistle

I found this book by searching for one of my favorite Audible narrators, Jayne Entwhistle. I was not disappointed in the book, and of course loved the performance. Although this is supposed to be a book review, let me just say I recommend this book (I’m in the middle of my 2nd listen), but urge you to search the other books narrated by this amazing performer… especially those by Julie Berry. :) Yes, I’m a 60 year old sales rep with a lot of windshield time. And I still love juvenile books. Try “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place.” It’s full of hidden humor that will force you to listen multiple times in order to catch it all. And Jayne Entwhistles performances is astounding!! Hurrah Jayne.

Desperately needed a good editor.

This is a book that I began and unfortunately could not drop, because I became quite curious about the ending. I think the author overwhelms the reader with unnecessary detail most of the time. I did get used to it, because it was so interesting reading about how people lived in England at that time, but looking back, this book needed the stern pruning of a competent editor.

As much as the author researched those times and is favored by having parents who lived during that time, I think she truly erred when she had both little girls call the protagonist "Ellen." I am 82 and it would have been unheard of for a little girl to address a lady by her first name here in the States, and I am betting that it was even more so across the ocean. She shows her modernity and it threw me off both times.

I was surprised that I continued with the story at the beginning because the little girl was distinctly unlikeable, but to be fair, her background was pretty awful.

I think this could have been a much better read and am sorry it took me 16 hours to listen to it.