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A Novel
by Julia Bryan Thomas
Inspired by true events, For Those Who Are Lost begins on the eve of the Nazi invasion of the island of Guernsey, when terrified parents have a choice to make: send their children alone to England, or keep the family together and risk whatever may come to their villages.
Ava and Joseph Simon reluctantly put their 9-year-old son, Henry, and four-year-old daughter, Catherine, in the care of their son's teacher, who will escort them on a boat to mainland England. Just as the ferry is about to leave, the teacher's sister, Lily appears. The two trade places: Helen doesn't want to leave Guernsey, and Lily is desperate for a fresh start.
Lily is the one who accompanies the children to England, and Lily is the one who lets Henry get on a train by himself, deciding in a split second to take Catherine with her and walk the other way. That split-second decision lingers long after the war ends, impacting the rest of their lives.
Perfect for readers of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, For Those Who Are Lost is at once heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and uplifting.
"A sure bet for readers of personal war stories and those who want to know, 'What about the women and children?'" ―Booklist
"For Those Who are Lost is a surprisingly suspenseful novel, fraught with the tension of intersecting lives in impossible circumstances. The literary momentum pulls the reader forward at an ever increasing pace toward a poignant ending." ―Audrey Blake, USA Today bestselling author of The Girl in His Shadow and The Surgeon's Daughter
"This richly layered story about losing, finding and forgiving unfolds when a Nazi threat to an innocent island off the coast of France is imminent. Desperate action is taken and children are sent into the unknown where destinies are altered. Then the isolation and pressures of a tedious war beget heartaches and heroes. For Those Who Are Lost is riddled with secrets and sins for the sake of survival. Kudos to Thomas for a poignant and compelling read." ―Leah Weiss, bestselling author of If The Creek Don't Rise and All the Little Hopes
This information about For Those Who Are Lost was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Julia Bryan Thomas is a graduate of Northeastern State University and the Yale Writers' Workshop. She is married to mystery novelist Will Thomas.
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