Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Inspired by a remarkable true story, a young teacher evacuates children to safety across perilous waters, in a moving and triumphant new novel from New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor.
1940, Kent: Alice King is not brave or daring—she’s happiest finding adventure through the safe pages of books. But times of war demand courage, and as the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home awakens a strength in Alice she’d long forgotten. Determined to do her part, she finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a schoolteacher—to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas.
1940, London: Lily Nichols once dreamed of using her mathematical talents for more than tabulating the cost of groceries, but life, and love, charted her a different course. With two lively children and a loving husband, Lily’s humble home is her world, until war tears everything asunder. With her husband gone and bombs raining down, Lily is faced with an impossible choice: keep her son and daughter close, knowing she may not be able to protect them, or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme, where safety awaits so very far away.
When a Nazi U-boat torpedoes the S. S. Carlisle carrying a ship of children to Canada, a single lifeboat is left adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic. Alice and Lily, strangers to each other—one on land, the other at sea—will quickly become one another’s very best hope as their lives are fatefully entwined.
The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor is an emotional historical fiction novel set during World War II. It is mainly set in England and Scotland.
I was unaware of this part of history, and I am sure many others feel the same way. Several stories are told within the novel, which are woven together nicely. There were so many descriptive details that added richness to the story and to the characters, no matter their background, all of whom had depth.
I liked how the book was divided into four significant parts and how we were made aware of their worthiness to the story even before delving into it. As the story unfolded, I became vested in the characters and their circumstances. They came alive and drew me in from the first page to the last, especially the resiliency of the children. Parents had to deal with the unspeakable, and I often had tears running down my face, trying to hold back a sob or two.
The relationships and connections between the characters had a realism especially considering their tenuous situations and being away from their families and homes. The time spent in the lifeboat was heartbreaking, but I loved how the characters pulled together and were there for each other, offering kindness and support—both children and adults. The diary entries from the Mass-Observation Diarists were just snippets but meaningful to the story, and we realize their importance by the end of the novel.
If not for Lily, Arthur, and Georgie’s mother, would the story have had the outcome it did for those in the last lifeboat? Chance meetings between characters and/or a turn of phrase often played a pivotal role. The story did have closure and some heartwarming moments for those ultimately rescued, but I can’t forget the many more who perished, especially since it seemed unnecessary.
The epilogue positively spun the ending but left me wanting more. The Historical Note at the back of the book gave details relevant to the book and the time period.
Ms. Gaynor is a new-to-me author. After looking at the titles and blurbs of her other books, I have added some to my TBR pile and can’t wait to dive into them.
The Last Lifeboat is an emotional historical novel based on a true story that had me turning the pages to see what would happen next. Have your tissues ready, especially if you read books set during World War II.
Please credit
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Irish Times, and international bestselling author. Her most recent historical novel, set in China during WWII—published in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand as The Bird in the Bamboo Cage and in the USA and Canada as When We Were Young & Brave—was an Irish Times bestseller, a national bestseller in the USA, and was short-listed for the 2020 Irish Book Awards.
I too Loved this book. I would love and almost expect tis book to be turned into a movie or series. My one fault is the use of a few cuss words that were so unneeded. “Christ” twice and both times is just thrown in like it must be or something. It was disappointing when it was said while the life boat occupance are spellbound by whales, such a beautiful part of the story ruined by saying “Christ” not as a endearment but rather a cuss word. JoAnne did a great job with this review.