Ellenâ€™s husband, Selwyn, tries a little harder to find Pamelaâ€™s family he doesnâ€™t want the girl to remain, even after the other people theyâ€™re sheltering leave.īut heâ€™s the soul of kindness, and he canâ€™t help notice how attached Ellen has become to Pamela. Ellenâ€™s attempts to trace Pamelaâ€™s surviving kin come to nothing, except to learn that the childâ€™s mother died in an air raid, and her father hasnâ€™t been in the picture for a while. You need not be clairvoyant to imagine how long that moment will stretch. Consequently, young Ellen Parr, recently married to the much older owner of the local grain mill, takes the child in, along with other evacuees. It seems a couple women told her to get on a particular bus, or maybe it was her mother.īut circumstances donâ€™t immediately matter, for little Pamela has nowhere to go and, as you might expect, is very upset.

According to the tag on her clothes, sheâ€™s Pamela Pickering, but no one accompanies her or shepherds her to Upton. When German bombs fall on Southampton, England, in December 1940, the stream of homeless refugees reaching Upton, fifteen miles away, includes a six-year-old girl. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itse … ( more) Spanning the sweep of the twentieth century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. But with the end of the fighting comes the realization that Pamela was never theirs to keep. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone.Įllen 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.

In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England during World War II, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. The child who changed everything.ĭecember 1940. Beyond distance, beyond time, beyond life itself.Ī woman. Spanning World War II and the sweep of the twentieth century, We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. 'A powerful story that proves how love itself requires courage.' â?Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing

We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet