Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

I read this based on a review that my niece wrote. This is a historical novel set in London and Malta during the second world war. The story was inspired by the lives of the author's grandparents: his maternal grandfather served in Malta, and his paternal grandmother drove ambulances during the blitz. I really liked many aspects of the story, but most of all the way it made me think, to try to put myself in the shoes of the characters. It explores the ways that external events beyond the individual’s control influence the private lives of his characters, with either devastating or transformative consequences, depending. The novel follows four protagonists from the outbreak of war to the summer of 1942. Mary North is the privileged daughter of an MP who signs up for the war effort within 45 minutes of its declaration. She is assigned a school-teaching job, initially an unappealing prospect but one for which she soon discovers a natural aptitude. Through the job she meets Tom Shaw, head of the local education authority and, despite the class difference – or perhaps because of it, given Mary’s maverick, rebellious nature – the two embark on a love affair. Meanwhile, Tom’s friend and roommate, Alistair Heath, a picture restorer at the Tate, signs up for active duty, eventually deploying to Malta to defend the island amid harrowing and demoralizing conditions. Completing the quartet is Mary’s best friend, Hilda, who is in some ways the odd woman out and in others the voice of the common man, saying things out loud that others think but do not say. The war is long and hard and everyone is roughed up, their virtue assailed, and in end those that live are profoundly changed.