Cathy Gohlke's "Until We Find Home"

Aspiring novelist Claire Stewart has been working with the French Resistance, but she inadvertently ends up on Britain's shores with five Jewish children in her care. We nowhere else to turn, she seeks out her estranged aunt in the Lakes District, and is granted a place to stay--if she stays to personally care for the children. Claire knows nothing of children, and all she wants is to return to France and her love, but it's looking like she's stuck in Britain for the duration of the war. As her aunt is forced to accept more refugees and other boarders in her spacious, home, will they all learn to work together and share the love they have?

The story made me think of Mrs. Miniver, taking place on the British homefront and dealing with the dangers there--air raids, escaped POWs, prejudice. It hadn't occurred to me that the English would resent the foreign children taking refuge on their shore, but antisemitism was widespread, not just in Germany, and certainly not limited to adults. Nor did it occur to me that many would resent all Americans for the USA's neutral stance early in the war--even the Americans who were actually helping them. But I can also see many of the prejudicial attitudes in the story reflected today here in America, but with refugees of Muslim nations and Mexican families trying to find a better life. We can only hope that like Claire and her family, we learn to love and respect them, not fear and dismiss them.

I had trouble liking Claire for a long time. She's rather self-centered and incompetent (regarding most skills necessary for her situation--dealing with children, cooking, making friends). Granted, it was also frustrating that people constantly scold her about her faults, rather than help her. If no one shows her a better way, how can they expect her to improve? She does come a long way through the story, learning how to love and be loved, and her companions also learn more grace.

I appreciated how the children and adults in the story were able to help each other, though I think the adults [surprisingly] had a harder time helping the kids than vice versa. But in the growing process, I loved that they call in a Rabbi to educate the children; it shows a growing respect for their charges. I also enjoyed the myriad of literary references in this story, and they aren't the usual ones--here we have Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, Beatrix Potter, CS Lewis, and more. As always with a Cathy Gohlke novel, this is full of not only detailed history, but many things to ponder on, some of which hit pretty close to home.

Thank you Tyndale and NetGalley for providing a free e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Other WWII novels by Cathy Gohlke:
Saving Amelie
Secrets She Kept