Reviews

This is a war story pure and simple It is also a love story, a descriptive rendering of the London
home front and its people fighting the Germans. It is horrific at times, but is balanced with
humor, and superbly written scenes. As you'd think, given its title, it is a story of bravery under
grim circumstances.
I believe what makes this book particularly special is the how the author came to write it. His
inspiration comes from conversations with his grandparents. Both grandfathers served in the
artillery. His maternal Grandfather, Captain Hill of the Royal Artillery, was assigned the task of
minding Randolph Churchill, the son of Winston. This and many other conversations led to this
extremely well researched accounting of this period of World War II. Cleave was able to to go to
the exact places his grandfather was billeted as well as military cemeteries and to interview
surviving veterans. Both of Cleave's grandmothers inspired the character Mary, a piece of the
love triangle at the center of the story. Mary, a feisty young woman, not content to sit on her hills
while a war is going on. She comes from wealth but leaves her finishing school to do what she
can for the war effort. This eventually leads her to teaching school which becomes difficult when
her charges are dispatched to the countryside, Cleave's maternal grandmother, Mary West was
a teacher. Later she takes the more dangerous position of ambulance driver, one that Cleave's
paternal grandmother, Margaret Slater, actually held. Cleave is quick to point out that the
characters in his book are fictional other than the similarities as described above.
Told in chapters with monthly titles beginning in September 1939 and ending just after America
joins the fray I highly recommend Everyone Brave Is Forgiven Cleave's ability to capture the
London Blitz, this period of history and to create characters that we grow to love makes this a
winner.