This novel's title is spot on. Bravery is required and so is forgiveness. It is WWII in England and the characters, Mary, Tom, Alastair, and Hilda are very bright young things whose lives are changed forever. Love is created in all its glory in romance, friendship, and family. Defeat is tragic as the war ravages everyone physically, mentally and emotionally. Chris Cleave writes an amazingly authentic story about a time that most of us never knew. The details of war in London and on the island of Malta are fine tuned and bring us the utter and complete savagery of it all, lest we forget what war truly means to those in it and around it. I want to say it is a love story but it is more a war story where love may or may not survive.

Copy received courtesy of NetGalley.