Oh my goodness I loved this book!!! I read it in two days and it only took that long because I had to work in between. I am really enjoying reading about the lives of the resistance during WWII and this book really put things into perspective from a spy’s point of view,

This was a beautifully woven time slip novel that brought together two lives.
Vivi a British civilian in 1944 who signed up to work for the SOE, special operations executive, an independent spy network set up by Churchill and Sophie Hamilton a lawyer living in present day London. Sometimes with time slip novels I feel like one side of the slip is not as exciting as the other and I am always wanting to get back to that one side but that definitely wasn’t the case in this novel. I enjoyed both sides equally and just couldn’t wait to read what was going to happen next.

Sophie is going through a difficult time in her life when she finds a picture of a mysterious great aunt during World War II. When she consults her family, the story her family tells about her doesn’t quite add up to what she would be doing in the picture. Sophie is determined to find out more about this mysterious aunts life during the war and it might be just the thing to take her mind off when is happening in her life right now.

Vivi has been trained by the SOE to become a British Spy and is on her way to her first mission in Paris. At first things undercover are going well but when her cell becomes compromised she must flee Paris and return Britian. Upon returning to England she finds that her family home has been turned into a hospital. She signs herself up to become a nurse but things don’t go quite as planned when an injured POW arrives at the hospital and turns VIvi’s life around.

I love that when I read historical fiction I learn something new. It was so amazing to learn a little about the SOE and what their jobs entailed. I can’t even begin to imagine what life as a spy would have been like or the courage and bravery they had that got them through every day. If it wasn’t for those heroic men and women I dread to think how different our world would be today.

This story and its characters will stay with me for some time. Will definitely be looking for more by this author!
Thank you to Net Galley and Bookouture for the advanced copy.

Quote: "She needed everything in her life, including her history, to make sense."

In When We Were Brave, Suzanne Kelman takes us through a dual timeline.

She does a great job with the dual timelines. It didn't matter which timeline I was in, the past or the present, I felt like I was in that time.

In the present day, we are following Sophie, a woman who is dealing with the death of her daughter and her mother, as well as a boyfriend who has been cheating on her. Everybody handles grief in different ways. Sophie wants to be surrounded by reminders of her daughter, Emily. Matt wants to be surrounded by his female co-worker.

Sophie comes across a photograph with a woman in it, with a stance that resembles that of her family. She takes a picture of the photograph and sets off to visit her grandmother to find out if, by chance, this woman is kin to them. With reluctance, Sophie's grandmother tells her that it is her Great Aunt Vivienne, and that they do not talk about her. She also tells her that sometimes the past is better left right where it is. Sophie cannot just let the past stay in the past. She cannot stop thinking about the woman in the photograph and her story.

Quote: "On some level she felt that is was no accident that the photograph had come into her life right now."

In the past, we follow Vivienne, a British spy in WWII. Or is she?

We jump back and forth as we follow Sophie trying to find the answer to that question.

In When We Were Brave, we go on a journey for the truth. Was Vivi really a spy for her country, or was she a traitor? Some things are not as they seem. There's always more to the story.

Quote: "I'm a firm believer that the truth always comes out in the end."

How far will Sophie go to find answers?

Love. What will be sacrificed in the name of love?
War. What will be sacrificed for country?

Love.
War.
Grief.
Betrayal.
Loyalty.
Unlikely relationships.
Travel.

I highly recommend this book, if you enjoy any of the above. Oh, and remember the swallows...


Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review When We Were Brave.

https://shannonblogsaboutbooks.blogspot.com/

This was a great wartime novel that I had a great time reading. The characters were well drawn, and the storyline flowed seamlessly. Would like to read more books by this author

Wow! Just wow! This book kept me on the edge of my seat right from the get go! It’s a story of devotion and bravery, trauma and guilt. It’s a story how heroic actions of the past can be called upon to move forward in the present.

Present day Sophie is in mourning. She’s lost her mother and daughter and is losing her boyfriend. She blames herself for the tragic fate of her mother and daughter. She has no clue how to move forward...until she spots a photo of a women with a striking familial resemblance at a WWII exhibition. It is then she finds out about a long lost great aunt whom her family saw as a traitor during the war. Intrigued by someone she never met and whose story was never talked about, Sophie sets off on a mission to learn more about her aunt and her role during the war. This journey into the past gives Sophie the courage to move forward with her own life as well as unveil the true bravery and sacrifice her aunt showed while as an undercover spy.

As I read more and more stories based on the SOE and Allied spies during WWII, I can’t even imagine finding the bravery within myself to put themselves on the line. Then I think of why they did it and I have nothing but respect for the bravest of the brave as they worked so hard in times of extreme danger to fight for their country, for what they believed in. Many lost their lives but they knew that was a possibility from the get go!

This story, based on true events, opens your eyes to those brave individuals. Many of their stories were never told or are just now being uncovered. We’re still learning so much from WWII and this story uncovers yet another facet of history’s darkest time. I encourage you read the authors notes at the end of the story. It will shed some light on how this story came to be and the historical aspects of it that make it so gripping.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Bookouture and Suzanne Kelman for this amazing story.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. Wow! This was another amazing novel by this author (view from the rooftops). This was a WWII historical fiction and it had great plot and some twists right up to the end trying to trace the loyalty of two main characters, Vivi and Marcus. This was told in dual timelines with Sophie and Alex in modern day trying to figure out about their relatives from the past. This book was a bit slow to start but once the framework of the first few chapters was laid the pace greatly improved. A great historical fiction read!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ms. Kelman has written a gripping and insightful look into the lives of members of the SOE (Special Operations Executive). This group of men and women was established by Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the Second World War. It was a network of British spies who were sent all over Europe to disrupt the activities of the enemy. Their main purpose was to enact espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe. These undercover spies worked as wireless operators, couriers, Resistance Organizers and saboteurs.

The story tells about the lives of two women Vivienne (Vivi for short) who was a member of the SOE during WWII and Sophie, a present day woman who finds out that she is a descendant of Vivi. Her family never talked about her because they were convinced that she was a traitor. In 1943, she was part of a Resistance Cell code named the Physician or Prosper Network. They were infiltrated by the Gestapo and 80 members were killed. It has never been learned whether it was a mole or a double agent that cost these brave men and women their lives. There had even been talk that the British Government sacrificed these spies in order to keep secret the location of the D-Day landings.

With the Code name "Operation Fortitude" - they tried to fool the enemy into thinking that there were ships in the Thames (which were actually fake) and army encampments in Scotland when they took reconnaissance photos.

Vivi and Marcus were not traitors - Vivi tried to leave coded messages for her family but they were not decoded until Sophie in present day figures out the clues and rights the wrongs that were believed about her great-aunt.

This book was a tear jerker and deserves more than 5 stars.

When We Were Brave
A captivating and emotional WWII historical fiction title about the perils of being a spy and the lives it touches through the decades.
Love, loss, betrayal and above all the courage of those that fought for freedom during WWII are well researched and beautifully written into a family saga.
The story starts with Vivienne ‘Vivi’ Hamilton, a young woman from a wealthy aristocratic family; who own the manor house in Cornwall, running through the streets of Paris in 1945. Vivi is an SOE British spy but of course her family don’t know this.
The story of Vivi’s life is taken up by her great niece Sophie when a photo of Vivi is uncovered in WWII research. Sophie has her own demons to deal with - the loss of her mother and her child and the distancing of her partner Matt.
Sophie takes on the task of discovering what happened to Vivi and why the family don’t talk about her and more importantly why they are ashamed of her actions during the war.
The book switches from present day where Sophie is investigating Viv’s past and coping with her own life issues to the 1940s - giving us an insightful picture of Vivi’s life during the war and the reasons for her actions.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advance copy to read and review, absolutely loved it.

Thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review.
Having read view across the rooftops I was hooked on this FANTASTIC author.
When we were brave is another OUTSTANDING piece off fantastic writing with dual time done just so perfectly.
I have nothing but total admiration for this Author.
Thank you.

We all know the sacrifices that the soldiers made during the war. But we don’t usually hear about the British SOE or better know is Winston Churchill’s Secret army. This is story about them working undercover to find information and send it back to good old Blighty and stop the advancement of WW2 and win the war.
It’s 1944 Cornwall Vivienne Hamilton’s returns to England after failing as a Special Operations Executive. She returns to the family mansion which has now being turned into a hospital. She becomes a nurse to do her bit for the war effort and takes cares of the soldiers that come back. When a plane crashes on the beach and the sole survivor is a Nazi prisoner of war. Vivienne oversees taking care of him. But sparks fly and she falls in love with him and he must return to the war. So, they both escape on a boat back to France. Vivienne is classed as a traitor to her country and is a disgraced by her family and she is never discussed between her family again.
Present day Sophie Hamilton is still grieving from the death of her daughter Emily. She comes across of a photo of woman in the blitz that has a family resemblance. She decides to visit the family in Cornwall. Not just to seek solace from her family but, to find out who the woman in the photo is. She finds out about her Great Aunt Vivienne that no one talks about, as she is a traitor to the country, But things don’t add up and Sophie ends up going to Paris and Germany to find out who her Aunt Vivienne is and did she really do what they are saying she is. Also, who is Marcus Vonstein?
I was so excited to receive a copy of When we were brave by Suzanne Kelman, because I read her previous novel A view across the rooftops which was one the best historical novel, I have read in 2019. I didn’t think it could get better, but I loved everything about this book, the story the characters and it is such an emotional story told me more of the sacrifice that were made during the war. I just hoped they both get the rightful recognition what they did in the war at the end.

If only there were more than 5 stars to give , I would not hesitate.

When We Were Brave is both a heartbreaking and inspiring book that pays to tribute to all those during the War who were put their lives on the line from fighting, to resistance, to spying for a cause that gave us our freedom.

I cant imagine .

The story is told from the perspective of 1944 when Vivi disappears with an enemy soldier never to be seen again and from present day when her great niece Sophie finds a picture from the war of Vivi

You soon get lost in the story , you are nervous for Vivi and the pages turn quickly.

Sophie is a big part of the story as she traces the story behind the picture.

I hated the book to end and I know I will think often of this book.

If you haven't read A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman , get your copy today.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the privilege of reading When We Were Brave.

I received an ARC from NetGallery in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was very good. I finished it in a day. I thought it was a great spy book. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. I can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next.

A heartbreaking tale of war, love, loss, betrayal and courage set during the German occupation of France to the D-Day landings. In Cornwall, England in 1944, Vivienne "Vivi" Hamilton, daughter of a wealthy aristocrat who owns the manor that has now turned into a convalescent home and hospital for wounded soldiers, is a nurse taking care of their patients, until one fateful day, where blinded by love, she elopes and escapes with a Nazi prisoner-of-war, never to be seen again. A disgrace to her family, her name would not be mentioned by any of her relatives for over 75 years. Patriotism and loyalty to one's country was highly treasured values back then, and it was considered treason to break them.

Then in Present day, London, when Sophie Hamilton discovers a photograph of her great aunt Vivi from World War Two, amongst a London Blitz wreckage on Baker St, it throws her into a world of confusion, as her aunt's name had never been mentioned in the family. And also, she quickly realises that the photograph doesn’t fit with her family’s story. It shows Vivi leaving an address associated with a spy network in London – a place she had no reason to be – and it is dated right before she disappeared. Meanwhile Sophie’s own life feels as blasted and bombed as the Blitzed city in the photograph she’s looking at. Her beautiful daughter Emily– as full of joy and wild energy as Vivi had apparently once been – is gone; as is her loving mother, Alice and Sophie’s heart has been left broken into pieces.

Retreating to the family home in rural Cornwall to seek solace from her pain and the feelings of guilt that she could have done more to protect her daughter, Sophie finds herself becoming obsessed with Vivi’s life by conducting a lot of thorough research by going to various museums and archive establishments and travelling to Paris and Berlin. But nothing can prepare Sophie for what she is about to uncover – the story of a woman who risked everything for the person she loved the most; who never stopped serving and a secret family history that could be the key to Sophie’s own future.

I loved learning about the role of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) , which was a British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe (and later, also in occupied Southeast Asia) against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements. Few people were aware of SOE's existence. Those who were part of it or liaised with it were sometimes referred to as the "Baker Street Irregulars", after the location of its London headquarters. It was also known as "Churchill's Secret Army" or the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare". Its various branches, and sometimes the organisation as a whole, were concealed for security purposes behind names such as the "Joint Technical Board" or the "Inter-Service Research Bureau", or fictitious branches of the Air Ministry, Admiralty or War Office. Everything had to remain top secret. The people who served in the SOE were trained on how to operate wirelesses, hand to hand combat, morse code, parachuting etc. and their survival was a mere 6 weeks. They had to constantly be on guard and aware, as so many things can be compromised by the enemy, but even your own allies you have to watch as anyone can turn traitorous.

It was also interesting to learn that the Helford fishing boats helped transport SOE agents across the English Channel to the French coast of Brittany. The vessels used by SOE during the early part of the war were clandestine craft such as fishing boats or caiques. They could pass muster as innocent local craft and carry large quantities of stores. They also had the advantage of being largely outside Admiralty control. However, SOE's first small craft organisation, which was set up in the Helford estuary, suffered from obstruction from SIS, which had a similar private navy nearby. Eventually, in spring 1943, the Admiralty created a Deputy Director of Operations (Irregular), to superintend all such private navies.

Overall a wonderful novel. I look forward to reading Suzanne Kelman's future works.

A fantastic novel a novel of love of redemption .Historical fiction at its best Characters that you fall in love with a story you will hate to end #netgalley#bookoutture

Loved it!!! I was so excited to read this because I LOVED "The View Across the Rooftops." It was hard to put down because I wanted to find out what happened to Villainous Vivienne. My favorite part of the book was finding out the truth about Vivienne. Her family pretty much erased her from their memory and labeled her a traitor. She was one brave lady. She was lucky to survive being an agent with the SOE. When she returns home and discharged as an agent, she was made to feel like it was her fault for what happened. She did so much good and was pretty much blamed for the Network being compromised. I wasn't expecting who was behind the death of Marcus Vonstein, but it was an interesting twist. I loved following Sophie and then later Alex, as they piece together the truth about Marcus and Vivi's activities during the war.

Definitely recommend the book. Loved everything about it- the characters, story and writing style. I look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bookouture through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.