First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Book Club Girl for making this novel available on this platform. I'll admit to struggling to get into this book early on and was not sure I would finish (I'm a skimmer when needed). This book was enlightening to an event of history that I was unaware of and seeing it through the eyes of two different age groups was interesting. At times however I was just ready for things to move along, it seemed like there was LOTS of detail in certain areas (like the brownies) but then at other times, time just zipped along. I most enjoyed the friendships between Elspeth and Minnie and Nancy and Mouse. Which is why I found it so odd that afterwards they just didn't have any contact with each other. Perhaps that is a result of what they had been through and is more common than I think. Overall an interesting read but there were definite parts I "skimmed".

My initial reaction when I finished reading this book was one of disappointment – not because the book was bad or anything like that, but rather, I had gone into this one with certain expectations and in the end, felt completely let down. This is mostly my fault, as I realize now that if I had read the premise more carefully, or had done a little research going in (which I typically do with historical fiction but didn’t with this one due to time constraints), it should’ve been pretty obvious that the expectations I had about the story would not have been warranted.
Set in China starting in 1941, the story revolves around Chefoo School, a British-run school for children of missionaries (mostly from Europe, Australia, and the United States) that functioned very similarly to a boarding school, where the children were taken care of mostly by the teachers and the staff and would only see their parents a few times a year. The story is narrated in alternating viewpoints by Elspeth Kent – one of the teachers at the school – and Nancy Plummer, who started attending Chefoo School at 8 years old. When war breaks out and Japanese forces invade China, the school comes under the rule of the Japanese Imperial Army. With guards watching their every move, the students and staff become enemy prisoners whose lives constantly hang in the balance. Later, when the army takes over the school to use as a training base, everyone is forced to relocate, first to a rundown housing complex, then to internment camps where they remain through the end of the war. In the face of numerous challenges and hardships living in the midst of war, it is the bond that forms between these students and teachers that sustain them through the most difficult of days as well as through lifetimes.

For me, the mark of good historical fiction is its ability to make the reader feel like we’ve been transported back to a particular time and place – the truly great works go a step beyond in that they make us feel like we are actually living the characters’ realities and experiencing what they go through first-hand. Unfortunately, with Hazel Gaynor’s latest book, When We Were Young and Brave, I did not experience what I usually do reading historical fiction (which is definitely an issue, since historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to read). The biggest problem I have with this book is that the portrayal of time and place in the story was not strong, which made it difficult to feel transported. The setting of the story was in China during Japanese Occupation in the 1940s, but to be honest, I felt like the story could’ve taken place anywhere during that same time period and it still would’ve been essentially the same story, as there were basically no cultural elements to speak of in the story outside of a handful of references to Chinese cities and also two Chinese servants who worked at the school. The ambiguous way in which the setting was portrayed in the story is actually one of the things that bothered me the most. But again, it goes back to my sensitivities perhaps being different from other readers due to my cultural background and familiarity with this particular period of history. To put it more clearly -- given the location and time period in which the story takes place, I was expecting there to be a certain amount of historical and cultural relevance that would’ve tied the story to the setting in a more significant, meaningful way – but that didn’t happen with this book, which is the main reason why I felt disappointed. Despite the knowledge going into this one that the story was based on true events, I still couldn’t help wondering, at numerous points while I was reading, why the author would choose to set the story in China during World War II when, technically, neither element was truly significant to the story.

The other area where I felt let down was the lack of emotional depth to the story. Perhaps because of the above-mentioned issues I had with the sense of time and place, I felt like it was difficult for me to get into the story. Each chapter was narrated from the characters’ first-person point of view, which normally would make it easier to empathize with the characters, but yet, throughout the entire story, I didn’t really feel much for the characters, despite the ordeals they endured. To me, the way the story was told, it felt emotionally detached, as though the narrators were reciting facts rather than a lived experience. Of course, that’s not to say that the story wasn’t important, as I’m a strong believer that all stories — especially personal stories — are significant and important in their own way. But I think the way the story is presented matters as well and in this instance, the story as presented didn’t really work for me.

With all that said, there were things that I did like about this one and the reading experience wasn’t all bad, which is why I ended up rating this one 3 stars despite the issues I had with it. And it definitely hasn’t put me off from reading this author’s other works, as I truly feel that this was just an instance of this particular book not being right for me. Hopefully the next one will work out better.

Received ARC from William Morrow via NetGalley

A tale based on fact that is sited in China during the Japanese occupation. It is told mainly with two voices -- Elspeth, the teacher, and Nancy, the student from age 10 to 14. It is a fascinating and interesting story of Elspeth keeping the children busy with school and Girl Guide badges.
Read the book which I found difficult to put down and learn about some young and brave people.

I was excited to read this because of the setting: I have read a lot of WWII-era books focusing on Europe, and not as many dealing with events in Asia. Gaynor's novel follows two characters at the Chefoo School from 1941 to 1945: Elspeth the teacher, and Nancy the preteen.

The tone of the book felt more YA than adult to me. And strangely enough, I struggled to differentiate between Elspeth and Nancy's voices, perhaps because the book is told from the conceit of an older Nancy in the 1970s recounting her experience during WWII. Her narration doesn't sound like that of a preteen, but like an adult woman.

Then why do we have Elspeth's viewpoint, you might ask? I guess Gaynor wanted to cover content that wouldn't be possible with a young girl. There were sad events aplenty, but I didn't develop a close connection to either Elspeth or Nancy so it wasn't as moving as I expected.

An epic tale of survival and perseverance at a missionary school during the Japanese occupation of China in World War II. The story is told mainly from the points of view of Elspeth, a teacher at Chefoo school and Nancy, one of her students, but it also very effectively portrays the feelings and effects of the war on other students and teachers, Chinese workers at the school and Japanese soldiers as well. Being a longtime member of Girl Guides, I was thrilled to read that Elspeth also acts as a Girl Guide leader to the girls of Chefoo School, and the story includes lots of details about Guides and how learning survival skills and how to be helpful and kind to all helps the girls survive internment camp and keep their spirits up despite all the awful things going on. Hazel Gaynor has a beautiful flowing writing style which is incredibly compassionate. At some points in the story I could feel the characters' pain so deeply that I almost could not continue reading. Even though I found the story very engaging it took me a long time to finish this book, but I am glad I did as it was as hopeful as it was sad. Like any story about World War II, a lot of awful things happen - some of the triggers in this story are violence, sexual assault, cruelty to animals and descriptions of people living in deplorable conditions.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers and the author Hazel Gaynor for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When We Were Young & Brave is a challenge to the reader - a challenge to look at tremendous hardship with the unbounded innocence and hope of childhood.
Throughout this book, Nancy struggles with missing her parents, especially her mother. Her teacher, Elspeth, steps in to fulfill the role of surrogate mother, a gift she gives to Nancy that is truly from her heart. Elspeth leads a Girl Guide troop at the school, and the troop continues its meetings and activities even after the school is taken over by the Japanese army and is relocated to an internment camp. Under the auspices of satisfying badge requirements for the Girl Guides, Nancy and her friends support each other and others in their community through an experience that is unique and terrifying.
And now the challenge to the reader is what can we be doing today to support our communities and each other?

This is a wonderful example of youth and bravery. I pondered in how brave I would have been in such a situation. I very much enjoyed learning about these historical events.

One of the best books I have read this year!

Nancy is 10, enrolled in a Chefoo school in China, while her British parents are active missionaries. Elspeth, a teacher at the same school, has left Britain for a new life. All is seemingly well, until WW2 comes to the school. At first, it is merely Japanese guards occupying the area, but soon, Elspeth, Nancy, and the rest of the school are bound for internment camps far from the safety of their school and where their British status means nothing. It is their young Girl Guide patrol that helps keep both Nancy and Elspeth grounded throughout the war.

As always, WW2 historical fiction is a general favorite, along with loving a change in settings from the typical European centered novels. However, the additions of the Girl Guide troop and their role for the school added a wonderful touch to this story, with references I remember from own childhood in Canada. The idea that the teachers tried to provide a sense of normalcy for their charges, despite their circumstances, really brought the novel together.

Definitely a 5 star read and a serious contender for my favorite of the year.

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG & BRAVE is an unforgettable novel about impossible choices and unimaginable hardship, and the life-changing bonds formed between a young girl and her teacher in a remote corner of a terrible war. Following the events of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Imperial Army invades and takes control of the Chefoo School for American and British missionaries' children based in Yantai, China. The teachers and students must adapt to their new way of life under the watchful eye of Japanese soldiers.

This one as a historical fiction was hard for me to get into, I'm not even sure of actual date that I started it and usually I keep really good track of that! It's not a really dark read by any means. It's just an honest, detailed story that makes you appreciate things you may take for granted. I even stopped myself from texting my husband at work today about something that was so petty because of what the characters went through in the book, even though fictional, by the authors research some were real.

The story is told in two points of view by one of the adult woman teachers and one of the young girl students, over a long span of time. Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears near the end. My favorite part of the whole story is how the two main characters learned and grew from each other, even though the teacher was already an adult at the time.

The only thing that left me a bit unsatisfied at the end, is that the author didn't tell how the main woman's brother or best friend made out in the future, as she explained for some other characters. Just my humble opinion and disappointment, otherwise I enjoyed this one, that I wouldn't have normally picked up on my own.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #williammorrowbooks for and an Advanced Readers Copy of #whenwewereyoungandbrave by #hazelgaynor, #goesonsaleonOctober6th.

When We Were Young and Brave is a fictional novel about the Japanese occupation of China during World War II. More specifically, it tells the story of a group of students and teachers from a British-run missionary school who are sent to an internment camp where they are faced with danger and the uncertainty of their future. While I enjoyed that the narrative was written from a fresh perspective, it really didn’t hold my attention. The characters themselves were likable, but lacked depth and I couldn’t connect with them. I love the feeling of being immersed in the story and sadly that didn’t happen with this one.

I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either.

“I actually think life is meant to have its share of difficulty and struggle. That’s when we find out who we really are, what we’re really made of, not when everything’s going along all jolly and straightforward and terribly nice. We come alive in the dramatic bits, don’t we; in the moments that make us gasp and cry.”

Elspeth Kent is a teacher at the Chefoo school in China. Nancy Plummer is one of her students, When Japan declares war on Britain and the US, Japanese soldiers seize control of the school. As liberties and freedoms start to slip away, Elspeth and her fellow teachers must find a way to keep themselves and their students safe.

This is the first story I have read about the Japanese internment camps during WWII. It was fascinating. The story is told from both Elspeth‘s and Nancy’s perspectives. It was so interesting to see the horrors through the eyes of an innocent child and a surrogate mother figure, It is not only a story full of loss and sadness, but also of the power of hope,

Thank you to The Book Club Girls, NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers and the author Hazel Gaynor for the Advance Reader’s e-proof copy of this book.

A story about unrelenting war and the tenacious everyday individuals who endured it. Following a British teacher and her student in occupied China from 1941 to 1945, this book provides a unique perspective on the Pacific theatre during World War II. Through these characters, author Hazel Gaynor chronicles the harrowing journey from the prim-and-proper Chefoo School, a boarding school for foreign children of diplomats and missionaries, to the Temple Hill Internment Camp, to the devastating Weihsien Internment Camp. I appreciated reading this piece of WWII historical fiction; it covered a lesser-known region of the war and showed the daily sacrifices that civilian POWs faced. I am motivated to seek out some Chinese perspectives on the occupation, and more information on the Weihsien Internment Camp. I wish it had been a bit shorter, as it was sometimes difficult to stay with the story, especially due to the inherent relentlessness of the characters' situations. Some of the characters' trajectories felt a bit predictable, but these plot-points still seemed genuine and thoroughly-researched.

[3.5/5: Strong characters and a clear voice. Readers of historical fiction, especially WWII historical fiction, will find something substantial here to sit with. Side note: pretty strong content warning for SA.]

This is the 3rd book I’ve read by this author. My previously read titles were The Girl Who Came Home And Meet me in Monaco, and in my opinion her writing just keeps getting better and better. I love her unique choice of stories to tell from fairly common topics. This book set in China during WWII, was a lovely story of brave teachers and their young students held under Japanese captivity for 6 years. It was heartbreaking and inspiring and incredibly sweet- I loved it and can’t wait for Ms. Gaynor’s next book! 4.5 stars

This book hooked me from page one. The story revolves around a school for children, mostly of upper class families. Main characters are three young girls who have become very close and the staff particularly an instructor by the name of Elspeth Kent. They are all far away from home in China .....home being England, America, and other parts of the world. I found it fascinating to follow the lives of these unfortunate souls as the school is taken Over by the Japanese and their lives are changed.
This novel is somewhat different from the many books written about this time period because it gives a bigger picture of growing up. In the midst of a war and feeling alone...how these individuals come together and stay strong is the heart of the story. I definitely recommend.

I finished, I skimmed through the last half of the book but I finished. When We Are Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor was a good read, but I wanted it to be so much more. It was a very slow and steady read. I did like the characters but there was just something missing. The story is about American children going to school in China. Their parents were missionaries and left them to go do their work. War broke out and the Japanese moved the children and their teachers into internment camps. This part of history is very interesting and It is what made me decide to read the book. I would have liked there to be more about the parents and their relationship with their children. There was never anything mentioned about the parents looking for their children. I felt a total disconnect there. All in all just a fair read.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There has not been a book by Ms. Gaynor that I have not loved. This was such an interesting part of WWII history, that I knew very little about, what was happening in China when Japan invaded. The story focuses on the children of missionaries (mostly British) who were left at the Chefoo boarding school in northern China by their parents while they did their work in China. The girls, three best friends who are learning to be Girl Guides (like Brownies and Girl Scouts), and their teachers who are their leaders are challenged work hard at learning just as the Japanese invade the town where their school is located. They never imagined they'd be stuck in the middle of the war. They keep their spirits up by sticking their learning and even earning Girl Guide badges. They are challenged even further when they are forced to move twice, ending up in an internment camp filled with refugees of all ages and from all over. The situation is dire, as their is little food and rampant illness. The story was very empowering as we see what they were able to endure. #WhenWeWereYoungandBrave #NetGalley

Enjoyable, engrossing historical fiction. I'd never heard about this aspect of World War II and was inspired to do some research.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Hazel Gaynor has written another wonderful historical fiction novel, that will leave you both content and in tears.

Set in China during WWII, a British-run missionary school, filled with British and American students and teachers, is taken over by the Japanese army. Different chapters are told from the perspective of different characters, but the main character is Nancy Plummer (aka “Plum”) who is 10-years-old and has been left at the school by her missionary parents along with her older brother. She especially feels the absence of her mother and sees her young teacher, Miss Kent, as a sort of replacement. The story tells the struggles of Plum, her close group of girlfriends, and her favorite teacher, and how they each struggle to survive as they wait and hope for liberation. This book is made even more sad as it is apparently inspired by actual events.

This is a book that makes you feel a lot. You obviously feel horrible for the children who are living through this without true understanding of what they are experiencing or why, and I felt a lot of empathy for the teachers who originally just had a job but not have the responsibility for trying to keep their students alive long enough to make it to the end of the war, even though they don’t know if they have to keep them going another 6 months or 6 years.

Nancy is obviously the main character, so we trace her through the war itself and we also get a glimpse of her in 1975 in a handful of chapters, so we know she makes it through. I thought the author did a great job capturing the initial innocence of Nancy and her friends through all of this.

I did think that there could have been a lot more with Miss Kent’s story, especially later in the book, or maybe I just wished there would have been more from her perspective. I think I related more closely to her as a person, so I was disappointing that she just kind of dropped off.

But overall, this was a really good book, and it was interesting to read a WWII book that didn’t focus on Europe for a change. It was nice reading a new perspective, even as disturbing as so much of this book was.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and the Book Club Girl for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.

This is the story of the Japanese occupation of China during Word War II and how it affected a school for non-Chinese children and teachers. These students are the children of missionaries, sent to this school while their parents are doing their work, and are already homesick. The teachers are more than just teaching classes - they are helping the children grow up.

Elspeth is a teacher and tells her story in alternating chapters with Nancy, a young student. There are forced moves, poor living conditions, and cruelties both large and small inflicted on the members of Chefoo School. The friendships and loyalties between the teachers and students provide strength and hope.

Japanese occupation of China during WW II is a part of world history I had not really thought about until this book. I knew they invaded and have heard of the atrocities in Nanjing, but that is where my knowledge ended. Knowing that this book is based on real events made it even more compelling.

My thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

When We were Young and Brave tells the story of a missionary school in China during World War 2. The story tells through two perspectives: Nancy Plummer a 10 year old student and Elspeth Kent a teacher at the school.

I really enjoyed hearing how the girls saw what was happening vs what the teachers were doing behind the scenes to make the girls feel like things were "normal". I especially loved that the piece of them being Girl Guides and how the skills they learned helped them survive throughout this horrible time. Being a Girl Scout leader, I thought this was a great angle for the author to use.

I had never read a book that took place in China during World War 2. I loved this perspective. Highly recommend.