Format: Paperback, 384 pages
Release Date: June 13, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical / World War II
Hazel Gaynor's The Last Lifeboat is based the true story of the sinking of the SS City of Benares which carried 90 COB (Children's Overseas Reception Board) to temporary homes in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and even the US. On September 17, 1940, a German U-boat torpedoed the ship which was part of Operation Pied Piper that began in 1939. The story is based on Mary Cornish who was one of 36, including 5 children, who survived 7 days in a lifeboat that was almost forgotten.
During all the life and death stresses of parents during WWII London and
the surrounding areas, the decision of whether to send their
children across the ocean to safety, or keep them in bunkers where the likelihood of death was high. Both choices had great risks.
Sending the children
away on ships put the children at risk of being on a ship that is
torpedoed by the Germans. And, that is exactly what happened when a ship carrying kids and their adult chaperone's were attacked and sunk if they were not protected by Navy escorts ships.
Between each chapter are Mass-Observation diary entries by volunteers and others
recording their thoughts, feelings, and experiences during this time. These entries are a must read to add depth to an already tense story. Especially when the story alternates between Alice King and Lily Nicholls who makes the hard choice to send her children, Georgie and Arthur, to Canada.
Lily Nichols, who lives in London, once dreamed of using her mathematical talents for more
than tabulating the cost of groceries, but life, and love, charted her a
different course. With two lively children (Georgie & Arthur), Lily’s
humble home is her world, until war tears everything asunder. With her
husband gone and bombs raining down, Lily is faced with an impossible
choice: keep her son and daughter close, knowing she may not be able to
protect them, or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme, where safety
awaits so very far away.
Alice King, who lives in Kent, is not brave or daring. She’s happiest finding adventure
through the safe pages of books. But times of war demand courage, and as
the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home
awakens a strength in Alice she’d long forgotten. Determined to do her
part, she finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a
schoolteacher—to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas as part of the governments Children’s Overseas Reception Board.
Unfortunately, on the day of September 17, 1940, the SS Carlisle is torpedoed by a German U-Boat which leaves Alice, 6 children, and 29 adults in a lifeboat. Crossing the Atlantic is dangerous, the German U-boats are patrolling
the ocean and everyone is assured it’s safe because they are part of a
large convoy. But for some reason the Carlisle was alone without any rescue ships around. The survivors must wade through storms, lacking of supplies, and the unknown of whether or not they will be picked up by the Germans, or rescued by the British, or, be lost to the seas for eternity.
Meanwhile back in London, Lily learns that her children have been separated by the attacked. One is alive, but the other, Arthur, has not been found and is feared dead. Katherine "Kitty" King is Alice's sister who is devastated to learn of the ships sinking and the fading hope that she will ever be found. Kitty refuses to allow her sister and the survivors, including Arthur to be forgotten, and sets off with Lily to make the public aware of the dishonesty coming from the British government.
The reality of this story is that it is realistic. In 1940, the British government didn’t know if the German army could be
stopped. They were poised to take the Channel Islands and England might
be next. Night after night, London was bombed by the Germans thinking that the British government would have no choice but to surrender. Thankfully, there were those in charge who were firm in keeping Britain from falling. In this country, I don't believe that half of America would stand up and fight if a country like China invaded us.
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1
Four months earlier
Kent, England
May 1940
As she often did in a time of crisis, Alice King turned to books. While
others were determined to dance and knit their way through the war,
Alice intended to read her way through it, especially over the next few
days, during the annual family trip to Dover. The prospect of spending
time with her awful cousins was bad enough, but it was the reason for
the visit, the anniversary it marked, that filled her with dread. She
was debating whether a second Dickens would see her through the ordeal,
or whether Jane Austen was the woman for the job, when Maud said she
would be off.
"Try to enjoy yourself, Alice. Even a little."
Alice settled on Austen. She pulled the book from the shelf with a
weary sigh. "Thank you. I'll try. At least I'll see Kitty." The thought
of seeing her sister drew a smile from Alice's lips. Dear Kitty. Alice
wondered (and dreaded) what her latest news would be.
"She's
dragging herself away from her beloved London after all, then?" Maud
pulled on her coat despite the warm day. "I can't see the appeal. All
that traffic and noise, and the possibility of air raids."
Alice
agreed. She much preferred the open spaces of Kent's rolling
landscapes, the big starlit skies, the audible breaths of the sea.
"Kitty and London were made for each other. She only laughs when I worry
about her being there, but you know what she's like. She's having a bit
too much fun, if you ask me, apparently oblivious to the fact that
there's a war on! Hopefully a weekend by the sea will blow a bit of
sense back into her."
"And maybe Kitty will blow a bit of nonsense back into you."
"What do you mean?"
Maud hesitated as she turned in the doorway. As the former headmistress
of the local school, she knew Alice well, first as a pupil and, more
recently, as one of her teachers. "Don't take this the wrong way, dear,
and I know it's a difficult occasion for you, but maybe a weekend with
your sister is exactly what you need. I remember a time when it was you
who was the adventurous one, always with a plan to go somewhere and do
something. Everything doesn't always have to be so serious, even if
Hitler is breathing down our necks." She offered an encouraging smile
and buttoned her coat. "Anyway, I've said my bit. See you in a few days.
And don't forget to leave the key under the geranium."
As the
bell above the library door settled, Maud's words niggled and nagged at
Alice. She was the serious, sensible one, reluctant to step outside the
familiar, while Kitty lived such a vibrant, almost fictional life in
comparison. And Maud was right. It hadn't always been that way, but
Alice rarely thought about the girl who had been full of wild ideas and
plans for great journeys-and wasn't even sure she'd recognize her if she
met her now.
Alice took longer than was necessary to finish up,
finding any number of ways to delay the journey to Dover. Her brother,
Walter, was driving, and their mother wanted to be away before three.
She shelved the last of the day's returns and tidied the display of
Ministry leaflets. Her hand stilled for a moment as she considered these
grim bookmarks to the progress of war. Their array of advice on all
manner of things, from how to identify different types of poison gas to
the unbearable business of how to humanely exterminate the family pet,
was increasingly alarming. Alice remembered how appalled everyone had
been when the first leaflets were issued after the announcement of war.
Now, eight months on, and with the threat of Nazi invasion drawing ever
closer, war had crept into every corner of life, until Ministry leaflets
were ten a penny and the once unimaginable had somehow become the
inevitable.
Before she left, she put up the blackout screens and
took a moment to savor the musty silence. She loved this little library
with all her heart, loved the brackish breeze that whispered through
the gaps in the rotten old woodwork of the mullioned windows, loved that
it was now home to a small collection of literary treasures sent
secretly from London for safekeeping until the war was over. She wished
she could put herself in safekeeping in the library until the war was
over, burrow between shelves heavy with books whose endings were long
imprinted on her. Yes, books were safe and certain. The world beyond the
library walls was anything but.
Alice’s stomach churned as
Walter turned the car into the familiar driveway of their grandmother’s
house in St. Margaret’s Bay. She loved her grandmother dearly but hated
this forced occasion of remembrance. She didn’t need to come here to
remember her father. She remembered him-thought about him-every day. The
particular date and circumstances of his death were something she
wished she could forget.
"We're going down to the beach," Kitty
announced, grabbing Alice's hand as they stepped out of the car. "We'll
be back in time for dinner."
Before their mother could reply,
and with Walter happy to leave his sisters to catch up on the latest
gossip, the two of them ran off, just as they had as young girls, the
sea breeze tying knots in their hair as they'd pulled off their shoes
and socks and run to the water. Alice was relieved to escape the stuffy
formalities of the house and head toward the small beach a short walk
away. Her heart felt instantly lighter at the sight of the sea ambered
by the afternoon sun, at the sense of possibility and freedom she always
felt when she was near the water. "Imagine where we might go, Alice!
Imagine where all the world's oceans might take us!" As she recalled her
father's words, spoken over their last game of chess, she heard the
echo of a life that wasn't hers anymore, and as she looked toward the
coastline of France, clearly visible in the distance, she imagined
Hitler looking back at Dover's majestic white cliffs, carefully working
out the next move in his own sinister game. His recent invasion of
France and the Low Countries had brought the war terrifyingly close to
England's doorstep.
"Do you really think he'll invade?" Alice
aimed a pebble across the unusually calm water of the English Channel,
but her technique was terrible, and rather than skipping across the
surface, it sank without trace. "I know everyone's expecting it, but I
still can't believe it will happen. Not here. Not to us."
Kitty
laughed at her sister's pitiful attempt. "You need to get down lower and
flick from the wrist as you throw. Look. Like this." Kitty's pebble
skipped elegantly, six times, across the water. "See. It's easy." Kitty
made everything look easy. She was the swan of the family, effortless
and graceful. Alice had always felt like a waddling mother duck beside
her. "And yes. I suspect he will invade," Kitty continued. "The question
is: When? Hopefully not tonight. Invasion would be bad enough. Getting
stuck here with Cousin Lucy would be truly horrifying."
Alice
soon tired of skimming pebbles and looked for shells instead as they
started to walk along the shoreline together. "I hate being in this
constant state of almost war, always wondering, always on high alert."
If Hitler did invade, the south coast counties of Kent and Sussex would
be the first to see the Nazi flags. Her stomach heaved at the thought.
"It's so awful-isn't it?-to think that just twenty miles of sea
separates us now."
Kitty linked her arm through her sister's.
"Your problem is you've had too much time to think about things since
the children left."
Alice had certainly missed her busy days in
the classroom since the school had closed last September following the
announcement of war. She missed the unpredictable exuberance of the
children, their curious minds, their innocence. Teaching was a demanding
job, but one she loved. She was good with children-they often made more
sense to her than adults-and had quietly hoped to take her teaching
experience further and apply for a position at the prestigious Benenden
Girls' School. But the evacuation of children from coastal towns to the
countryside had interrupted her plans. Still, Alice hoped the
possibility might return along with the children, whenever this was all
over.
"You must be bored silly, stuck at home with Mother," Kitty said. "I honestly don't know how you stand it."
"I don't have much choice, do I? You know she doesn't manage well when she's on her own."
Kitty shook her head. "I know she's taken advantage of your good nature
for far too long, more like. She can't expect you to stay with her in
Whitstable forever."
"I don't intend to stay there forever. And I'm not stuck at home. I'm volunteering at the library, in case you'd forgotten."
Kitty laughed lightly. "Oh yes. 'Read for victory!' Isn't that your
slogan? I sincerely doubt books are going to save us if Hitler does come
marauding over the Channel. What will you do, fire Shakespeare at him
from a cannon? Death by a Dickens and two Austens?"
"It doesn't
sound like a bad way to go. And, actually, it's books we need to save
from him. Anyway, you shouldn't scoff. There's a lot to be said for
reading a good book and forgetting about the bloody war for a while.
Entertainment is good for morale. People need a way to distract
themselves. Talking of which, how did it go with Terry?"
"It's
Terence, and he was a charming distraction until an air raid interrupted
things. False alarm, as it happened, but it rather ruined the moment."
Alice laughed. "Yes, I suppose it would!"
"Anyway, it's you who needs a Terence, not me!"
"I had one, briefly. And we both know how that turned out. I'm perfectly happy without a man to complicate things."
Kitty grabbed Alice's hands. "Patrick Swift was a rotten swine. Not all
men are like him-some are actually rather lovely-and time isn't exactly
on your side. You'll be thirty soon, for goodness' sake!"
"Not for another two years. And thirty isn't that old."
"It's ancient!" Kitty laughed and threw her arms skyward in
exasperation. "Don't you ever wonder, Alice? Where else? What else? Who
else? You're such an odd thing, content in your narrow little life."
"Ouch!" Kitty's words landed on Alice like nettle stings. She knew her
life must seem small and dull compared to Kitty's vibrant existence in
London, sharing a flat with other girls, dancing at weekends, working
for a new government department in Mayfair. But life didn't always feel
narrow to Alice. Mostly, it felt familiar. Comfortable. Safe. Or at
least it had until Hitler had invaded France. "Am I really that dull?"
"Yes!" Kitty pulled Alice affectionately into her side as they turned
and made their way back toward the house. "Well, not always. You're
occasionally dull," she concluded. "Mostly, I think you're afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of change. Of doing something different. Being someone different. I
want you to do something, Alice. Something reckless and unexpected.
Something brave. Run away and join the bloody circus if you must. Just
promise me you won't spend the rest of your life rotting away at Willow
Cottage with Mother like a wizened old Bramley."
"Goodness,
Kitty. 'Narrow and dull.' 'A wizened old Bramley.' Are there any other
insults you'd like to throw at me?" Alice punched Kitty's arm fondly.
Kitty laughed. "Plenty more insults where those came from, but I'll save them for our cousins."
But deep down, Alice knew Kitty was right. Her work at the library,
surrounded by books, filled her heart with joy, but a part of her longed
to do something reckless and unexpected and brave. She just didn't know
what, or how.
A loud whistle caught their attention. Alice
turned to see Walter waving from the path, indicating that they should
come back now. He was so like their father that, for a moment, she could
almost believe it was him, waving his daughters back up from the beach,
a proud smile on his face.
"Come on. Race you back!" Kitty set off at a sprint. "Last one there has to sit beside Cousin Lucy at dinner!"
Alice followed in futile pursuit. "That's not fair! Katherine King, you're a terrible cheat!"
As they ran, a brisk sea breeze ballooned out their skirts and sent
Kitty's hat tumbling wildly along the sand. They chased it and laughed
until their sides hurt, and for a few carefree moments the prospect of
German invasion was forgotten. That was the exasperating thing about the
war. It was everywhere and everything, and yet it was nowhere and
nothing. It was an impossible riddle, a puzzle without a solution.
After dinner that evening, Alice excused herself with an imaginary
migraine. She lay awake in the small guest bedroom beneath the eaves,
listening to the rattle and creak of the rafters as a summer storm
rolled in across the south coast. Her father had always loved a good
storm. He’d taught her not to be afraid as they’d counted the seconds
between the roll of thunder and the crack of lightning, calculating how
close it was and then how far away as the seconds reassuringly increased
and the storm passed.
But some storms never left. The aftermath
of his death still rumbled and roared, and grief still raged in Alice's
heart as she counted the seconds and willed the winds to settle and the
storm to blow itself out.
2
Clapham, London
May 1940
Lily Nicholls hardly noticed the blossom that spring. It didn't last
long anyway, scattered by unseasonal winds that easily blew such fragile
things away and carried the ugly business of war, and Hitler, ever
closer in return. Like most Londoners, Lily was jittery. The air-raid
warnings in her South London terrace had, so far, been false alarms, but
elsewhere, people weren't so lucky. Recent reports of civilian
casualties in the Netherlands were truly awful. It was unimaginable, and
yet the facts were unavoidable, printed in the newspaper alongside
cheering advertisements for Bournville Cocoa and HP Sauce because life
carried on, even when it didn't.
In the small back kitchen of
number thirteen Elm Street, Lily absorbed the latest awful news with her
heart in her mouth. She read out the occasional line or two from the
newspaper.
Mrs. Hopkins, her neighbor, tutted and sighed and
said war was a terrible, terrible thing. "And they're talking about
another wave of evacuation now," she added as she rolled out an
unappealing gray circle of potato pastry for a Homity pie. "Sending the
kiddies overseas this time. They'll have us all shipped off to the moon
next."
