The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach
Pam Jenoff
Mira, Jul 28 2015, $14.95
ISBN: 9780778317548
In 1941 Italy a frightened Momma fears for the lives of her
daughter Adelia, her husband and herself; as the Fascists target Jews. She places Adelia on a ship bound to
Gibraltar where her child will catch a boat heading to Philadelphia. In the States, her family fails to arrive on
time; even as the immigration officer insists children must be met by an
adult. Uncle Meyer and Aunt Bess get
there late but in time to bring their niece to their Chelsea Beach home to live
with them.
The next door Irish-Catholic Connally family, especially the four
sons, greet her as a friend. Adelia is
attracted to the oldest Charlie, but he enlists; while heartbroken she becomes
a translator in DC. Stunned when Charlie
arrives and leaves her, she heads to London to escape her grief. Working for a newspaper, she likes her boss
Teddy until Charlie arrives again.
Moving from war-torn Poland (see The Winter Guest, The
Kommandant's Girl and The Diplomat’s Daughter) to the States and London, Pam
Jenoff provides another tremendous WWII drama that leaves readers believing we
traveled to the 1940s. Through the eyes
of the forced to mature rather quickly heroine, The
Last Summer at Chelsea Beach is a powerful timely (after the Bush era Iraq and the
present Iran drumbeats) historical as we witness the cost of hostilities on
young civilians and families.
Harriet Klausner
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