Booktalk: Debut novelist Laura Spence-Ash’s “BEYOND THAT, THE SEA”

Inspired by a 25-year-old article about evacuated British children revisiting their U.S. foster homes as adults, Laura Spence-Ash tells her own well researched story, BEYOND THAT, THE SEA.

It follows the lives of two families over three decades. Their lives become intertwined when Beatrix, the eleven-year-old daughter of the British family, is sent to live with an American family during the height of the London Blitz.

Bea’s story begins as German bombs fall over London in 1940, and her working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send her to America. There, she’ll live with another family for the duration of the war, where they hope she’ll stay safe.

Follow Laura on @LauraSpenceAsh

Top authors are interviewed on this 10-minute program that captures their words about their books and ideas and often the story behind the story. The show, hosted by Diana Korte and engineered by Gene Korte, has been in production for more than 25 years.

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