Under the Golden Sun by Jenny Ashcroft

 

England, 1941. The world is at war. London is under siege as the German blitz pounds the city without warning, without mercy. Rose Hamilton did her part as a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force until she was unfairly discharged following a tragic loss. Working as a secretary on a Devon farmland, Rose is out of harm’s way, but she needs to contribute to something greater than herself to truly recover.

Answering a newspaper advertisement for a companion to accompany an orphaned child to Australia, Rose becomes enchanted with four-year-old Walter Lucknow. Shy, imaginative, and kind, the boy lost his parents and has been living in near seclusion with his elder great aunt. As heir to a wealthy Australian cattle station, Walter must return to his homeland and his mother’s family.

Leaving her own family—and fiancé—Rose braves the long, dangerous voyage across Pacific waters where war is imminent to see Walter safely home. But upon arrival, Rose learns the truth about Walter’s relationship to the Lucknows and the land he’s supposed to inherit, a truth that haunts the boy’s Uncle Max, a wounded pilot scarred inside and out. And as Max opens his heart up to Walter, Rose is drawn to the man’s strength and compassion, finding herself torn between returning to England and staying with the child and man she’s grown to love.

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About The Author

Jenny Ashcroft is a British author of historical fiction. Having spent many years living, working and exploring in Australia and Asia, she is now based in Brighton where she lives with her family by the sea. She has a degree from Oxford University in history, and has always been fascinated by the past—in particular the way that extraordinary events can transform the lives of normal people.

 

My Review

The author has given us a beautifully written story of love, loss, and love again. We begin Rose Hamilton’s story as bombs are dropping during WWII, and fate has her answering a want ad for a Nanny that will travel to Australia
Now the weather is horrible and Rose shows up as a partly drowned individual, thinking she is just making an appointment, but in reality she is about to change her life forever!
We meet precocious Walter, a darling four year old orphan, and journey with him back to his roots. Now this journey takes months on a ship, but the danger is the enemy torpedoing or bombing as they journey with a convoy, not an easy trip, but traveling and meeting kinder spirts, and new friends for both Rose and Walter.
Her arrival in Australia leaves a lot to be desired, but keep page turning, answers come, and surprises. New relationships, and shortly dear friends and new family, all the while worrying about family caught in the madness of war.
People you get the feeling you’re not going to like, well, they sure surprised me, and old relationships that show up, well, this is where you won’t be able to put the book down.
Is this Rose and Max or Rose and Xander, and I know whom I wanted for her, but keep reading right to the wonderful Epilogue!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher St. Martin’s Press, and was not required to give a positive review.