When We Were Young & Brave: A Novel

"Gaynor's story of courage and

strength will make you believe in the heroic spirit in each of us."

The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home sets her unforgettable new novel in China during

WWII, inspired by true events surrounding the Japan

Their motto was to be prepared, but nothing could prepare them for war.

China,

December 1941. Having left an unhappy

life in England for a teaching post at a missionary school in northern China, Elspeth

Kent is now anxious to return home to help the war effort. But as she prepares

to leave China, a terrible twist of fate determines a different path for Elspeth,

and those in her charge.

Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has

always felt safe at Chefoo School,

protected by her British status. But when Japan declares war on Britain and America, Japanese

forces take control of the school and the

security and

comforts Nancy and her friends are used to are replaced by privation, uncertainty and

fear. Now the enemy, and separated from their parents, the children look to their teachers – to Miss

Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol especially – to provide a sense of unity and

safety.

Faced

with the relentless challenges of oppression, the school community must rely on their courage, faith and

friendships as they pray for liberation – but worse is to come when they are

sent to a distant internment camp where even greater uncertainty and danger

await . . .

Inspired by true

events, When We Were Young and 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.