"One of the little known Tragedies of World War ll"

First time novelist Jura MacLean Sherwood has written a very moving and powerful story concerning the plight of two hundred and forty one children evacuees from Britain in 1940, who were on their way to Canada.

Although the story is a work of fiction, it is based on records of a British Government program called the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB): a scheme devised to save the children of Britain by sending them to the Dominions of Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The author also has indicated that her story was based on many other sources, and it is apparent that her research on the subject matter is solid.

The author dedicates Wave Me Goodbye to the memory of the 83 British evacuee children who perished when the German submarine U48 torpedoed the SS Benares on the 17th of September 1940.

At the heart of the novel is a stunning portrait of patriotic twenty- two year old, Priscilla Thornton, who volunteers to accompany these evacuee children to Canada on a ship called the Punjohpur.

Particularly moving is the manner in which Sherwood draws the reader into Priscilla's feelings: love for her childhood sweetheart, Ted Evans, and the tragedy that befalls many of the children and their escorts. A tragedy, that perhaps could have been avoided, if, as we are informed, the convoy of the Punjohpur had not followed orders to scatter at the first sign of attack and not to stop to rescue survivors.

The horrid adventures are retold in a way that reflects Sherwood's effective story telling skills- swiftly moving the plot along and keeping the reader engaged until the last page.

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookpleasures
Posted October 22, 2003

Summary

As the Punjohpur sails down the River Mersey and Liverpool disappears from view, twenty-two year old Priscilla Thornton's noble ideas of serving her country by accompanying 241 evacuees from Britain to safety in Canada are beginning to wane - and well they might. The year is 1940 and Britain is at war. When fate assigns Cilla's childhood sweetheart Ted Evans, a signaler in the Royal Navy, to the Punjohpur, he is furious to find Cilla has ignored his advice and is aboard. Four nights later, at the height of an Atlantic storm, the Punjohpur is torpedoed. In the chaos Cilla and Ted are separated. Over the course of the next three months, Cilla faces raw terror, cold, hunger, and captivity. Far from being a tale of failure and despair, this is the story of a young woman's emotional growth through her own courage and determination to survive and to be reunited with Ted.