London, 1939. The day war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to ignore the war—until he learns his roommate Alistair Heath has unexpectedly enlisted. Then the conflict can no longer be avoided. Young, bright, and brave, Mary is certain she’d be a marvelous spy. When she is—bewilderingly—made a teacher, she finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget. Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary. And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams. Set in London during the years of 1939–1942, when citizens had slim hope of survival, much less victory; and on the strategic island of Malta, which was daily devastated by the Axis barrage, Everyone Brave is Forgiven features little-known history and a perfect wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Chris Cleave’s grandparents. This dazzling novel dares us to understand that, against the great theater of world events, it is the intimate losses, the small battles, the daily human triumphs that change us most.


1939 年，倫敦第二次世界大戰爆發的那天，瑪麗．諾爾斯放棄新娘學校的學業，前往戰爭部報名從軍。湯姆．蕭爾在室友阿利斯泰爾．赫瑟毅然入伍後，意識到他不能再對戰事視若無睹，因為戰爭已不可避免。瑪麗年輕、開朗又勇敢，很確定自己要成為一名優秀的間諜，但卻陰錯陽差擔任教職，瑪麗發現自己必須排除所有異樣眼光，保護這群隨時都會被國家遺忘的孩子。同時，湯姆意也願意為瑪麗付出一切，但在瑪麗與阿利斯泰爾相遇後，愛情與戰火將帶給他們三人始料未及的考驗，讓他們陷入了殘暴與愛戀、友情與欺瞞的漩渦，這場試煉無情地改變了他們對未來的期盼與夢想。本書以 1939至 1942 年的倫敦為背景，當時英軍勝少敗多，人民對於是否能活命已不抱太多希望；本書也以馬爾他島為背景，馬爾他因戰略地位重要，每天都飽受軸心國的炮火摧殘本書道出一段鮮為人知的歷史，同時也是作者克里斯．克里夫根據祖父母當時的情書所勾勒出的戰爭愛情故事，內容精彩絕倫，讓我們一窺這個大時代背景下，讓人改變最多的是痛失至親、小小的戰役或每日歡愉的勝利。