When war is declared in London, Tom is making blackberry jam. Alistair, Tom's roommate, surprises them both by enlisting, sailing off to the front in France and eventually to besieged Malta. From the other side of town, Mary has volunteered enthusiastically, only somewhat deflated when she is assigned a post as a schoolteacher under Tom's jurisdiction. When (most of) Mary's students are evacuated without her, she barrels into Tom's office, demanding a classroom to continue teaching those "unwanted" children, rejected by the countryside for their skin color, disability, or trauma. The love story that ensues among these three characters--and Mary's best friend Hilda, whose patriotism for the war mostly has to do with all the men in uniform--addresses classism, insecurity, passion, loss, and the nature of bravery. 

This book had all the components that I should absolutely adore in historical fiction (except that it wasn't set in France), yet somehow, I didn't enjoy this WWII novel about an educator! There were elements, of course, that I appreciated, and certainly Mary's devotion to her underserved students topped the list, but ultimately, I only intermittently connected to the characters and was bored more often than not by the lengthy descriptions and extended metaphors. Indeed, the excessive use of "one" as a pronoun frustrated me, and nearly every page contained a line or two that felt overly crafted for the purpose of being "beautiful writing."

I liked Alistair and almost every scene on Malta. Another reviewer mentioned that Alistair had the special effect of making any other character he interacted with seem likable, and it was so true! The scenes on the home front, between Mary and Tom, Mary and her mother, and Mary and her students, particularly Zachary, whose father is the announcer at the local minstrel show, were sometimes interesting, but it was the promise of another scene with Alistair that kept me turning pages.