Conversation with Author Laura Spence-Ash

As German bombs fall over London in 1940, working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send their eleven-year-old daughter, Beatrix, to America, where they hope she’ll stay safe. As Bea comes into herself and relaxes into summers on the coast in Maine, the girl she had been begins to fade away, until, abruptly, she is called home to London when the war ends. As we follow Bea over time, navigating between her two worlds, Beyond That, the Sea emerges as a beautifully written, absorbing novel, full of grace and heartache, forgiveness and understanding, loss and love.

Laura Spence-Ash’s debut novel, Beyond That, the Sea, was published by Celadon Books on March 21, 2023. The novel received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, was named a GMA Buzz Pick, and is an Indie Next pick for April 2023. Her short fiction has appeared in One Story, New England Review, Crazyhorse, and elsewhere. Her critical essays and book reviews appear regularly in the Ploughshares blog. She received her MFA in fiction from Rutgers–Newark, and she lives in Hopewell, New Jersey.

Register by visiting: https://www.penningtonlibrary.org/beyondthatthesea/

Local Author Laura Spence-Ash with the Pennington Public Library