Lynn's Reviews > When We Were Young & Brave

This was an interesting story about WWII, taking place not in Europe but in China during the Japanese occupation. The story is told from the viewpoints of Nancy, a young student at the Chefoo School for the children of American, British and Australian missionaries stationed in China, and one of her teachers, Elspeth Kent. From the occupation of the school itself, to their move first to another set of buildings and later to a concentration camp, it's a story of learning to live with nothing. Like the concentration camps in Europe, there is no news of the outside world and the guards (with one exception) are cruel. While there are no gas chambers or cremations, it is nonetheless years of deprivation until they are finally liberated by the Americans in late 1945.

I thought it went on a little long, but it was interesting, and I loved how the past few chapters covered their lives 30 years later in England.