Beyond the Crushing Waves

Two generations face heartbreak and injustice in this poignant and emotional novel inspired by true events.

Mary Roberts is an impoverished child living in a council flat in 1950’s London. When she and her sister are left at an orphanage by their mother, they don't think their lives can get any worse.

Harry Evans is an orphan who finds himself, with Mary and her sister, on board a ship bound for Australia. They're sent to a farm school for children, where abuse and neglect are rife. A journey that will change their lives forever, and from which they’ll never return.

Married to her dream man, and with a baby on the way, Dr Mia Sato’s life is in perfect order. When her beloved grandmother has a fall, the photograph clutched in her hand prompts Mia to ask questions her grandmother isn’t willing to answer. When she cries out a confession that rocks Mia to her core, it leads to a shocking discovery of a past filled with lies, broken families and forced child migration.

Based on one of Britain's most secret and shameful real-life scandals in which over 100,000 British children were forcibly deported to Canada, South Africa, and Australia over several decades.

Bronwen Pratley’s heartbreaking, captivating and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us that no matter where the journey leads us, our heart will always find its way home to those we love.

For readers of Before We Were Yours and Where the Crawdad Sings.