Even If I Perish

Todd (Even If We Cry) delivers a pulse-pounding tale of survival at sea during WWII. Withdrawn 41-year-old piano teacher Mary Cornish is an unlikely candidate for wartime heroics, but when her reverend encourages her to apply for a program seeking adults to accompany children out of war-torn England to Canada, she finds unexpected purpose in the task. In September 1940, Mary boards the SS City of Benares and quickly bonds with the 15 young girls in her charge. But when the ship’s torpedoed by Nazis, Mary is separated from the girls and stranded on a lifeboat with ailing Father O’Sullivan and six young boys. As the days tick by without rescue—and as their food and water supplies dwindle and storms threaten to overturn the boat—Mary leans on her faith and the swashbuckling stories of Bulldog Drummond, an adventure-seeking WWI veteran who first appeared the novels of H.C. McNeile, to raise her charges’ spirits. Based on documents written by people connected with the real-life sinking of the Benares, including diary entries from the children’s parents, the novel adeptly blends suspense and emotional depth as Mary struggles with her faith amid the cruelties of war. Fans of historical fiction will be rapt. (Nov.)