The Stars We Share: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
Set against the backdrop of World War II, a sweeping, atmospheric novel of sacrifice, ambition, and commitment, and the secrets we keep from the ones we love
It's 1927 when Alec and June meet as children in a tranquil English village. Alec, an orphan, anchors himself in the night sky and longs for adventures. June memorizes maps and railway timetables, imagining a future bright with possibilities.
As the years pass, their loves feels inevitable, but soon the Second World War separates them. Alec enlists as a Royal Air Force pilot flying daredevil fighter sorties at night; June finds her calling as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, covert work that will mean keeping her contribution to the war effort a secret from Alec forever. Each is following a dream—but those dreams force them apart for years at a time.
Their postwar reunion is bittersweet: Alec, shot down and imprisoned in a series of POW camps, grapples with his injuries and the loss of his RAF career. June, on the other hand, has found her vocation and struggles to follow the expected path to domesticity, as much as she loves Alec. But Alec wants nothing more than to make a life and a family together.
With the war behind them, their scars—both visible and unseen—make them strangers to each other. Now each must decide how much to reveal to the other, which dreams can be sacrificed, and which secrets are too big to bear alone.
Spanning forty years and shifting from bustling Indian ports to vibrant gardens in Edinburgh to a horse farm in Kenya, The Stars We Share is a poignant, heart-wrenching novel about the decisions and concessions that make a life and a love worth having.
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Rafe Posey. (2021). The Stars We Share: A Novel. Penguin Publishing Group.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Rafe Posey. 2021. The Stars We Share: A Novel. Penguin Publishing Group.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Rafe Posey, The Stars We Share: A Novel. Penguin Publishing Group, 2021.
MLA Citation (style guide)Rafe Posey. The Stars We Share: A Novel. Penguin Publishing Group, 2021.
| Library | Owned | Available |
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| Shared Digital Collection | 1 | 1 |
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- “Dazzles from start to finish.” —Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones
Set against the backdrop of World War II, a sweeping, atmospheric novel of sacrifice, ambition, and commitment, and the secrets we keep from the ones we love
It's 1927 when Alec and June meet as children in a tranquil English village. Alec, an orphan, anchors himself in the night sky and longs for adventures. June memorizes maps and railway timetables, imagining a future bright with possibilities.
As the years pass, their loves feels inevitable, but soon the Second World War separates them. Alec enlists as a Royal Air Force pilot flying daredevil fighter sorties at night; June finds her calling as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, covert work that will mean keeping her contribution to the war effort a secret from Alec forever. Each is following a dream—but those dreams force them apart for years at a time.
Their postwar reunion is bittersweet: Alec, shot down and imprisoned in a series of POW camps, grapples with his injuries and the loss of his RAF career. June, on the other hand, has found her vocation and struggles to follow the expected path to domesticity, as much as she loves Alec. But Alec wants nothing more than to make a life and a family together.
With the war behind them, their scars—both visible and unseen—make them strangers to each other. Now each must decide how much to reveal to the other, which dreams can be sacrificed, and which secrets are too big to bear alone.
Spanning forty years and shifting from bustling Indian ports to vibrant gardens in Edinburgh to a horse farm in Kenya, The Stars We Share is a poignant, heart-wrenching novel about the decisions and concessions that make a life and a love worth having.
- reviews
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February 1, 2021
Childhood sweethearts weather World War II, but their commitment is tested by a postwar clash of expectations. In 1927, June Attwell, a vicar's daughter, meets Alec Oswin, who has come from India to the English village of Fenbourne to live with his aunt after his parents' deaths from cholera. Both are 8. There will never be any question, for either, of another soul mate. World War II disrupts but never alters their bond. June, a math prodigy, is tapped by charismatic mentor Floss Corbett to break codes for the Foreign Office. She is as exhilarated by the demands of her service as Alec is by his, piloting bombers. After distinguishing herself at Bletchley Park, June is sent to Ceylon to decipher Japanese dispatches. She is bound by the Official Secrets Act to never reveal either the locus or the exact nature of her assignments. Posey exposes a double standard: June understands Alec's refusal to talk about how his hands were damaged when he was shot down or about his traumatic years in German and Russian POW camps. But Alec takes personal umbrage at June's silence about the details of her war work--and wounds. He expects her to be a traditional wife and mother to their daughter, Penny. But June has always known that her love for Alec would war with her zeal for mathematics. On a business trip to Canada, in a Halifax boardinghouse, Alec receives a tempting glimpse of what happy, conventional domesticity looks like. June, in turn, is tempted by Floss' repeated invitations to lend her talents to the Cold War. But aggression in this marriage is passive, and desperation is gradually displaced by acceptance. However disappointing, Posey's climax-avoidance is arguably the most realistic approach for the time period. Occasionally, Posey inserts gratuitous message points, as when June tells Alec that Penny "should never have to make impossible choices about how best to use her gifts." Posey's prose is a joy, evocative and expertly cadenced. Dares to explore, in a hopeful way, the road taken.COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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May 17, 2021
Posey impresses in his moving debut, a sprawling account of the evolving relationship between two people who first met as children. After eight-year-old Alec Oswin’s parents die in 1927, his uncle takes him from India, where Alec was born, to start a new life in an English village. There, he meets June Attwell, who befriends him. They fall in love at 18, but WWII interferes. Alec becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF and is shot down, becoming a German POW, while June lends her intellect to the war effort as a Bletchley Park code breaker. When they finally reunite in 1946, Alec worries he’s been so transformed by his experiences that he’s no longer deserving of June. The prose sometimes strains a bit (“the letter is too short, a sparrow when he would have liked to send a goshawk”), but overall, Posey displays gifts for crafting realistic dialogue and bringing people and places to life. Though this isn’t at the rarefied level of All the Light We Cannot See, fans of that book are likely to be engrossed. Agent: Danielle Bukowski, Sterling Lord Literistic.
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May 15, 2021
When Alec and June meet in England as eight-year-olds, their friendship is instantaneous. Alec is fascinated by starry skies and invents stories to entertain June. June loves maps and patterns, and her calm demeanor keeps Alec grounded. Not long after friendship grows into love, WWII takes them on separate paths: Alec is a pilot with the RAF, and June is recruited as a code breaker, bound by confidentiality. After the war, weighed down by losses both shared and personal, they balance building a life together with fulfilling their own dreams. As much as they love and need each other, the secrets they carry could tear them apart. This compelling debut novel offers rich descriptions of locations around the globe and shifts between Alec's and June's perspectives over the course of several decades. Book clubs should find plenty to discuss about how world events impact individuals and the sometimes heart-wrenching compromises we must make to find happiness. For readers who enjoyed Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave (2016) or Some Luck by Jane Smiley (2014).COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Set against the backdrop of World War II, a sweeping, atmospheric novel of sacrifice, ambition, and commitment, and the secrets we keep from the ones we love
It's 1927 when Alec and June meet as children in a tranquil English village. Alec, an orphan, anchors himself in the night sky and longs for adventures. June memorizes maps and railway timetables, imagining a future bright with possibilities.
As the years pass, their loves feels inevitable, but soon the Second World War separates them. Alec enlists as a Royal Air Force pilot flying daredevil fighter sorties at night; June finds her calling as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, covert work that will mean keeping her contribution to the war effort a secret from Alec forever. Each is following a dream—but those dreams force... - sortTitle
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