Beyond That, the Sea

“What on earth had they signed on for? What must this be like for her? To be sent away from home, by yourself? Nancy wonders what kind of a parent could make this choice, although she knows she has no idea what it’s like to live through a war.”

After Beatrix arrives, Nancy wonders what it must be like to send one’s child away to a different country and what the ordeal must feel like for Beatrix. Nancy’s reflection brings out some of the differences between her and Millie: Whereas Nancy would never have sent her child away, Millie would have never received a stranger’s child into her own house. The passage also highlights the context of the war and the desperate measures to which it drove people.

“Every day he has asked, upon entering the flat in the evening, whether a telegram had arrived. Tonight, though, he doesn’t ask, even as she watches his hands thumb through the mail on the hall table. And so she doesn’t tell him, not yet.”

Millie hides the telegram that arrives with news of Beatrix. She feels resentment toward Reginald for forcing the decision to send Beatrix away and regrets doing so for many years. These feelings lead to distance and complications in her marriage to Reginald and, later, in her relationship with Beatrix after she returns to England. However, Millie isn’t the only one keeping secrets in her marriage; likewise, Reginald doesn’t tell his wife about his regular correspondence with Ethan.

“Mr. G smiles. My girl, he says again, and she wishes he would hug her again, but mostly she wishes she could hear her father say those words. Before they all leave the beach, she turns from the Gregorys and faces east, back toward the island, and beyond that, the sea.”

After Bea swims to the mainland in Maine for the first time, Ethan receives her with pride. The moment is poignant because as much as Bea relishes Ethan’s affection, she also misses her own father and longs for his approval. Thus, she turns and looks at the sea beyond the island, which is the dividing line between her home in England and her current one. This passage provides the book’s title and highlights Bea’s conflict throughout the story, which the novel explores through the theme of Reconciling the Parts of One’s Identity.

“I don’t mind you being here, he says, and she knows how hard it is for him to say something like that. She touches his arm in thanks. […] She feels happier than she has felt since war was declared.”

Bea joins William during one of his lookouts atop the school building, despite his initial protests; at the end of the session, William acknowledges that he doesn’t mind her presence. Bea’s joy at such a declaration from William hints at her feelings for him and foreshadows their eventual romantic relationship.

“But don’t you ever feel, Bea […] that we’re wasting time? That we’re just waiting for something to happen? I want to do something important, something that matters. Swimming to town, fishing, picking blueberries. Doesn’t it seem wrong when there’s a war on?”

William declares his desire to do something important, especially because the world is in the middle of a war. This passage provides a snapshot of William’s character—the general discontent he has with his life at any given moment, fueled by a desire to do something important. As is the pattern throughout his life, however, in this moment he’s denied an opportunity to fulfill his dream: Ethan forbids him from staying in Boston, and he’s forced to accompany everyone else to Maine. This highlights the theme of The Gap Between Dreams and Reality.

“This is what this summer has been like. He’s been left here, to stay on the island, and Willie and Bea have done all sorts of exciting things together on the mainland.”

The summer in Maine after the war begins in the US, Gerald is left behind by the two older children, and he keenly feels excluded. While William’s childhood is the happiest time of his life, Gerald’s isn’t always so, and this is one such instance. It explains why, as an adult, Gerald is surer of himself and far more settled in life and is thus comfortable with leaving the past behind, while his older brother attempts to cling to his childhood memories.

“Oh, she’s always polite and helpful, but it’s as though she’s taken a step away, as though whatever comfort she had found with Nancy is no longer what she wants. It’s the loss of Reg, of course, but it’s all bundled up with growing up and becoming more independent.”

After Reginald’s death, Nancy feels Bea withdrawing from her; this is fueled by Bea’s guilt over being unable to attend her father’s funeral but also by a growing independence that is a function of becoming an adolescent. The distance that Nancy feels from Bea is mirrored, on the other side of the ocean, by the emotional distance Millie feels between herself and Bea. In Millie and Bea’s case, however, the distance isn’t merely a function of Bea growing up but the result of an actual conflict and disconnection between mother and daughter that will take many years to repair.

“This was all before Bea. Now he would probably choose Bea and Mother, and maybe even Bea over Mother, but he definitely wouldn’t choose William. When William’s in the room, everything feels uncertain and tense and ready to explode. […] Gerald longs for the William he used to know. He knows Bea is often angry at William, but he guesses that she, too, simply misses him.”

Gerald reflects on how close he feels to Bea, especially since his own brother is becoming angrier and more distant. This passage reveals various things: Gerald’s deep feelings of affection for Bea and a connectedness to her that surpasses what he feels for anyone in his own family, William’s growing distance from his family and the discontent he feels with his life manifesting in tense relationships all around. and Bea’s upset at William’s changing behavior, which hints at her deepening feelings for him.

“He’ll meet her later in the woods, just as they’ve been meeting for the whole summer. She’s already made him promise: no one can ever know. He wouldn’t mind, but it’s important to her.”

William and Bea begin a romantic relationship during her last summer in the US. They keep the relationship a secret for its entirety, even before Bea knows that she’s to return to England; this remains true when the two reconnect as adults. The secrecy surrounding their relationship reflects how it exists in a bubble beyond reality, where external circumstances and relationships can’t affect it.

“He sounded in charge, Gerald did. He was the right one to be there, to help take care of Mother, to be the grieving face of the family. William knew he would only disappoint.”

William reflects on how Gerald sounds like he’s in control of the situation after Ethan’s death. This passage shows how the dynamic between the two brothers and their respective positions in life are changing: William is already disillusioned with the state of his life and understands that Gerald is in a better position than him to carry out certain responsibilities. William’s belief that he’ll only disappoint is, in part, a projection of the disappointment he feels at what he has failed to accomplish so far. In contrast, Gerald is far surer of himself, and this pattern with the two brothers continues into the rest of their adult life.

“Bea had never shown her mother any of those later photos and only some of the early ones. She knew the later photos would only annoy her. Her mother seemed to want to forget about the Gregorys, to erase the time in America. She wanted Bea to do so as well.”

Millie and Bea’s relationship is strained, even before Bea returns from the US. Millie’s marriage to Tommy is a primary source of this discord, and Millie’s resentment over Bea’s time in the US and her closeness to the Gregorys is a contributing factor. Millie’s feelings intensify Bea’s inner conflict, reflecting the theme of Reconciling the Parts of One’s Identity, and only after Millie begins to fix her relationship with her daughter can Bea revisit and gain closure regarding her memories of and experiences in the US.

“My favorite team? The Red Sox. My favorite place? Maine. My favorite food? Your mother’s muffins. And yet here I am. This is my home. My mother is here. I belong here and yet I’m in limbo, really, caught between two worlds. I can’t seem to find where I fit.”

As Bea takes William around London to show him places from her childhood, she expresses the conflict she feels about being torn between two different places. A number of her favorite places are in the US; however, she believes that she belongs in London with her mother. In addition to summarizing Bea’s inner conflict of identity, this passage highlights the theme of Relationships and the Meaning of Family.

“They hugged each other tight and then they kissed but somehow everything had changed. It was a kiss between two old friends.”

Even as William and Bea profess their love for each other and bid each other goodbye, they can feel that things have changed between them. Their enduring affection for each other is a remnant of a different time; by keeping what transpired between them a secret, both of them ensure that their time together is preserved in a bubble, untainted by reality. This passage displays that they both know that, in reality, their relationship has no future.

“She thought back again to the knock on the door, just two days ago. The old code that Gerald had thought up. […] For the slightest of moments, she’d been disappointed. She’d opened the door hoping to see Gerald.”

After William leaves and Bea returns home, she remembers his arrival at her doorstep and her brief disappointment that the coded knock didn’t reveal Gerald instead. This indicates that Gerald is, in fact, a better match for Bea, despite her feelings for William, and foreshadows that the relationship between Bea and Gerald will deepen.

“Nancy doesn’t know what to talk to him about. She feels much closer to Kathleen. She’s enjoyed having a girl around again. A shame, really, that she didn’t have one of her own. She never knows whether she’s allowed to count Bea.”

Nancy takes Jack to visit Ethan’s grave but isn’t quite sure how to engage with her grandson. This reflection contrasts with Nancy’s reaction when Bea first arrives, when Nancy asks her for input during bath time because Nancy doesn’t know how to be with a girl. In William’s daughter, Nancy finally realizes her wish of having a girl in the family. Nancy’s confusion about whether she’s allowed to count Bea as her daughter reflects the emotional impact on the numerous foster parents who participated in Operation Pied Piper and were forced to eventually part ways with the children they took in during the war.

“Don’t you wish we could just go back, William says, almost as though he knows what Gerald is thinking. To those days? When everything was so simple? No, Gerald says, I don’t. I’m much happier now, as an adult. I know who I am, I know what’s important to me.”

William reminisces about their childhood days during one Thanksgiving, while Gerald asserts that he’s much happier as an adult. This interaction between the brothers highlights the differences between them, both in character and in the trajectory of their lives. William remains a discontent dreamer, constantly longing for something he can’t have, and this discontent has only intensified over time into a feeling of uprootedness. Gerald, on the other hand, is much more self-confident; his happiness as an adult is a function of his ability to accept the circumstances of his life and make the best of them.

“Millie knows she would have dismissed this if she’d heard it at the time. […] Now she’s able to see it for what it was: a genuine act of love. This woman loved her Beatrix as much as she does. She can see that now, in a way she never could before.”

As Bea tells Millie about Nancy’s admiration for Millie and how Nancy attempted to help Bea through her grief over Reginald’s death, Millie can finally see the love the Gregorys provided Bea, without feeling any resentment. This moment is a turning point in Millie and Bea’s relationship and, subsequently, in Bea’s inner identity struggle as well.

“For Gerald, a small chess set for his office at school. He started up a chess club, and he wants the boys to feel free to come into the area outside his office and play whenever they want.”

Bea buys Gerald a chess set to keep in his office at school. As a child, Gerald was constantly compared to Nancy, and William to Ethan. As an adult, however, Gerald’s similarities to Ethan emerge as well: Gerald becomes a teacher just like his father was and eventually even plays chess like him. The game of chess is a connecting link between Bea and the Gregorys, and the presence of the game in the story reflects the status of her connectedness with the family. That Bea buys Gerald a chess set is thus significant, especially considering that this is the first year since 1945 that she’s buying the family presents. After her trip to the US with Millie, Bea reengages with her memories of the Gregorys.

“I’m not blaming him. I’m saying he was right. You were safe there. You were happy. What more could we have wanted? Those five years were a lifeline. That place formed who Beatrix is now. That’s the piece that she’s never really understood. The whole point was for you to forget.”

Millie acknowledges aloud that it was a good thing that she and Reginald sent Bea away to the US, letting go of not just her resentment about her daughter’s time away but also the resentment she harbored toward Reginald for years. Millie’s acceptance of this reality of Bea’s life is important because it allows Bea to work on reconciling her inner conflict over parts of her own identity having been shaped by the Gregorys.

“Thanks for this, Beatrix says. And she half smiles at Millie. Now, out of here, Millie says. You have much to do. Go. And tell me everything when you get back. Finally, Millie thinks. Finally, she has done the right thing.”

After William passes away, Millie insists that Bea visit the Gregorys, knowing how much it would mean to her daughter. Millie and Bea’s relationship is in a better place, and Millie finally feels like she’s doing something right by encouraging her daughter to reconnect with the Gregorys. In many ways, William’s death, which occurs shortly after Millie’s acceptance of the Gregorys’ role in Bea’s life, is both a catalyst within the plot and symbolically relevant: His death becomes the reason that Bea reconnects with the Gregorys but also symbolizes the end of an old, irrelevant dream and the opportunity to start afresh.

“Later, in her room, all her nice dresses spread across her bed, she wonders at this life they’ve cobbled together. Certainly not the place she would have guessed she’d be if someone had asked years ago. To lose Ethan, to lose William. And yet here they are, she and Gerald, on the other side. They’ve made it through.”

Nancy and Gerald are invited to Millie’s wedding in London, and as Nancy packs, she reflects on this turn of events, which she would have never anticipated. Nancy’s life turns out very differently than she expected: From adjusting to a very different life than her childhood when she married Ethan, to losing her husband and her older son early in life, Nancy must continuously adapt to changing circumstances. She and Gerald both can do so, in contrast to William, who was never satisfied with his life. In her own way, Millie also adapts to the changing circumstances in her life, which closely mirror Nancy’s: the loss of a husband early in life and unexpected distance in her relationship with her child. Both women eventually adjust and are stronger because of these challenges.

“We love people for all sorts of different reasons and in all sorts of different ways, she says. Remember that. And it only gets better, the older you get. Young love isn’t necessarily the best love.”

When Millie learns that Gerald has invited Bea over for Easter, she urges her daughter to make the trip, offering her advice on love. Millie accurately divines that Gerald and Bea share qualities that give their relationship the basis for more and encourages her daughter to let William go and let Gerald in. Millie’s assertion underscores the theme of The Gap Between Dreams and Reality, reiterating how William and Bea’s relationship would never have transcended their dreams; Gerald and Bea, however, have the potential for something real and lasting.

“This is the place that feels like my home, she says, no matter what I try to tell myself, no matter how hard I work to be at home there. I became who I am here. And I’m so happy to be able to come back. I’m sorry that it took William’s death to allow this to happen, but there you have it.”

Bea admits to Gerald that the US and the Gregorys will always be home to her, no matter how much she tries to fit in in England. This passage is significant for several reasons: First, it highlights the theme of Relationships and the Meaning of Family, revealing that Bea has felt connected to the Gregorys and the US much more than she ever has to England and her own parents. Second, it underscores how William’s death was truly a turning point for different characters in the story. Finally, it prompts Gerald to propose marriage, allowing Bea to make the US and the Gregorys her home forever.