The Misunderstandings of Charity Brown

A decade after the end of WWII, the event’s repercussions still feel alive in Britain, where 13-year-old Charity Brown, who is recovering from polio, contends with whirlwind familial changes. Charity and her older siblings Ted, Faith, and Hope have been brought up as Lucasites, a strict Christian sect. Their charismatic, good-hearted father runs the Lucasites’s London-based missionary society, and the family has always lived in financial precarity, believing “the Lord will provide.” When a wealthy elderly member of the sect dies and leaves his mansion to the Browns, the family moves in, devoting themselves and their new home as a refuge to the “weary and heavy-laden.” Their first guest, Mr. Fisher, is a shell-shocked German Christian minister who was tortured by Nazis; getting to know him along with her new German Jewish neighbor Rachel Stern opens Charity’s eyes to the world outside the Lucasites. As she ponders prejudice, her own implicit biases, and the ambiguities of faith, Charity’s earnest, questioning voice also pulls readers into the lively ambiance of her high-spirited family. Drawing from childhood experiences, according to an author’s note, Laird (The Name Game) crafts a novel that is at once entertaining and thought-provoking. All characters present as white. A glossary concludes. Ages 9–11. (May)