The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor is a poignant, emotionally charged novel set against the backdrop of World War II. Hazel Gaynor draws inspiration from real events to tell the intertwined stories of two women: Alice King, escorting a group of children across the Atlantic to safety in Canada, and Lily Nicholls, waiting anxiously in London for news of her own children’s safe arrival. When disaster strikes at sea, their lives become unexpectedly connected.

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, despite a somewhat slow start and an occasionally overly romanticised portrayal of wartime London. Gaynor’s writing is engaging and fluid, capturing both the vast, terrifying isolation of the Atlantic and the quiet, domestic struggles on the home front. This is very much a women’s story — focusing on motherhood, resilience, and the emotional toll of war from a civilian perspective. While this lens brings intimacy and heart to the narrative, it also sometimes lends the story a slightly soft-edged, idealised tone, particularly in the London scenes which seem less gritty than one might expect from the height of the Blitz.

The novel is well-written, though a few Americanisms crept into the British dialogue, which felt a little jarring given the UK wartime setting. The central lifeboat scenes — while tense and moving — could perhaps have been developed even further to fully capture the harrowing ordeal of eight days adrift at sea.

Nonetheless, The Last Lifeboat remains a compelling and heartfelt read, offering a different perspective on the familiar World War II narrative. It shines a light on the lesser-known evacuation of children overseas, and the quiet heroism of ordinary women facing extraordinary circumstances. For readers who enjoy historical fiction with strong emotional threads, this book will not disappoint.