How does a family dig itself out of despair and destitution? In the case of the Chester Family, it is through a woman named Lilly. Storm Sparrows by Marie Thompson Born to poverty and all its limitations, sweet Maggie McLellan’s expectations from life were few. Her father and brother were lost to war, leaving her solely under the influence of her dominating mother, Rose. As WW1 ends, handsome Frank Chester comes into Maggie’s life, and immediately sweeps her off her feet. They marry, and take a room with Rose, naively trusting their love would guarantee a bright future together. It takes little time for the crushing reality of paucity and Rose’s unrelenting interference to dissolve their hopes. Maggie becomes the outlet for Frank’s frustration and drunken brutality. With the birth of their sixth child, Frank’s rage escalates and he abandons them without culpability. Rose struggles to help desperate Maggie fend for her young family. WW2 breaks out. London is in ruins. Frank helps rescue a woman from the rubble of a church; her husband and father lay dead beside her. He learns she is well-to-do Lili Stewart. Lily is released from the hospital and Frank calls on her again and again. They find solace together, and eventually he moves in with her. The children are traumatized when their beloved mother dies of cancer and Frank moves them in with him and Lili. Rose is inconsolable. The eldest children’s hatred for their father is intense. Time passes; the eldest, John, is conscripted and becomes a MIA statistic. The second eldest, Will, joins the navy. After training as a nurses’ aide, Rachel works her way to ward supervisor in a hospital specializing in plastic surgery. Ken, the youngest son, is defiant with devastating results. The two youngest girls, Anna and Beth, are evacuated to Wales to escape air raids over London and are abused by their care-giver. Tragedy plagues the family. One by one, the children confront their father and past transgressions. They experience a catharsis, and forgive their father. The lessons are painful. As successful adults, they reconcile with their past and are set free and bond as a tight family unit. Their metamorphosis is their redemption. The strong ties between them cause them to return again to the sanctity of the family.