...Olson sometimes overstates her case — it was the United States and Soviet Union that ultimately turned the tide of war — and wonders hither and yon in this anecdote packed account. But she tells a great story and has a fine eye for character ... Olson’s fine sections on other SOE-sponsored missions in Holland and France detail the terrible cost born by those who did extraordinary work under extreme pressure and the civilian networks that risked all to help agents complete assignments ... Olson’s pointed volume is as much about betrayal as it is about heroism and hope.
The claim invites a challenge, but she is persuasive in dramatizing great deeds done and then forgotten or unappreciated ... Olson is sensitive to the traumas of the deposed in having to decide whether to stay as hostages in the hope of sparing their populations the torments of Nazi rule or risk the charge of desertion by fleeing to London ... Olson’s histories have well honored Britain’s heroism. In Last Hope Island she justifies her toast to the exiles and their compatriots.
...a brisk and compelling portrait of wartime Britain ... One of Ms. Olson’s strengths is the way she weaves the experience of little-known players with those of exalted rank or position ... Ms. Olson is exceptionally good at following up on what happened to her cast of characters beyond the book’s stated purview, which makes her account all the more satisfying ... Last Hope Island might have benefited from a broader context for the dramatic episode that Ms. Olson presents. Greece and Yugoslavia, whose royal houses also fled to London, barely appear in her narrative.
...Olson’s book is the first to weave this all together. A passionate anglophile and London-lover, Olson is thrilled by the individual heroism, spunk and sheer ingenuity of so many of these survivor organizations, and marvels at the efforts each made in the common struggle. It’s a well-written and well-illustrated book, and deeply researched ... It’s a lovely story, fondly told by Olson. It is true that she often makes the various wartime contributions weightier than they actually were. And she pushes it too much by hinting that a future European union came out of this wartime bonding. She is sad — which is also true of this reviewer — that much of the tale is now lost and, worse still, that in this age of Brexit, an ignorant nationalism has replaced this earlier generosity and steadfastness.
Last Hope Island describes the many continental Europeans who, escaping Nazi occupation, found refuge in Britain during the second world war. Their stories are exciting, moving and horrifying, with foreign monarchs, spies, scientists and soldiers attempting to continue their battles from a vulnerable island that did not appear well placed to resist the probable German invasion ... it is a brick of a book with a daunting number of subjects, it skips along, focusing on the vibrant personalities and their extraordinary stories ... Among the most enticing characters in the book is the dashingly piratical Charles Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk ... Though it is full of stirring stories, the lasting interest of Last Hope Island is its cool reckoning of history, away from the heat of bombs and battles. Olson is an outsider with a keen sense of justice.
Lynne Olson adds fascinating and heartbreaking depth to the story of the alliance against Nazi Germany ... But Last Hope Island is about politics as well as heroism, and Olson tells the complicated political story of the war years with an admirable clarity ... Despite Olson’s gifts as a political historian, it’s in her accounts of ordinary people that this book is often at its best. Her retelling of the reception given to wartime exiles by the people of Britain is genuinely moving ... Last Hope Island is a truly gripping read – mostly. Olson loses control of the narrative towards the end.
This is a history book that reads like the best thrillers ... Focusing on these exiles, Olson offers a fascinating view of the war and its aftermath, less from a military than from a high-level civilian perspective ... The many individuals are finely drawn, major developments (breaking of the Enigma code, D-Day, the Battle of Arnhem, the crucial contribution of the BBC) are well covered, and the book provides an unusual and very insightful angle on the war.
Olson writes a vivid history of the war through the eyes of the exiles and compatriots left behind. She reveals inspiring tales of heroism, suffering, and sacrifice without ignoring too many incidents of betrayal, missed opportunities, and incompetence ... Feel-good histories of World War II have fallen out of fashion, but Britain’s sole stand against Hitler remains inspiring. Despite the title, the occupied nations that she sheltered did not 'turn the tide,' but Olson delivers an engrossing, sometimes-disturbing account of their energetic efforts.
