Opening
In a bombed-out London restaurant, Susan Smith reunites with Ada and Jamie. The three return to Kent only to find Susan’s house obliterated—yet the loss reveals what truly holds them together. By the end, Ada names a feeling she’s never been able to claim before: joy.
What Happens
Chapter 46: So Now We’re Even
Susan finds Ada and Jamie sheltering in a shattered London restaurant. She kneels to clean Ada’s cut, bleeding feet and learns that Mam took Ada’s shoes, slowing her during the raid. Susan explains how she tracked them: she found Mam’s letters, went to the address, and learned the building was hit; a survivor had seen Ada moving slowly down the stairs, so Susan began searching shelters one by one. Ada asks the question that matters: why Susan came back after letting them go. Susan answers that while Mam has the legal right, another truth matters more—“you belonged to me.” Ada admits they were already coming back; Susan only says, “Good.”
The train to Kent crawls with evacuees. Jamie sleeps, Ada sits while Susan holds the aisle on a bag. Ada turns over her final confrontation with Mam and decides she isn’t ready to tell Susan yet. When they arrive, Susan insists on a taxi. They round the bend—and stop. The house is gone, flattened by a direct hit. Villagers—Fred Grimes, the vicar, and Lady Thorton—comb the rubble, faces tight with dread.
Recognition sweeps the crowd into tears and laughter. They had spent the night digging, certain Susan and the children were buried because the sirens never sounded. Lady Thorton clings to Susan, weeping with relief. Bovril the cat streaks from the wreckage into Jamie’s arms. Fred assures Ada that Butter is safe in the pasture and says, crying, that they were digging for her. Susan gathers Jamie, meets Ada’s eyes, and says that going after them saved her life. A warmth rolls through Ada—ocean, sunlight, horses. She realizes it’s joy. She slips her hand into Susan’s and answers, “So now we’re even.”
Character Development
Love and belonging replace fear and isolation as each character steps into a new identity.
- Ada Smith: She recognizes and names joy for the first time, accepts that she belongs, and claims equality within her family—an endpoint to her journey toward Identity and Self-Worth.
- Susan Smith: She chooses love over legality, declaring that the children saved her, fully embracing a maternal role and the commitments of The Meaning of Found Family.
- Jamie: His easy sleep on the train and rush to Bovril show trust and safety; he leans into the security Susan and Ada provide.
- The Villagers: Their frantic digging and tears of relief prove Susan, Ada, and Jamie are no longer outsiders but woven into the community’s heart.
Themes & Symbols
War as both destroyer and rescuer. In this chapter, War as a Catalyst for Change reaches its stark conclusion. Mam’s cruelty drags Ada and Jamie back to London, which inadvertently spares them from the bomb that annihilates the Kent house. The war that endangers them also creates the circumstances that save them—embodying the novel’s title.
Chosen bonds over legal ties. The Meaning of Found Family becomes explicit when Susan rejects legality for love, asserting that the children “belong” with her. The house’s destruction underscores that home is not a structure but people.
Healing after harm. Trauma, Abuse, and Healing culminates as Ada allows herself to feel joy while holding Susan’s hand. The rubble doubles as a symbol of the past—Mam’s abuse, Susan’s grief—leveled so a new life can begin.
Endurance rewarded. The chapter affirms Courage and Resilience: Ada’s planning, Susan’s risky search, and the villagers’ relentless digging all receive emotional vindication. Material loss gives way to human connection.
Symbol spotlight: The destroyed house. Once a sanctuary, it lies in ruins—marking a complete break from old identities. From devastation, a stronger, chosen family rises.
Key Quotes
“Why did you come for us, after you let us go?”
The question distills Ada’s fear of abandonment and tests whether love can outrank the law. It sets up Susan’s defining answer and clears space for Ada’s healing.
“It was also true that you belonged to me.”
Susan’s response reframes family as choice and responsibility, not paperwork. It transforms Ada’s status from charity case to daughter, anchoring the core theme of found family.
“It’s you we were missing. You we were digging for.”
Fred’s line marks the community’s embrace of Ada in particular. The girl once hidden and shamed is now urgently, publicly valued.
“It’s lucky I went after you. The two of you saved my life, you did.”
This confession widens the book’s title from Ada’s salvation to Susan’s. Rescue runs both ways, revealing the reciprocity that makes their family real.
“So now we’re even.”
Ada claims equality and belonging without apology. Naming this balance—and feeling joy—completes her transformation.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
This final chapter delivers the emotional climax and resolution. The war that enables Ada’s escape from Freedom and Imprisonment also spares all three from the bomb—fulfilling the title’s promise on every level.
By erasing the physical house, the story insists that home resides in love and chosen bonds. Ada’s shift from numb survival to an ability to recognize joy signals deep healing, while Susan’s admission of being saved confirms their mutual rescue. The chapter closes one life in rubble and opens another on the solid ground of family.