A FAITHFUL GATHERING, by Leslie Gould

    Leisel Bachmann has her life all planned. She's completed her nurse's training with only the state boards still waiting for her. She and her English boyfriend, Nick, are dreaming of a happy future together.
    Then, in seemingly no time at all, the pieces of Leisel's plans lay scattered at her feet. If anything can possibly go wrong, it will. Her confidence is shattered, as are her dreams with Nick. As she struggles to get her bearings and make new plans, her aunt shares with her the story of Leisel's grandfather's experiences during World War II. At first Leisel is interested only in the account as a story, then she begins to see what her aunt is trying to tell her about the choices she faces.
    A Faithful Gathering is a fascinating novel. I enjoyed both the contemporary sections and the World War II story. Medical details and military history added an enlightening layer to Leisel's life.
    Leslie Gould is a wonderful writer. I felt I was right there with the characters' aspirations and struggles. I highly recommend this book!
    A Faithful Gathering is Book Three in the Sisters of Lancaster County series, but it isn't necessary to have read the earlier two books--although I recommend A Plain Leaving and A Simple Singing as well.    My thanks to the author and Bethany House for my review copy.

My review of WHEN NIGHT COMES, by Dan Walsh

    Successful author Jack Turner returns to Culpepper to work on a new book and to serve as guest lecturer on World War II topics for his former history professor at the local university. By coincidence, Jack hits town on the same day a university student is found dead under disturbing circumstances.

    On his first evening in Culpepper, Jack has dinner with his former professor, then returns to his apartment--and experiences a shattering and inexplicable event. Forces beyond Jack's imagining are at work on the formerly peaceful campus.

    Dan Walsh's unique plot twists keep the surprises coming at breath-taking speed. When Night Comes had me in suspense with every turn of the page.  There’s much I'd like to add to this review, but I don't want to post any spoilers.

    When Night Comes is a must-read for suspense lovers. The official release date is November 1, but it's available for pre-order on your Kindle right now. Don't miss this one!

UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken is sub-titled "A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption." It is all of that and more. When I finished Hillenbrand's remarkable recounting of Louis Zamperini's saga, I missed Louie. The author so involves the reader in Zamperini's life that I felt intimately connected with him.

As a boy, Zamperini had been a wild delinquent, but when he hit his teens his older brother guided him to channel his energy into running. Zamperini's talent carried him to the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Then when war came, he enlisted as a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps.

Two years later, his plane was shot down over the Pacific Ocean, and as far as the world knew, Louis Zamperini was dead. For the reader of Unbroken, the story is just beginning. Along with two other surviving crewmen, Zamperini struggled to a tiny life raft and began his extraordinary odyssey.

If Unbroken were told in pedestrian prose, it would still be a captivating story. However, Hillenbrand's gifted writing raises this book to the highest level. As an example of her literary skills, here are a couple of sentences from the book:

"Gathered in drifts against the buildings were some two hundred whisper-thin captive Allied servicemen. . . . They were as silent as snow."

I highly recommend Unbroken, both as a history and as a celebration of the human spirit. The book does contain graphic and heart-wrenching scenes depicting Zamperini's ordeal, so I don't recommend this story for younger readers.

Once you’ve read Unbroken, I'd love to hear your opinion. You can contact me through Facebook or through the contact page here on my website.

A DISTANT MELODY, by Sarah Sundin

Walter Novak and Allie Miller meet at a friend's wedding. On the surface, they have little in common. But the exigencies of World War II tend to break down normal barriers. Walt is a B-17 pilot about to be shipped out to England, while Allie is a timid, sheltered heiress-to-be.

Normally, Walt is tongue-tied around available women, but they meet on a train and he falsely assumes her to be married and a mother of small children, so he feels safe in talking to her. When he finds out later that she's single he's able to continue his unaccustomed gregariousness, to the point where he draws her out of her shell. The two of them begin a friendship, which forms the basis of this Christian romance.

Walt goes off to England, and Allie returns to her home in Riverside, where she's expected to marry a man who is her parent's choice for her.

The theme that develops through A Distant Melody is the seriousness of even a "harmless" white lie. Through mutual deceptions and silences when words would have been truthful, Allie and Walt's relationship bounces as much as a B-17 in a hard landing.

The wartime air battle scenes are masterfully done. In fact, for me they were the highlight of the novel. The crewmen of Walt’s bomber emerge as real people that the reader comes to care about. These portions of A Distant Melody contain many details realistic to the time period (1942–43) in which the story is set. Sundin has done a remarkable job of researching both the scenes in Europe as well as details of life in wartime California.

There have been so many novels set in WWII that I wasn't sure I'd want to read another one, but A Distant Melody offers a fresh look at an often-told conflict. It was a pleasure to read. I look forward to the next book in the series so I can find out what happens to the other Novak brothers, minor characters in this story. I recommend this book.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, is the most enjoyable novel I've read in ages. I don't know why it took me so long to get around to it--the book has been on the best seller lists for many months, and deservedly so.

I finished it last night, and am tempted to turn it over and start again. The characters are so real that I'd like to visit the Channel Island of Guernsey and talk with their descendants to find out what happened to everybody after the story ended.

Authors Shaffer and Barrows constructed the book in the form of letters to and from writer Juliet Ashton in the year immediately following the end of World War II. By the way, you writers out there, don’t let anyone tell you World War II novels won’t sell. Give the story a setting and format as unusual as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and it will sell like, well, hotcakes, if not Potato Peel Pie.

The story starts when Juliet receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation. The story is at turns hilarious, fascinating, and heartbreaking. I had no idea what "occupation" really entailed until I read this book. The story itself is fiction, but the facts of the occupation and Nazi atrocities are all too true.

I can't recommend this novel strongly enough. As one of the characters writes, “Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”

I bought the trade paperback version, but plan to purchase The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in hardback to add it to my library of special favorites.