Review of Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke

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Genre: Historical Romance

Recommended!

This is one of the most interesting Holocaust novels I have read, focusing on the variations of insider German attitudes from August of 1939 through the summer of 1940 with a post-war epilogue.

Rachel Kramer is the daughter of a prominent (fictitious) American doctor of eugenics, who works closely with the infamous German Drs. Mengele and Verschuer. As she accompanies her father on a business trip, she is shocked to discover–largely through an American journalist–the implications of her father’s research, and the personal web of heartache and disillusionment it has created within her own family. When her childhood friend comes to her for help in rescuing her deaf daughter Amelie from certain death due to the scourge she is upon her SS father’s Aryan bloodline, Rachel chooses to leave her life of privilege to go into hiding with the child, eventually finding shelter in the Bavarian village of Oberammergau, famous for its Passion Play.

The Christian theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and his message of the cost of grace, also plays a substantial secondary role as the characters determine for themselves who they are, what they believe, and how they should live in response to the increasingly difficult circumstances.

There are quite a few monumental transitions within the story, which at times made the novel feel long-winded, or like a trilogy wrapped into one. I was caught up in the characters, and the thoughts the story-line provoked within myself, yet also felt emotionally and intellectually pulled to shift my emotional response as the narrative went along. There could have been more cohesion within the emotional and spiritual motifs to tie the whole together as the beginning and ending felt like completely different pieces despite the natural flow of the plot-line in between. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable and fascinating glimpse into this time-period, and a call to evaluate our modern culture in order to avert similar potential atrocities.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers.

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Review of Daisies are Forever by Liz Tolsma

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Genre: Historical Romance

Recommended.

Tolsma’s writing is vivid and powerful. I loved her previous novel, Snow on the Tulips, and enjoyed this one as well. I especially appreciate that this was inspired by two separate true accounts, and that it presented a unique perspective of the normal German citizens who were also impacted by this dark period of history.

German-American Gisela is in East Prussia visiting family when the Soviet army begins to invade. Her cousin, Ella, urges Gisela to flee with her (Ella’s) two young girls, while she stays behind to nurse their sick grandpa. Gisela heads to Berlin, hoping to also collect her mutti before traveling south to safety. On the way she encounters a British POW escapee, and pretends to be married to him in order to save his life. As their group grows, they seek every option to survive the attack of the Russians, British, and American armies, praying the war will be over soon.

The story is true to history: touching on the violence, open hangings of the “cowardly,” gruesomeness, sexual assault, hunger, emotional struggles, and other horrors of living in a war zone. Yet it is also a lighthearted romance with the subtle spiritual motifs of trusting God in the midst of chaos and heart-wrenching loss, forgiving ourselves, and allowing God to bring healing to our deepest pains and regrets.

For the most part I connected really well to the characters–two of the secondary characters (Kurt and Audra) were mildly annoying to me at times, though not so much that it caused me to like the book any less–but I engaged well with Gisela, and particularly enjoyed the humor added by two elderly, senile, traveling companions. I also felt that the story concluded a bit suddenly in terms of the physical war plot, although the “feel good” epilogue wrapped up the emotional story nicely.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson.

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Review of Deeper Than Red by Sue Duffy

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Genre: Suspense/Espionage

Series: Red Returning Trilogy, Book Three

Recommended.

This final addition to this suspenseful Christian spy trilogy takes the reader all over the map to uncover who is behind the assassination of the Russian President, soon-to-be coup d’etat of the Russian empire, and of similar threats against the United States. The web of evil instigators is intertwined with several “normal” citizens who are forced to do what they can to save those they love, bring darkness to justice, reconcile their own hurts, and choose whom to trust.

I have not yet read the first two books, and felt I was missing out on quite a lot, especially in the beginning as I struggled to identify the primary from secondary characters and keep the locations straight. Along with this, however, was the obvious indication that there is real depth in the previous novels to be missing out on–that the series itself is a winner! The story is easy enough to follow without the additional background, but there are several sets of characters, most of whom appear to be familiar to the series and likely have so much more to them than I could recognize from this piece alone.

I was briefly nervous that a great deal of the narrative takes place at an occult spiritualist camp, having had experience in the occult myself that I do not like to revisit. Thankfully, this portion of the story is dealt with particularly well. Duffy acknowledges the true darkness and demonic spiritual root of the occult, and contrasts it with the presence of understanding Christian characters who can discern and reveal God’s truth within the spiritual battle.

Another particularly meaningful aspect of the story to me was the emotional journey of a Jewish musician and undercover Mossad agent (Max) as he prepared to perform a concert at the Zeppelinfeld (Nazi Rally Grounds) in Germany. I would have liked even more emotional emphasis on Max and some of the other primary characters–but I have the feeling that this was mostly in the back-story–and overall, I enjoyed the fast moving action and poetic conclusion.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kregel Publications.

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