Archive | December 2024

When Herald Angels Sing by Scott R Rezer

Dec8

A Time For Miracles

When Herald Angels Sing by Scott R Rezer is a most charming contemporary Christian Christmas novel that I really loved. It is the second book in A Festival Of Carols series but can be read as a stand-alone.

The novel is set in present day and 1863 in America, a time when the American Civil War was still raging. The location is Philadelphia, still recognizable to the characters in both time periods. It is set just before Christmas and the reader is treated to snow and a simpler Christmas when Jesus’ birth was celebrated.

We see the devastating effects of loss on characters who feel utterly alone and stuck in a moment in time. However, “you are never truly alone… God is always nearer than you think.” God is as close as the prayer that our hearts utter. God is as close as we want Him to be. “He [God] hasn’t been near me… That’s because you have kept Him at arm’s length.”

Lives are lost in the past, trying to alter what cannot be changed. “The past isn’t about mourning what you have lost, it’s about celebrating what you had.” We celebrate the lives we knew rather than mourn their passing.

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The Lotus House by Ann Bennett

Dec8

Powerful& Harrowing

The Lotus House by Ann Bennett is a powerful historical novel that I just could not put down.

The story begins in 1941 at Pearl Harbor as we follow a young nurse through that devastating December day, and across the seas to the Philippines.

All too soon, the Philippines are occupied by the Imperial Japanese army. The nursing staff are in retreat once more. Eventually we see that the remainder of their war is within a prison camp. “It was hard to imagine… how a war could be raging in these idyllic… peaceful islands.”

The action alternates between the young nurse and an army captain. We see their wars are similar but different as he, too, ends up in a prisoner of war camp.

There is much bravery, grit and determination needed to survive, as well as luck. Any day your name could be written on a bullet.

We see the camaraderie and support between the nurses, the soldiers and the indigenous population of all ages.

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When The World Went Silent by Ellie Midwood

Dec6

Pandora’s Box

When The World Went Silent by Ellie Midwood is a powerful, harrowing historical novel that consumed me from the start.

The novel is set in Germany during World War II but opens and closes in Hiroshima in 1946. The whole novel surrounds the topic of the nuclear bomb, as we join and follow a young girl with a passion for physics. Deaf since measles aged five, Mina has immersed herself in science. “The world outside is hostile, filled with prejudice and intolerance. But precise sciences are her sanctuary.”

Following the Nazis rise to power, Mina was excluded from school and seen as ‘undesirable’, and has been home-schooled. Her superior talent within nuclear physics has brought her to the attention of the Nazis at the highest level. Mina is sent to Berlin to work on the development of the nuclear bomb but she is determined to never make a bomb. She wants to heal not harm. “We’ll all have to face the choices we made today.”

Mina has a conscience, a heart and much courage. “The courage of those who dare to stand against the darkness.” As a young girl, she stood up for the marginalized except for one time when she ran, and this haunts her dreams. “Still has nightmares… she was just a young girl whose only fault was walking away when she should have stayed.” The guilt remains even though she knows there is nothing she could have done. Later she is told “Sometimes running away is the only logical thing to do.”

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The Silver-Haired Sisterhood by Judy Leigh

Dec3

Living Life To The Full

The Silver-Haired Sisterhood by Judy Leigh is the most delightful contemporary offering which I just could not put down.

Judy Leigh has done it again! – and produced a wonderfully warm offering showing how to live life to the full, whatever your age. Age is, after all, just a number. It’s how you feel on the inside that counts.

The leading lady is seventy-seven, supported by a cast of friends who are similarly aged, including Rose who is eighty and who doesn’t let age or health scares get her down. It’s all about ones’ outlook on life.

Judy Leigh shows that we are never too old to start a new adventure. When life presents you with opportunities – grab them with both hands!

Getting older may present challenges but it is how we deal with them that counts. We can wallow in self-pity or we can use grit and determination to fire on all cylinders.

Some characters are suffering from grief. One lets her memories warm her. Another is wallowing in grief and ‘what-ifs’, suffering from survivor’s guilt in the form of PTSD. He finds solace in alcohol but it is never the answer – until an epiphany sees a fresh determination to be a new person. “A person isn’t who they used to be. The total sum of their worth isn’t the mistakes they made… It’s about who we are now.” We all make mistakes. We must learn from them and move on. “Out of something bad, there’s always hope.”

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