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Trains & Tulips by Savannah Jane McCrary

Jul28

The Light Breaks Through The Darkness

Trains & Tulips by Savannah Jane McCrary is a powerful Christian historical Young Adult book that I loved from the start. I read it in just two sittings.

This is a book that will educate you as you read. The action is set in Holland during World War II. The author has clearly and concisely constructed her tale about the war, around the Dutch people. The cast of characters are from all walks of life. Savannah Jane McCrary’s ability to weave a tale brings history to life for the reader.

As the book progresses, the light over Holland is being extinguished but “the darkness will not last forever.” One day peace will come.

The Resistance had their own version of the 10 commandments. Number 9 stood out for me. “Thou shalt pursue light even in the darkness, for light remains light.”

The Resistance in Holland was strong. The members came from all walks of life, united in wanting to disrupt the Nazi war machine. “Some bullies can’t just be ignored. They need to be stood up to.”

As the noose tightened around the Jewish people, there would be those who would help. “At the end of my life, when I stand before God, I don’t want to say ‘I did nothing in the face of such evil.’ I just keep thinking ‘I have to do something.’”

We know that “we always have a choice… Sometimes it costs us.” – Could we have stood by and done nothing? Or would we have been moved to act? I would like to think it was the latter.

Characters did what they could. Some took photos. “Someone has to document this. Someone has to make sure justice is done.” Others hid babies. Others were more active and paid the ultimate sacrifice. “Soon, Heaven would no longer be a future hope but a present reality… A deep sense of peace filled him.”

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The Heroes Welcome by Louisa Young

Jul27

The Impact Remains

The Heroes Welcome by Louisa Young is a powerful historical novel that consumed me from the start. It is the sequel to My Dear I Wanted To Tell You. The books need to be read in numerical order or this book will not have such an emotional impact or connection.

The first book told of the horrors of World War I. This book is set in 1919 as peacetime is now faced. Lives must learn to adapt to what is a ‘new’ normal for them.

Young men returned from war. Some were physically injured. Others left their minds on the battlefields of Europe. “Peter was wounded and crippled by the war as much as any one-legged man.” For some, as soon as they closed their eyes, they were back in the mud and muck of the battlefields. Others, didn’t need to even close their eyes as the battlefields never left. There felt like nothing to live for. Even the love of family and friends couldn’t pull their minds back home. They retreated into whatever dulled the pain.

We learn that “everyone gets damaged by war. You don’t have to be in it to be damaged.” The women who greeted their returning menfolk were also damaged by war. Some tried to inject love and light into their lives. Others ran away – either physically or mentally.

There is the bravery of the couple whose soldier husband had his jaw blown off in France. He is forever physically scarred but makes the decision: “I’m not going to spend my life just surviving the war and my injury. I’m going to live my life.” For him, life is for living.

War is not glorious. “War is your friend’s blood on your face and his dead body in your arms.” And this didn’t just happen once; it happened again and again over a four-year period.

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The Bookshop Of 99 Doors by Jaime Jo Wright

Jul26

Seek The Light

The Bookshop Of 99 Doors by Jaime Jo Wright is a powerful and compelling Christian dual timeline novel that consumed me from the start.

The action is set in 1888 and in present day in an old house with 99 doors but there is rumoured to be a hundredth door with a portal to another world. Where is it? And what lurks behind it? The narrative in both time periods is similar but different.

Spirits walk amongst us. Characters are searching for answers. They need to put their faith in God and not dabble with the spirits. “Isn’t it safer to reach out to God? Isn’t He the one who created everything? Why give them [spirits] the power over my curiosity when God could have it?” We need to put our trust in God for He is good. Spirits can be meddlesome, and once we open the door, there is no telling who will come in or what they will do. “Even God warns us not to summon the spirits.”

Pray against the spirits, and pray to God. “Her prayers were stilted, her faith uncertain, but when she finished, Millie felt better.” Prayer connects us with God. He renews our minds when we focus on Him.

We meet troubled minds within the book. They have been dabbling in medication which is addictive. Terrible things were seen in the American Civil War. “The war may be over… but it is not silenced.” Minds were broken. “He had seen enough evil… to convince him that if God existed, then God had turned a blind eye to humanity and given them free reign to war against one another.”

It is easy to believe that God has abandoned us but God walks beside us whether we ‘feel’ Him or not. “When you have nothing left… He [God] is all you can rely on.” We can trust God at all times.

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House Of Twisted Shadows by J H Mann

Jul26

Secrets Both Uncovered & Buried

House Of Twisted Shadows by J H Mann is a mesmerising historical novel that held my attention rom the start. It is part of A Wild Cornwall series and can be read as a stand-alone.

The action takes place in 1962 in a coastal Cornish village. It is a farming community with an imposing house at its’ heart. Rumours say the house was built by a Nazi in the 1930’s.

The house holds its’ secrets as the walls and floors groan, refusing to divulge them.

Ten years before the novel opens, the leading lady’s father had been found dead in the hallway, his manuscripts about the house’s origins all missing.

By 1962 coastal erosion sees the house teetering on the edge of a cliff. There is a race to uncover secrets before the house plummets to a watering grave.

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