Gisela must hold on to hope and love despite all
odds in the midst of a war-torn country.
Gisela Cramer is an American living in eastern
Germany with her cousin Ella Reinhardt. When the Red Army invades, they must
leave their home to escape to safety in Berlin.
However, Ella is a nurse and refuses to leave,
sending her young daughters with Gisela. During their journey, Gisela meets
Mitch Edwards, an escaped British POW. She pretends she is his wife in order to
preserve his safety among other Germans, especially one wounded German soldier,
Kurt, who has suspicions about Mitch's identity. Kurt also has feelings for
Gisela and tries to uncover the truth about her "marriage."
Their journey to Gisela's mother in Berlin is
riddled with tragedy and hardship, but they strive to keep Ella's daughters safe
so they can reunite with their mother. During the journey Gisela and Mitch begin
to develop feelings for one another beyond friendship. They reach Berlin, but
their struggles are far from over. Gisela and Mitch must learn to live for the
day and find hope in the darkest of circumstances.
In this moving, historically accurate portrayal of
WWII Germany, the characters learn that, even with destruction all around them,
some things last forever.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
New York Times best-selling author Liz
Tolsma is the author of Daisies are Forever, Snow on the
Tulips, and the contributing author of A Log Cabin Christmas. When
not busy putting words to paper, Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her
large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping. She lives in Wisconsin with her
husband and children, all adopted internationally.
This was a difficult book for me to read for many reasons. The author was extremely descriptive about the ravages of war it was heart wrenching and it was difficult to for me to read about all the horrible details, as real as they were. The other difficult part for me was that it lagged for me in places. The long trek for these war-torn people seemed to drag on and I was never sure why Gisela felt the desire to help a POW that was bombing her country.
That said, because this book was based on a true story, so it's very historically accurate and also told from the side of the Germans. I can't say I've ever read a story from the German point of view and how the war and what Hitler ended up doing to his country and people affected them. This story was written when the Russian armies were invading and there was daily bombings from the allied forces on a daily basis on Germany.
I really liked Gisela and Mitch and their faith in God. I liked how Gisela was so loyal to those around her and tried at all costs, to keep her little band together. Her loyalty to her mother and her mother's loyalty to her and her father was very touching.
There were also a couple of characters in the book that I really ended up not liking because of their devious ways. Of course, any good story needs this!
I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. It was an interesting story, however, it really did drag for me in places.
*This book was provided to me for my honest review by LitFuse Publicity Group
Blessings - Julie
Your heart is truly showing in this review.
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