About the book:
What happened to Brigitte Berthold?
That question has haunted Daniel Knight since he was
thirteen, when he and eleven-year-old Brigitte escaped the Gestapo agents who
arrested both their parents. They survived a harrowing journey from Germany to
England, only to be separated upon their arrival. Daniel vowed to find Brigitte
after the war, a promise he has fought to fulfill for more than seventy years.
Now a wealthy old man, Daniel's final hope in finding
Brigitte rests with Quenby Vaughn, an American journalist working in London. He
believes Quenby's tenacity to find missing people and her personal investment
in a related WWII espionage story will help her succeed where previous
investigators have failed. Though Quenby is wrestling her own demons--and wary
at the idea of teaming up with Daniel's lawyer, Lucas Hough--the lure of
Brigitte's story is too much to resist. Together, Quenby and Lucas delve deep
into the past, following a trail of deception, sacrifice, and healing that
could change all of their futures.
My review:
Lately it seems I rarely finish a book because I tend to get
bored with the story. I finished this one, so that tells me something. I wasn't
bored. Nor was I on the edge of my seat. The author wasn't trying to create
anxiety, but it was more like a tender longing and a deep need to understand
the past and find healing in it. She did a great job showing the fear of
abandonment and the wariness when it came to trusting anyone. I was intrigued
with the story. It gave me a warm feeling in my heart rather than an anxious
one. While nothing scary happened, it captured my heart anyway.
There is just something about Melanie's writing and
characters that pulls me in. I have yet to come across a pathetic or annoying
character in any of her books, and I have read plenty of them. Eleven so far
(to be exact) and I have enjoyed them all. They are often quite different. It's
not so much the subject matter that captures me (though I love WWII era
fiction) but the author's voice that compels me to keep reading. The first book I have ever read by Melanie
was "Together for Good" and from that point forward I have been
hooked. She never has tension in a story or a plot that feels contrived.
Regardless of how far from my own experience the characters' experience tends
to be, they always manage to speak to me and make me think about my life and my
decisions. And like the author, her books have a sweet and calming tone to them
despite how deep the story goes. None of her novels are fluffy and fake. All of
them will pull you in. At least for me, that's how it is.
This book slips between the past and the present day. Both
eras intrigued me and while a bit more was in the present day, at least a third
of the book contained historical chapters. I tend to prefer the historical chapters
but in this book I liked them the same. I felt some of the angst and fear that
Brigitte had when she couldn't find her friend and was taken in by a man and
woman who didn't like her and only used her for her knowledge of the German
language. It was interesting how the twists and turns through her life caused
her to develop a strong desire to help abandoned children feel loved. I also
loved how the main character resisted feeling anything for the man in the story
because she didn't want to get close to anyone lest they hurt her again. Well
done!
I give this story five stars because of it's pull on me and
my desire to finish it. I don't want to give any spoilers, which is why some of
this review is a bit vague. Discovering things is half the fun of reading a
good book so it ruins it for me if someone tells me the plot in the review.
Catching the Wind was published by Tyndale and released in May 9, 2017.
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