I have long wished to read Long Way Home because I've read other Lynn Austin novels and thoroughly enjoyed them. The award winning, Christy Hall of Fame author has strutted her stuff again and although she reveals some hard truths, this is a novel difficult to put down. The pathos and story line are vividly sculpted and I felt as if the author truly had the empathy and knowledge of the true plight of the Jews, and soldiers who fought during WWII, thus bringing her reader to similar experience.
As we follow Gisela, Sam and their families through all the gut-wrenching fears, hopes dashed and denied again and again, the despising and rejecting, the injustices and inhuman treatment suffered by them as Jews on the run and interned in horrendous concentration camps and all they had had to endure, is portrayed in fine tuned manner. When they had to split up, would they ever see one another again?
Soldiers, those who survived to return home, with their plight of flashbacks, nightmares and PTSD are also given honorable mention. Indeed Peggy and friends valiantly help Jimmy in the homefront battle of recovery and overcoming.
The several threads of story are wonderfully woven together and interlaced, from the Jewish faith, Christian faith and from loss of faith turned to hope, and are amazingly stitched. Therefore, so many people, I believe, from so many walks of life will truly wish to read this novel and perhaps even find their faith renewed while overcoming their own stresses and distresses of life, not to mention learning from history even though crafted into fiction. I believe that the author has authentically and accurately described the horrors of that WWII era to the best of her sterling ability.
I'm grateful to have had the priviledge to read and review this story.
~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~
March 2022
Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy sent by NetGalley and the Tyndale House Publishers.
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