Eva Is Waiting by Romola Farr

Apr1

Highly Entertaining

Eva Is Waiting by Romola Farr is a gripping historical novel that I read in just two sittings.

The action is set in 1965 at a girls school. It is a time of uncertainty, only twenty years since World War II ended and is fresh in the minds of all. It is now at the height of the Cold War – a time of mistrust.

Historians will know of Berlin being split into four zones. The Stasi had far-reaching fingers and underhand tactics.

We see that war criminals hid in plain sight, blending in and denying their past.

The lead character is a teenager who finds herself haunted by a young Jewish girl who disappeared ten years earlier. Shadowy figures are seen, and the past is re-lived through dreams.

It is a time of awakening as the teen is on the verge between adulthood and childhood. The swinging sixties were definitely swinging in the girls boarding school!

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Franci’s War by Franci Rabinek Epstein

Mar28

Brave & Resourceful

Franci’s War by Franci Rabinek Epstein is a powerful account of the author’s time spent in various concentration camps during World War II.

We also briefly hear of the author’s background and there is an afterword by her daughter. The inclusion of photos is great to be able to put faces to names.

Although Franci Rabinek Epstein’s family was Jewish, they were not practicing Jews. Indeed, her father said “I am a Czechoslovakian citizen of German nationality.”

As the 1930’s progressed and their liberties were eroded, her father “believed in German decency, justice, honor and civilization.”

Her mother was in the business of haute couture, and the author followed in her footsteps. This was to be of an advantage in the camps as she was able to work as a seamstress. Later the author worked as an electrician (her father’s trade) in the camps. She was resourceful. This plus luck, helped her to survive.

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A Year Of Flowers by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Mar28

Better Together

A Year Of Flowers by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the most beautiful Christian contemporary offering of four stories in one book.

Each story is intertwined as they build towards the final story showing how the three lead characters are better together. The reader is reminded that a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Flowers take centre stage. Different flowers mean different things. “Flowers touched a person’s life.” We see that flowers need just the right conditions to bud and to flourish. Likewise, we too, need the right conditions in order to flourish. We need God. We need “to get to a point where you realise life isn’t working out very well on your own. To know you need Christ.” When we reach rock bottom, we find the Rock who is Jesus is right there with us.

“I got to a point when I had no-where else to go… when I realized my own indescribable need for a Lord & Savior… My whole purpose in life has changed.” This really ‘speaks’ to the reader as we can ‘feel’ the characters desperate need for Jesus and the security of knowing Him.

We all have dreams. “She found the life she’d been chasing after, only to discover it wasn’t what she’d dreamed it would be.” Sometimes our dreams feel more like nightmares as we realise we have been focused on the wrong things. “Chasing all the wrong things… it was time to get herself back to church.” There are times in our life when we realise that something is missing, and that something is a person and His Name is Jesus. Being with other believers in church helps to build up our faith, and we, in turn, can help to build up the faith of others.

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Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest by Ann Bennett

Mar26

Powerful & Heart-Wrenching

The Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest by Ann Bennett is a powerful historical novel. It is based on the author’s father’s wartime experiences as a POW on the Thai Burma railway and is absolutely heart breaking.

The novel is set over two time periods – 1943 onwards in Malaya, and in London in 1986. It is linked by the young man in 1943 who became the elderly father in 1986.

The father had never spoken of his time as a POW. It is only after his death that his daughter goes on a quest to find out about her father’s lost years.

Ann Bennett pulls no punches. This is a very hard-hitting read. The Japanese (though a gentle nation now) were brutal to all those in captivity. The comprehensive detail of the sufferings makes this a very hard read. But it is a necessary read. We need to know what happened so we never forget the generation of young men who went to war, and returned changed, if they returned at all.

We witness a beautiful budding love that is brutally ripped away by war. This contrasts sharply with a selfish, young, egotistical young man in 1986.

The title Bamboo Heart “means that the heart has been permanently weakened by starvation” at some time in the past.

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