Publisher Description
In spring 1918, Lieutenant Colin Mabry, a British soldier working with MI8 after suffering injuries on the front, receives a message by carrier pigeon. It is from Jewel Reyer, the woman he once loved and who saved his life–a woman he believed to be dead. Traveling to France to answer her urgent summons, he desperately hopes this mission will ease his guilt and restore the courage he lost on the battlefield.
Colin is stunned, however, to discover the message came from Jewel’s half sister, Johanna. Johanna, who works at a dovecote for French Army Intelligence, found Jewel’s diary and believes her sister is alive in the custody of a German agent. With spies everywhere, Colin is skeptical of Johanna, but as they travel across France and Spain, a tentative trust begins to grow between them.
When their pursuit leads them straight into the midst of a treacherous plot, danger and deception turn their search for answers into a battle for their lives.
My Review:
I love a good story and wow, is this a good story! This one had all the ingredients needed to keep me turning pages as quickly as I could:
A World War 1 setting; espionage; intrigue, faith, and romance. This book kept me guessing as to who was really a bad guy, a good guy, and who was a double agent. Kate Breslin did a wonderful job of working all her research into this story to add extra layers of interest. I did not realize that the Allies had used messenger pigeons this extensively in the war and the messages they carried added a somewhat fascinating and romantic touch to the storyline.
Colin and Johanna may be my best-loved fictional couple of all the books I’ve read this year. Both are flawed, heroic, and loyal. Colin was gravely wounded during the war, and is trying to find his place again in English society and the wartime effort. He loves his family and sincerely wants to serve his country. Johanna is a refugee in France and is desperately trying to find her father and sister. She’s lived a life of loneliness and struggle. After finding her sister’s diary, she realizes that Colin is her best hope in locating them. A message by carrier pigeon brings them together and changes the course of both of their lives. As events move swiftly around them, they each must decide to depend on their faith to help them discover the truth. But Johanna has one more secret to reveal to Colin, and it may drive them completely apart.
If you like Christian historical fiction, you’ll like this one. I had not read the first book in this series, but this story was easily read on its own. I’m hoping there’s another book in this series.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.