A DISTANT MELODY BY SARAH SUNDIN

Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval–even marry a man she doesn’t love.

Lt. Walter Novak–fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women–takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas. Walt and Allie meet at a wedding and their love of music draws them together, prompting them to begin a correspondence that will change their lives.

As letters fly between Walt’s muddy bomber base in England and Allie’s mansion in an orange grove, their friendship binds them together. But can they untangle the secrets, commitments, and expectations that keep them apart?

A Distant Melody is the first book in the WINGS OF GLORY series, which follows the three Novak brothers, B-17 bomber pilots with the US Eighth Air Force stationed in England during World War II.

About The Author:

Sarah Sundin is an on-call hospital pharmacist and holds a BS in chemistry from UCLA and a doctorate in pharmacy from UC San Francisco. Her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force in England during WWII. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children. This is her first novel.
For more info please visit her website at www.sarahsundin.com!

My Impressions:

My parents, barely out of their teens, were newlyweds at the start of WWII.  I have precious, old photographs of them, their family and friends during this time.  My dad in front of his barracks with his Army buddies. My mom in a cheesecake pose.  Three of my uncles, all on shore leave in Hawaii, dressed up like hula girls. My dad and his two brothers in dress uniform standing next to their sweethearts. This last one a photo of an uncle never met, one of the last of my Uncle Jim who never made it back from Europe and rests in a cemetery in the Netherlands along with thousands of other American soldiers.  The photos don’t reveal young people afraid and stressed by the prospects of war, but hopeful and optimistic about the future.

Reading Sarah Sundin’s debut novel, A Distant Melody, brought to my mind all those old photos.  This book, set at the beginning of America’s entrance into the war, is a novel of hope in the bleakest times.  A novel of God’s provision and protection even in the darkest days.

Allie and Walt are two young people often overlooked by family and friends. They forge a friendship in their brief week together, and they continue that friendship through letters.  Not able to express their feelings to others, they pour out their hearts to each other.  Through these letters they grow up and fall in love.  But of course, distance and circumstances keep them apart.

I fell in love with these characters from the beginning.  Sundin’s love story is one of the best books I have read this year.

Highly Recommended

(I received this book from Litfuse for free in return for a review.  The opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.)

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