All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee was the 2025 Christy Award Book of The Year, and I can see why. This dual timeline novel told from 3 points of view is excellent! It covers hard topics with sensitivity and grace. I loved it!
She was so sure she knew her family’s story . . . Now she wonders if she was wrong about all of it.
1969. When Mattie Taylor’s twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark’s death. Mama’s last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn’t even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.
1942. Ava Delaney is picking up the pieces of her life following her husband’s death at Pearl Harbor. Living with her mother-in-law on a secluded farm in Tennessee is far different than the life Ava imagined when she married only a few short months ago. Desperate to get out of the house, Ava seeks work at a nearby military base, where she soon discovers the American government is housing Germans who they have classified as enemy aliens. As Ava works to process legal documents for the military, she crosses paths with Gunther Schneider, a German who is helping care for wounded soldiers. Ava questions why a man as gentle and kind as Gunther should be forced to live in the internment camp, and as they become friends, her sense of the injustice grows . . . as do her feelings for him. Faced with the possibility of losing Gunther, Ava must choose whether loving someone deemed the enemy is a risk worth taking, even if it means being ostracized by all those around her.
In the midst of pain and loss two women must come face-to-face with their own assumptions about what they thought they knew about themselves and others. What they discover will lead to a far greater appreciation of their own legacies and the love of those dearest to them.
Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels including ALL WE THOUGHT WE KNEW, the 2025 Christy Award Book of the Year; APPALACHIAN SONG, a 2024 Christy Award Finalist; COUNT THE NIGHTS BY STARS, winner of the 2023 Christianity Today Book Award in Fiction; and UNDER THE TULIP TREE, a Christy Award & Selah Award finalist. As a woman of mixed heritage–her father’s family is Hispanic and her mother’s roots go back to Germany–she has always celebrated diversity and feels it’s important to see the world through the eyes of one another. Learning from the past and changing the future is why she writes historical fiction. With both her sons grown and happily married, Michelle and her husband make their home in Tennessee. She loves to hear from readers, so please connect with her at: http://www.MichelleShocklee.com.
My Impressions:
All We Thought We Knew is a historical novel set in America in the WWII and Vietnam-eras. It is told through the first person voices of Ava (1940s), her daughter Mattie (1960s), and the third person experiences of Gunther, a German student imprisoned as an alien enemy during WWII. Shocklee takes these complex times and fills them with personal perspectives and experiences that tell a whole, sometimes, painful story. Mattie is very opinionated about the role America should play in Vietnam. When her brother is killed there, she is filled with anger at just about everyone around her, but especially her father. She runs away from her grief, but is called home when her mother who is dying of cancer needs her. The second story set in WWII is an unveiling of her mother’s life and the secrets that the family has kept for so long. Wow, this book was hard to read at times. It took me longer than usual, but the emotions are raw, the issues are full of gray areas, and I needed time to process. I flew through the final quarter of the book though, as I grew invested in each character’s story. It was the best kind of reading experience. I learned a lot, a cried a bit, and I was encouraged by the growth that Mattie went through, the peace that Ava found, and the dignity that Gunther came to achieve. All We Thought We Knew is my book club’s first selection of 2026. I look forward to a great discussion.
Highly Recommended.
Great for Book Clubs.
Audience: Adults.
(I purchased this book from Amazon. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
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