Ashes - Christopher De Vinck

Ashes is a book which I'd been seeing around for a while, and which I was intrigued by.  So I was very happy to be sent a copy of the manuscript to review, and I wasn't disappointed.

Simone is the daughter of a Belgian General, and Hava the opera-loving daughter of a devout Jewish family.  The two girls meet at the Red Cross in Brussels and become inseparable, but rumours of war are building.  When the Nazis invade in early 1940, Simone and Hava are caught up in the crowds of terrified people trying to escape as tanks shell the city and aircraft strafe the streets.  The girls stick together though despair and hope. Helped by some and rejected by others they manage to stay ahead of the Nazi invaders – until they make a fateful decision in Dunkirk.

This is a book borne out of the author’s own family experiences, and this depth of personal connection shows in the writing which is vivid and powerful.  Both girls and their families feel ‘real’, but it’s the sparkling, vivacious, blonde-haired Hava, who loves dancing, daffodils, stars and John Charles Tillman, who comes across most powerfully.  She is the character whom the author wanted to represent, as does Anne Frank, ALL those sent to their deaths by the Nazis, and reduced to ashes.  He has succeeded.  This is an excellent novel and I hope it reaches a very wide readership indeed.

9780310111986, Harper Inspire, Published August 2020 (UK).

For transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.

The Heart of a Hero - Susan May Warren

The Heart of a Hero is the second book in Susan May Warren’s Global Search and Rescue series.  I really liked the first book The Way of the Brave, and this book keeps up the pace.  Although a ‘book two’, this could still be read and enjoyed as a stand alone novel, but I’m pretty sure anyone starting here will want to read the others.  I’m now champing at the bit for book three!

 

In the previous book we met Jake Silver, rescue team member and ex Navy SEAL, and Dr Aria Sinclair, the woman he rescued on the Alaskan Denali mountain.  Here, we pick up their story.  All is not going smoothly since returning from Denali and it looks like their relationship is over before it’s begun when Aria sets off for a conference in Florida.  But when Jake receives an unexpected text message from Aria saying she fears she is dying, and he discovers that a category 4 hurricane is bearing down on her location, he sets off to find her. 

 

I really enjoy reading Susan May Warren’s books.  She tells a ‘rattling good yarn’ every time, with lots of depth to her characters and complexity (but not too much!) to her plots.  I also love her descriptive writing.  The Heart of a Hero opens with Jake out sailing with 10 year old Aggie and the descriptions are so vivid that you can almost hear the hiss of the water beneath the hull, the creaking of the lines and the wind in the sails!  

 

The descriptions of being in the midst of the hurricane are also powerfully written.  As well as the book’s environment, the conversations also have depth and raise points for thought or discussion.  Susan May Warren’s books always have strong faith elements which, while woven very well throughout, are prominent in the story.  In this book, a favourite quote is from a character saying ‘Don’t you worry about a thing. God always show up in a storm.’  And as well as saying it, God turning up in this particular storm is also demonstrated in the way the story unfolds.  

 

Elements of dealing with loss, past mistakes, and your own hang ups are key elements in this book.  Jake’s issues with the disappearance of his 6 year old sister Hannah are believably addressed, and Aria’s struggles with the death of her twin sister Kia who became a heart donor for Aria are also significant through the story with a particularly striking comment made to her by a patient: “If we spent our entire lives trying to pay back what we owe, we’d live in a constant state of debt. Always feeling we weren’t enough, always scrambling to make ourselves better, make ourselves more. You are enough.”

 

As well as the main storyline, there is also the matter of elective mute Aggie, and her father Ham, who knew nothing of her existence until he received a life changing phone call from the other side of the globe.  We’ll have to wait until book 3 to find out how their story ends, and I can’t wait! 

 

Overall, this is an excellent read, and you’d better find a good spell of time to absorb yourself in its pages, as you won’t want to put it down!  

9780800735852, Revell

For transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.