The Winter Rose - Melanie Dobson

Young widow Addie Hoult sets out for Tonquin Lake, looking for the mysterious and elusive Tonquin family. 

Charlie Tonquin, the man Addie sees as a father-figure, is dying and urgently needs a bone marrow transplant. But Charlie refuses to talk about his past or his family, and the Tonquins have long since disappeared from the grand house above the lake.

In the 1940s, American Quaker Grace Tonquin is desperately trying to help Jewish children in France escape from the Nazis. She crosses the Pyrenees with the children and escapes into Spain, taking two of them on to the USA. She and her husband love the children as their own, but events from the past slowly tear the family apart.

Can Addie discover what happened to Grace’s family after the war? Are any of them still alive? And can the search help both Charlie and Addie heal?

This is an unusual book. It’s not a straightforward ‘happy ending’ title but shows that the things which happen in a person’s life affect them long afterwards.  There’s much about family here, and most of it in ‘non-traditional’ forms.  There are elements on faith, hope and restoration, and this is a book where all the characters have their flaws as well as strengths.  

I first thought this a ‘WWII’ novel, but it’s about so much more than Grace and the children’s escape from the Nazis across the mountains.  At times I found it a challenge to keep up with who was who, but this is a good read with depth and quality in the storytelling.

9781496444226, Tyndale, Jan22

Note: 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.