Until We Find Home

Until I read this book, I had one favorite WWII era author, Sarah Sundin.  Now I have another one on equal footing with Sarah.  Her name is Cathy Gohlke and the book I just read is Until We Find Home.  Claire is an American in Paris, wanting to become a writer, until she is charged with helping five Jewish children to escape the coming Nazi invasion.  She is ferried with her children to England and then to the countryside where she has an aunt that she hopes will take in the children.

Her aunt will take in the children as long as Claire stays to take care of them, but Claire wants to get back to Paris as soon as possible to continue her writing.  Her aunt explains that her American heritage will not protect her in France.  Soon after Claire comes, another contingent of children are dropped on her aunt---these children are from Germany. 

David Campbell is another American working in England and has been billeted with Claire and her ersatz family.  She sometimes doesn't know how to take him and sometimes wants to throw a vase at his head, but as she comes to know him, she begins to love him. 

My favorite part of the book is the look into the cultural lives of the Jewish children.  The German children didn't get along with the French at first, and vice versa.  The only exceptions are two rapscallions named Gaston and Josef.  They created an alliance of mischief and chaos. But Josef becomes key in helping to re-capture an escaped German prisoner of war.

Cathy has done her research in preparing this manuscript and clearly described her characters, her settings, and the era she was writing about.  The characters are believable and real, the setting is easily imagined, and the era fascinates me because my father served in the Coast Guard during WWII.

This is a five star book, two thumbs up, and a secret garden for your creativity. 

My thanks to Tyndale House for allowing me to read and review this book.