I Saw a Beautiful Woodpecker by Michał Skibiński and illustrated by Ala Bankroft (release date Oct. 2021)

My thoughts: This is a highly unusual children's book and one to mull over for compassionate understanding.

It is not exactly appealing with its many pages of dark illustrations that do not contain detailed imagery. But once you begin to read and mull over the text and images, you grasp that the darkness is representative of the emotionally dark period in which this 8-year-old boy was writing in his journal.

Upon reading the "about" in the back of the book, one learns that the boy's father is a pilot (Polish?) air squadron who died 9/9/1939 - in the midst of the boy's journal though his father is not mentioned.

The daily activities as relayed in the sparse journal entries seem normal, but pondering this book on multiple reads will convey that the boy's family (grandparents, mother, and even nanny) are involved in moving him about and keeping things at a semblance of normal.

A dire, dark period in man's history was looming and this book brings a real-life-journal, preserved over 80 years, to today's readers capturing  the essence of a childhood survivor of World War II experience in the enveloping darkness that pervaded their lives. And it also records a spot of beauty in the boy's entry, "I saw a beautiful woodpecker."

About the book: It is the summer of 1939 in Warsaw, Poland and Michal is an eight-year-old boy just finishing his school year. In order to improve his handwriting, Michal's teacher gives him a simple assignment: keep a journal, writing one sentence a day. Eighty years later, Michal's diary has been gorgeously illustrated with beautifully atmospheric paintings. Eloquent in its simplicity, the journal is a remarkable artifact that captures the innocence of childhood and the trauma of war. The journal starts out with a typical boy's observations: July 15: I went to a stream with my brother and teacher. July 23: I found a caterpillar. However over the course of weeks, menacing details emerge. July 27: A plane was circling over Anin. September 1: The war has begun. September 3: I hid from planes. September 14: Warsaw is bravely defending itself. These haunting entries are interspersed with visits from relatives, a soccer game, a trip to a park, an ice cream cone. Photographs of pages from Michal's diary enhance the poignancy of this simple record--an ordinary holiday interrupted by war; a life changed forever by an extraordinary moment in history.

I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.

The Witnesses By Robert Whitlow Published by Thomas Nelson

About the book: Young lawyer Parker House is on the rise—until his grandfather’s mysterious past puts both of their lives in danger.

Parker House’s secret inheritance is either his greatest blessing . . . or his deadliest curse. The fresh-faced North Carolina attorney shares his German grandfather’s uncanny ability to see future events in his mind’s eye—a gift that has haunted 82-year-old Frank House through decades of trying to erase a murderous wartime past.

While Parker navigates the intrigue and politics of small-town courtroom law, Frank is forced to face his darkest regrets. Then, a big career break for Parker collides with a new love he longs to nurture and the nightmares his grandfather can no longer escape. Sudden peril threatens to shatter not only Parker’s legal prospects but also his life and the lives of those dearest to him.

Two witnesses, two paths, an uncertain future.

My thoughts: Robert Whitlow takes the reader to the stunningly beautiful North Carolina coastal town of New Bern. Rivers flow into the mighty Atlantic Ocean creating a sparkling gem of water and sky where fishing and boating in skiffs and yachts are par for the course. The story opens with newly graduated attorney, Parker House, set up in a New Bern practice and about to participate in a jury selection. It quickly ratcheted into the subtle mind quirkiness that is The Witnesses as Parker seems to have an uncanny sense of what to do. Just what makes Parker tick?

The story runs with two time lines - Germany during World War II and contemporary New Bern, NC. Worlds apart. Lifetimes apart. Yet, fully meshing one with the other.

While young Parker is discovering his own life, meeting clients and getting started as a legal counsel, he meets a young photographer who captures his heart. Parker's Opa (grandfather) is a sweetheart of an old man as is his long time friend and fishing buddy, Lenny.

I enjoyed the visits in the courtroom and the legalise planning and maneuvering. I enjoyed boating with the story's folks with the wind whipping through my hair just as it did Layla's. You see, I grew up in the North Carolina coastal city of Wilmington and know what these characters saw, felt, and loved. In short, I enjoyed The Witnesses and encourage those who enjoy Christian legal thrillers bathed in the beauty of a sea coast town to get a copy and get reading.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from BookLook Bloggers Program to facilitate this review of my own opinions. I was not compensated for this review.

A Sparrow of Terezin by Kristy Cambron (A Hidden Masterpiece Novel) - Review & Giveaway

About the book: Present Day—With the grand opening of her new art gallery and a fairytale wedding just around the corner, Sera James feels she’s stumbled into a charmed life—until a brutal legal battle against fiancé William Hanover threatens to destroy the perfectly planned future she’s planned before it even begins. Now, after an eleventh-hour wedding ceremony and a callous arrest, William faces a decade in prison for a crime he never committed, and Sera must battle the scathing accusations that threaten her family and any hope for a future.


1942—Kája Makovsky narrowly escaped occupied Prague in 1939, and was forced to leave her half-Jewish family behind. Now a reporter for the Daily Telegraph in England, Kája discovers the terror has followed her across the Channel in the shadowy form of the London Blitz. When she learns Jews are being exterminated by the thousands on the continent, Kája has no choice but to return to her mother city, risking her life to smuggle her family to freedom and peace.

Connecting across a century through one little girl, a Holocaust survivor with a foot in each world, these two women will discover a kinship that springs even in the darkest of times. In this tale of hope and survival, Sera and Kája must cling to the faith that sustains and fight to protect all they hold dear—even if it means placing their own futures on the line.

My thoughts: Stepping onto the pages of a historical novel can be a journey of the heart, mind, and spirit. Our heart is moved by the people and events as the author fleshes out the story. Our mind is engaged with a particular piece of history that draws us toward study and research. And our spirit is moved at the way God moves in the affairs of man.

Kristy Cambron captured my mind and readership with her first book, The Butterfly and the Violin (check my review). Now she has flawlessly continued the story here in The Sparrow of Terezin. Pages are mingled with a two-pronged story - current day and war torn 1940s Europe. While reading The Butterfly and the Violin first enhances the reader's enjoyment of the Sparrow book, the reader can begin with book two with quick identification of characters and involvement in the story.

My curiosity often interrupts my fictional reading and I divert my attention to a bit of research. Terezin was a concentration camp (or "ideal" Jewish settlement). Interned there were over 32,000 - men, women, and children. This was a place where noteworthy Jewish individuals in the arts - performers, composers, and artists - were interned. Works of art were created within the walls of this place of sorrow. Wikipedia

Two romances - one contemporary, one in war torn Europe. Glimpses into a Nazi concentration camp and its treatment of innocents - children. The past connected to the present. Written by a wordsmith that will truly capture the reader.

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I was provided a complimentary copy to facilitate this review. Opinions expressed are mine and I was not compensated for this review.

Feast for Thieves By: Marcus Brotherton (Review & Giveaway)

About the book: Sergeant Rowdy Slater is the most skilled-and most incorrigible-soldier in Dog Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, an elite group of paratroopers fighting for the world's freedom in World War II.

Through a bizarre set of circumstances, Rowdy returns to the States after the war, turns his life around, and falls into the only job he can find-preacher at the sparsely populated community church in Cut Eye, Texas, a dusty highway town situated at the midpoint of nowhere and emptiness.

The town's lawman, suspicious that Rowdy has changed his ways only as a cover up, gives an ultimatum: Rowdy must survive one complete year as Cut Eye's new minister or end up in jail.

At first Rowdy thinks the job will be easy, particularly because he's taking over for a young female missionary who's held the church together while the men were at war. But when a dark-hearted acquaintance from Rowdy's past shows up with a plan to make some quick cash, Rowdy becomes ensnared due to an irrevocable favor, and life turns decidedly difficult.

Rowdy's a man used to solving problems one of two ways: with his rifle or with his fists. Will he be able to thwart his old friend's evil schemes while remaining true to his new higher calling?

This is a wild ride of a book bursting with a bank robbery, kidnapping, desperate prayers, and barroom brawls. Before the smoke clears, all sides just might end up getting exactly what they want.

My thoughts:  This was certainly an interesting read. Quite frankly, the making of a preacher of the Gospel out of Rowdy (main character) will certainly elicit laughter and create fodder for the church-hating public that sees Baptist, Southern preachers as ignoramuses and shysters. You see, Rowdy is a discharged army guy who has been to prison and who has helped rob a bank. He happens to get caught by the Sheriff of Cut Eye (the town) who needs a new preacher for the town’s church because his town is quite frankly going to the Devil. Rowdy knows no Bible, is not a Christian, and is a most unlikely candidate for the position. But a bargain has been struck between the Sheriff and Rowdy.

Feast of Thieves is the author’s first novel but he has written many non-fiction titles including We Who Are Alive and Remain about veterans. He draws the character, Rowdy Slater, with skilled language plotting twists with the story taking unbelievable turns wrapped in the colloquial dialogue that is small town South of the mid-forties.

A fairly short book, it “grows” Rowdy from a drifting, troubled war veteran whose past has given him a lot to overcome to have a future of any good and into a man dedicated to God. Yes, the outcome is good and it is sweet.  Though the story style is not one I usually enjoy, I ended wondering what in the world was going to happen next to Rowdy. Maybe we won’t have to wait long to find out. I understand there are more “Rowdy Slater” books on the horizon.

This is a story of redemption and it is presented in an unusual way and in a style evocative of a really good literary work.

Want to win a copy? One of Chat With Vera's readers will be randomly selected as winner of their own copy graciously provided by River North Fiction. Use the entry form below. Begins September 8 & ENDS September 30 @ 12:01 a.m. ET.
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About the author:  MARCUS BROTHERTON is the author or coauthor of more than twenty-five nonfiction books. Notable works include Shifty's War, A Company of Heroes, and the oral history project, We Who Are Alive and Remain: untold stories from the Band of Brothers, a New York Times bestseller. This is his first novel. www.marcusbrotherton.com.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from a publicists on behalf of the author in exchange for this review. Opinions expressed are my own.I received no compensation for this review.

D-Day By The Numbers - 70th Year of Remembrance

I first saw the video below on the CNN website. I then found it on Youtube.com and available to share as an embed file. Please watch it. My heart weeps whenever I think of war and those who are the battle fodder. It has been throughout history a bloody and vile thing. War. But wars will be fought. Lives will be lost. Evil will try to prevail. Hopefully, good will be the victor. But it is still war. It is still bad. It is cause to pause and reflect on the wars of history and aim to avoid the situations that bring them into our present lives.

Now take a few moments and watch these young men, for they were young at the time, as they embarked on one of the most courageous and terrible days of World War II. Many never made it home.


And now, I share my uncles from World War II. Two were in the European campaign. One died training others to be a pilot.

Shadowed by Grace by Cara C. Putman (Review & Giveaway)

Publisher: B&H Books 
ISBN-13: 978-1433681783

About the book:  Desperate to save her dying mother, an American woman accepts her newspaper's assignment to travel to Italy where she takes photographs dangerously close to the front lines during World War II. But Rachel's real motive in this journey is to find the father she never knew, an artist she hopes can offer the comfort and support both she and her mother need to survive at such a desperate time.

In her quest, Rachel becomes involved with what will become the Monuments Men effort to save great monuments and works of art from the Third Reich. Soon enough she will find more than she ever imagined---in war, in love, and in God.

My thoughts:  I have read many historical fiction novels though few positioned during WWII and in the midst of the battles. So the opportunity to read Shadowed By Grace was appealing to me. The scene is Nazi occupied Italy and involves Grace, a news photographer charged with the responsibility to bring the heart of the war story to the world at large. But Grace is there primarily on a personal journey to find her never-before-seen father.
 
Raised by a single mother who was an art student in prewar WWI Italy, Grace’s mother never shared the birth of Grace with the father. Now Grace’s mother needs funds for life-saving medical treatment. Grace hopes to find her father and appeal to him.
 
Europe was home to centuries of art treasures that told the story of mankind and these treasures were in danger of being lost forever. The American government commissioned a group of service men called The Monuments Men and they were responsible for finding and securing for posterity these magnificent treasures. The Monuments Men were educated in the arts and knew the value of the pieces they sought out. But nefarious sources were also seeking the pieces. Some damaged by the war. Some safe from harm but not secure from thieves.

Grace was assigned to Monuments Men soldier, Scott. Together they did their part in WWII.  

I found Shadowed By Grace to be interesting from a historical standpoint as the author handled the WWII period of history accurately and graciously. I found the information about the effort to salvage and save the world’s art treasures  beyond interesting and compelling. I also believe the author’s title, Shadowed By Grace, to be two-fold in meaning. The heroine’s name was Grace, and she "shadowed" a Monuments Men;  and then the story of the outpouring of the Grace of God was told as well.

GIVEAWAY:  One of Chat With Vera's readers has the opportunity to get a free copy of Shadowed by Grace by simply using the Rafflecopter entry form below.  Open to continental USA addresses only. Begins January28 & ENDS February 17 @ 12:91 a.m. ET.

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About the author: Cara C. Putman graduated high school at 16, college at 20, and completed her law degree at 27. The best-selling author of more than a dozen books, Cara is active in women's ministry at her church, teaches graduate courses at Purdue University, practices law, and is a homeschooling mom. She lives with her husband and 4 children in Indiana.  Visit Cara's website:   http://caraputman.com 

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy  Shadowed By Grace from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. No compensation was received for this review. Opinions expressed are solely my own.