The Vietnam War era isn’t the usual milieu for Christian fiction, but Susie Finkbeiner’s new novel captures that fraught time with beauty and gentleness. Narrator Annie Jacobson and her family live in tiny Fort Colson in northern Michigan and have already experienced the after-effects of war. Annie’s father, Frank, left her, her mother, and two brothers long ago after his stint in the Korean War. What we would call PTSD now was just “tremors” then, and the need to escape in order to cope.
Her mother, Gloria, has kept the family together with strength and love, yet she can’t control what happens when tragedy strikes at home. Frank returns and begins to rebuild relationships even as older brother Mike enlists in the Army to fight a world away.
Finkbeiner speaks to issues of war, race, family drama, tragedy, and, ultimately, the many faces of love as Annie comes to terms with her life and heart, as one family faces life’s tragedies with fortitude and God’s grace. A beautiful, arresting novel. (Revell)
About the Author
Ann Byle is author of Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens. She is a freelance writer and author of several other books, magazine articles, and reviews. She lives in Grand Rapids, Mich.
