When Twilight Breaks

     BOOK REVIEW:   Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession and to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country---or worse. If she does not report truthfully, she'll betray the oppressed and fail to wake up the folks back home. 

     Peter Lang is an American graduate student working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party---to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can't get off his mind. 

     As the world marches relentlessly toward war, Evelyn and Peter are on a collision course with destiny. 

     MY REVIEW:   This is the first book I've read by Sarah Sundin. I have had the impression that her writing can be fairly shallow, but this book sounded like it could have more to it, so I gave it a try. I was impressed to see that she managed to find a fresh way to bring the characters together, and I was truly glad to see how she illustrated that relying on God and accepting help from others does not make you weaker---rather it strengthens you. I often have to think to find a good theme to learn from when reading fiction, but this book really portrayed its theme well. Evelyn realizes that she can accept help from others, "not because she wasn't capable, but because he was capable". In her male-dominated career she has learned to be strong and independent---to a fault. She is convicted of turning to God only when she can't see a way out, instead of asking for His guidance on the way in, and seeks to change her approach.

     This book is full of suspense and anticipation. It is set in Germany a year before WWII broke out, when the government's methods look nice from a distance, but those who have felt the effects know better. The Jewish race feels persecution, and the Hitler Youth program is strongly enforced. Additional stress mounts when Evelyn discovers that her American blood is more Jewish than she realized, and Peter finds himself on the very opposite side of his initial approval of the government's tactics. As they find themselves trusting fewer and fewer of their friends, they of course draw closer to each other, and the last third of the book strives industriously to develop the romance that formed casually in the beginning of the story. 

      As far as this book goes, fiction is fiction. But it has character of its own that distances it from the familiar mush that abounds. It is well-written and engaging, with good lessons to learn throughout. 

     I received a copy of this book from REVELL PUBLISHERS and was not required to write a positive review.