The first time I picked up this book was at my grandparents’ home in Idaho, probably a dozen years ago now. I remember sitting on the twin bed in the guest room of my grandparents’ home one afternoon, reading the story of the missionaries getting out of Germany. I was riveted. I finished the first book over the next few days. When Grandma saw that I’d picked up the second volume in this series just a day or two before we were driving back to New Mexico, she told me to keep the book.

I loved the Children of the Promise series the first time around and learned a lot of history from the books — this was one of my first experiences with historical fiction (well, maybe aside from The Work and the Glory; I can’t remember which books I’d read first). I loved the characters. It was pretty easy reading despite its length and sensitive content (I mean, it’s a book about war; there’s lots of fighting and violence).

This time around the book was just as good. I’d forgotten quite a few plot elements and it was fun to reread the beginning of the story, knowing how the characters will change by the end. The details surrounding some of the historical events had gotten fuzzy, and I liked re-learning those. The best part of the book was still the part I remember reading at my grandparents’ house, where the missionaries (mostly Americans) in Germany are fleeing the country just days before the invasion of Poland. This time, that part made me cry (either from the added experience and appreciation that twelve years’ time will bring … or pregnancy hormones and lack of sleep and watery eyes from a cold. Something.) At any rate, it’s an inspiring story in Church history that deserves retelling. I only wished Hughes would have done like Gerald Lund and included at least some endnotes; I would have been interested in more of the real history behind the stories!

Definitely looking forward to the other volumes in this series!