This sounded interesting ...

I'm a big fan of the WWII genre, so this one was a little different in that it was about WWI instead, and that it was told from the German perspective. I found the historical aspects about the chemical weapons interesting, as well as the food shortages and the 'turnip winter', and of course the guide dog school in Oldenburg.

However, I really wanted this story to give more detail about the creation of the school and the training itself, instead of focusing so much on the romance part. The romance was, IMO, so obvious, forced, and a little unbelievable (it seemed highly unlikely that in 1916-1917, a father would allow an unmarried woman to sleep in the same room as her fiance). The dialogue was fairly elementary, and the narrative itself was pretty slow in places. I also think they skimmed too much over the details and reality of the German-Jewish subculture, and the prejudice they experienced. The sub-plot with Bruno was so obvious in the way it collided with Anna and Max's story, but it was also interesting to see the war and its consequences through his eyes.

Overall, though, I still really enjoyed this book in that it helped me learn new things, and tugged at my heart in the way it ended. I did enjoy Max and Anna creating the composition together, and felt it was one of the beautiful things they shared together that would endure.

I'm going on a trip to the the UK/Europe in a couple weeks, and will be visiting northern France -- a perfect place to release this book. I'll update with release details once the book is in the wild!

>^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^< >^..^<

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The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single release!!

Happy Reading!

Well we were supposed to visit Normandy today, but due to strikes in France, our ship docked in Portland, UK, instead.

Although this book focuses on WWI, I left it in the WWII D-Day Centre in Castletown on the Isle of Portland.

Happy travels, little book!