Another Review at MyShelf.Com

The Homecoming

By Dan Walsh

        If you have read the heart-warming Christmas novella The Unfinished Gift (also reviewed on this site) then you will know about bomber pilot Shawn Collins and his reunion with his father and son in time for the festive season.  Now that he is home following his daring mission he hopes he will get to spend more time with his family, but the army wants him for another task.  No life-threatening foray into enemy territory this time, but as a speaker on a war bond tour.  It sounds like a dream job, meeting Hollywood stars and being feted as a hero, but all Shawn wants to do is stay home a little longer and mourn the recent death of his beloved wife.  He also needs a nanny for young Patrick too – how about Katherine Townsend?
 
If you haven’t read the first part of this pair of books then you need to do so before embarking on this sequel.  Shawn must learn to trust God again and understand why He could take away his beloved Elizabeth, while Katherine needs to discover the love of God for herself following a difficult start in life.  Be prepared for a rollercoaster of emotion from Shawn’s raw grief through the various other ups and downs that face the Collins family as well as moments of shining joy. 

Mr Walsh is certainly adept at delineating his characters to such a degree that we truly care for them, and this makes the book not only easy to read but also very absorbing.  I enjoyed the thrilling account of Shawn’s mission and time in London; his war bond tour somehow seemed rather more shadowy.  As in the first book there is also a good evocation of wartime Philadelphia and London, particularly the latter where people are shown to be much worse off with strict rationing and the dreaded “doodlebugs.”.  I do hope that Mr Walsh goes on to regale us with many more novels.


The Book

Revell (Baker Publishing Group)
June 2010
Paperback
0800733894 / 9780800733896
Inspirational Historical Fiction / 1944 Philadelphia and London
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Rachel Hyde
Reviewed 2010
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