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10 January 2012

Marian Baay reviews Sarah Sundin's A Distant Melody


A Distant Melody 
by Sarah Sundin
(Revell, 2010)
5 stars *****

Reviewed by Marian Baay


A Distant Melody is set during World War II. Allie Miller is the daughter of wealthy parents. They arranged a marriage with a man she doesn’t love. She hopes to get the approval of her mother with this marriage. So far she could never please her mother.When Allie is on her best friend’s wedding, she meets Walter Novak. He is the first person who seems to understand her.

Walter Novak is a pilot in the Army Air Force and flies a bomber plane B17. Shortly he has to leave for England.Walt is hopeless with women. But Allie is the first woman he can talk to and have fun with. Allie stays for a week with her friend and after the marriage she’s going home again. Walt has fallen hard for Allie and when she returns home they share addresses and promise to write each other.

Walt leaves for England and is fighting against the Germans. His crew respects him, but he told a little white lie to earn their respect.
Through their letters Walt and Allie get to know each other and fall in love. But Allie still has her boyfriend and soon is engaged to him. But Allie is unhappy. She’s willing to marry Baxter, but the Lord shows her that she can’t marry an unbeliever. Will she obey the Lord, or will she please her parents?

Allie is praying for Walt and his crew. When they are in trouble the Lord wakes her at night to pray.

Walt is falling more for Allie with every letter he receives from her. He decides he can’t love a woman who is soon to marry another man. It’s best to  stop writing and Walt tells another lie in his last letter to Allie. Allie is devastated by Walt’s news. Soon she wakes up again in the middle of the night and must pray for Walt. It’s the last time that the Lord awakens her to pray. What happened that night to Walt? Can Walt tell Allie about his lie before it’s too late?


This book was a nice surprise! Never before have I read a WWII book so very well written. I loved the historical accuracy, the growing love between Walt and Allie, to read about the normal life in the US during the war and the hard life for Walt and his crew in Europe. I learned rich lessons from reading about sacrifice and obedience.

I simply fell in love with this book and I’m looking forward to read the other books in this series: A Memory Between Us and Blue Skies Tomorrow.


CFP: This book is available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for the great review, Marian! Marian was the first person to ever speak to me of Sarah's novels, and she spoke very highly of them. I still haven't read one, because as Carrie mentioned, I have been stuck in another century for quite awhile, AND my TBR stack is growing by leaps and bounds! Especially with all the great Kindle offers lately. I hope to read at least one of Sarah's books soon, though, and see how I like that genre.

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  2. Thank you for your kind words Diana. I hope you'll get a chance to read one of Sarah's novels!

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  3. Marian - thank you so much for the lovely review! I'm so glad you enjoyed Walt and Allie's story!

    Diana - I'm honored that you'd even consider adding it to the toppling to-be-read pile :)

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  4. Nicely done Marian, sounds like a wonderful story. I haven't had the pleasure to read any of Sarah's books yet, I can't wait!

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  5. Awwww...I love the letter writing themes!

    Marian, another great review :)

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  6. I loved it, too, Marian! Sarah is in a class by herself.

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  7. Thanks for this review, Marian! Since my father served in WWII as did all his brothers I am looking forward to reading Sarah's books!

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  8. Thank you all for your comments! I really loved this book and think that everyone should read it.

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