Whispers on the Wind

By Maureen Lang

When I first saw that this book was available for free on kindle I was super excited. (That was a limited time offer, it is not available free now.) I mean it is about my favorite historical subject, World War 1 and includes references to lace making. What more can I ask for?
This story revolves around a girl named Isa Lassone and her brave fight against the oppression of the Germans in Belgium. Isa is half American and half Belgian so when the war breaks out her family flees to America. But two years later, Isa, now eighteen decides to go back and help. That involves sneaking into a occupied territory which is not the smartest thing in the world to do. Isa is determined to not just deliver the important papers that her informant gave her but to use the gold she brought to secure the freedom of her nanny, Mrs. Kirkland, and her family.
What I like about Isa is that she is real, she acts like a child sometimes but in the end shows more courage than most eighteen year girls would ever dream. She begins to get drawn up into the Resistance movement as her nanny's son Edward Kirkland refuses to leave his country, and Mrs. Kirkland refuses to leave him. Isa has been in love with him since she was a kid, but does not seem to even notice her as anything but a pesky little sister.
Isa sometimes gets her faith into the "end justifies the means" category and Edward does not believe in God anymore so their journey toward faith is inspiring. Most of the Germans are portrayed as evil brutes but this book does not descend to propaganda to show the very real "atrocities" under German rule. In fact one of the best characters in the book is a German major. But some of the characters are seriously evil and slightly like Nazi's before they existed. But Maureen Lang was unfortunately accurate in portraying them the way many acted.
This book is never boring and while there are times when the plot becomes improbable the writing style is really good. The romance, as you can expect from a Christian historical novel is perfectly clean but very real and strong. On the whole this is one of the best historical romances I have read in a long time.

Reviewed by Elizabeth.