Book Recommendation - Things We Didn't Say

 

Amy Lynn Green is a "new to me" author, but she's one I'm definitely glad I took a chance on. Her debut novel, Things We Didn't Say, is nothing short of spectacular. It's written in epistolary form (letters, notes, telegrams), but she tells the story well within that format, so don't let that deter you! This book takes place during WWII. Main character Johanna is a bright language student, fluent in 5 languages, looking to go to Oxford after college to translate the classics. When her hometown contacts her to be a translator for the German POW camp that is setting up there, she turns them down. But circumstances don't go her way and she eventually takes the job. What happens in the months there change everything - for both Johanna and her small hometown. This was an excellent story with redemptive themes, a solid faith thread, and characters that you can't help cheering for. I laughed a great deal during the reading of this book and also shed more than a few tears. That's the sign of a great novel!

Here's what it's about:

Headstrong Johanna Berglund, a linguistics student at the University of Minnesota, has very definite plans for her future . . . plans that do not include returning to her hometown and the secrets and heartaches she left behind there. But the US Army wants her to work as a translator at a nearby camp for German POWs.

Johanna arrives to find the once-sleepy town exploding with hostility. Most patriotic citizens want nothing to do with German soldiers laboring in their fields, and they're not afraid to criticize those who work at the camp as well. When Johanna describes the trouble to her friend Peter Ito, a language instructor at a school for military intelligence officers, he encourages her to give the town that rejected her a second chance.

As Johanna interacts with the men of the camp and censors their letters home, she begins to see the prisoners in a more sympathetic light. But advocating for better treatment makes her enemies in the community, especially when charismatic German spokesman Stefan Werner begins to show interest in Johanna and her work. The longer Johanna wages her home-front battle, the more the lines between compassion and treason become blurred--and it's no longer clear whom she can trust.

This book releases on November 3, 2020. Check out these links for some additional information:

Amy Lynn Green's website: https://www.amygreenbooks.com/

Amy Lynn Green's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/amygreenbooks

My full 5-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3210265418