A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin
Reviewed by Darlene ‘Dee’ Bishop, Radiant Lit
Genre: Drama, Christianity, Historical Romance
Publisher: Revell
Publication Dates: March 1, 2010
When “unattractive” Allie Miller, according to her mother’s standards, and Lt. Walter Novak meet by chance at a friend’s wedding, they are drawn together in a way that neither fully understand. Beginning with a correspondence during the height of World War II, their relationship quickly becomes more important than either of them will admit. Allie’s engagement, however, which she had failed to mention to Walt, has the potential for destroying their friendship even as both tell themselves they truly are “only friends.”
A Distant Melody, by Sarah Sundin, is a beautiful story filled with bittersweet romance so typical of a war-time historical novel. The author masterfully humanizes her characters and creates a page-turner that leaves the reader disappointed when the story ends and eagerly awaiting for the sequel.
Sundin’s attention to detail shows her painstaking background research as she crafts her words to show not tell the story (the reverse of which can remove the joy in reading for avid readers like me). Instead, the reader is transported by her writing to a time of turmoil in the world, and yet a location and situation filled with characters that beckon with their realism and honest humanity.
For one born more than a decade after the war ended, glimpsing the troubles in traveling (which might never have been considered), the realistic descriptions of food rationing, fashions, mannerisms and even communication as seen through the eyes of Allie and Walt, as well as the other characters, truly transports readers to another era.
There are underlying sub-plots that create tension in the story, added to misunderstandings caused by a frustrating lack of plain-speaking and communication, fun and laughter, and heartache as the characters force themselves to live apart because of Allie’s sense of mistaken duty to marry the man her parents chose for her. All of these together serve to make A Distant Melody a must-read for lovers of romantic, historical, fully-Christian fiction.
