Tag: Melanie Dobson

Interview with Grace Tonquin from Melanie Dobson’s The Winter Rose

~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment

Novel PASTimes: Thank you for joining us, Grace. You’ve had quite a journey in your life.

Grace: I’m grateful for both the ups and downs.

Novel PASTimes: You’re grateful for the downs?

Grace: Those are the times, I think, when I’ve felt God’s presence the most. In the dark seasons while I served in France and then during the even darker years that followed.

Novel PASTimes: You’ve quoted Psalm 27 quite often along the way.

Grace: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” That reminder gave me courage to continue on.

Novel PASTimes: How many children did you and Roland care for in France?

Grace: I’m not certain. The American Friends Service Committee kept the numbers. I was focused on the daily needs of the refugee kids until we realized that we had to get those who remained with us out of France.

Novel PASTimes: How many children did you escort across the mountains?

Grace: Twelve . . . at least we started with twelve. One had to turn back.

Novel PASTimes: I don’t suppose you could tell us who . . .

Grace: That’s not my story to tell.

Novel PASTimes: You are a hero to every one of those kids.

Grace: A servant, my friend. Answering when our Lord calls.

Novel PASTimes: Can you tell us what happened to Charlie?

Grace: His life was a miracle, but I don’t want to spoil the ending of the book.

Novel PASTimes: Fair enough. Could you tell us instead the significance of the winter rose?

Grace: A winter rose can grow wild in the mountains, in the most rugged terrain. It looks fragile but it’s very strong, defying the winds and cold weather with its strength. A winter rose shows beauty and strength, I think, in the hardest of circumstances.

Novel PASTimes: Thank you for not giving up on the children in France.

Grace: My husband and I have been blessed beyond what we could have ever imagined in our years together. It’s an honor to share our story.

* * *

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Winter Rose

In this gripping WWII time-slip novel from the author whose books have been called “propulsive” and a “must-read” (Publishers Weekly), Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker who works tirelessly in Vichy France to rescue Jewish children from the Nazis. After crossing the treacherous Pyrénées, Grace returns home to Oregon with a brother and sister whose parents were lost during the war. Though Grace and her husband love Élias and Marguerite as their own, echoes of Grace’s past and trauma from the Holocaust tear the Tonquin family apart.

More than fifty years after they disappear, Addie Hoult arrives at Tonquin Lake, hoping to find the Tonquin family. For Addie, the mystery is a matter of life and death for her beloved mentor Charlie, who is battling a genetic disease. Though Charlie refuses to discuss his ties to the elusive Tonquins, finding them is the only way to save his life and mend the wounds from his broken past.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of more than twenty historical romance, suspense, and time-slip novels, including her latest, The Winter Rose. Five of her novels have won Carol Awards; Catching the Wind and Memories of Glass were nominated for a Christy Award in the historical fiction category; Catching the Wind won an Audie Award in the inspirational fiction category; and The Black Cloister won the Foreword magazine Religious Fiction Book of the Year. Melanie is the former corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family and owner of the publicity firm Dobson Media Group. When she isn’t writing, Melanie enjoys teaching both writing and public relations classes. Melanie and her husband, Jon, have two daughters and live near Portland, Oregon. Visit Melanie online at melaniedobson.com.

Book Review: The Winter Rose by Melanie Dobson

~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment
Affiliate link used. I receive a small compensation if you purchase through this link.

Release: January 11, 2022

Hardcover | 978-1-4964-4421-9 | $25.99

Softcover | 978-1-4964-4422-6 | $15.99

400 pages | Tyndale.com

A stunning cover to go with a stunning story. I love learning history I wasn’t familiar with before. I love time slips when a lesson is learned from the past. I love it when an author dares to write something a bit different from typical wartime fiction. Just when I thought I’d read all the WWII fiction I cared to, this book comes along, not about Nazis, not about soldiers, not about the Holocaust, although all those things are mentioned because all those things affect the characters greatly. This is a story about how the people who were affected, the innocents, dealt with what they experienced for the rest of their lives.

Grace Tonquin is an American Quaker working to rescue Jewish children in France during the war. Decades later Addie Hoult is looking for the Tonquin family because her mentor is dying from a genetic disease. But these women from the different storylines and time periods also need rescuing in ways they don’t truly grasp until the end of the story. All the characters are deeply wounded from both what they did and what was done to them. Restoration doesn’t come easily, but there is hope.

I think it’s fair to say no one does time slip novels better than Melanie Dobson. Many times I prefer the historical timeline to the contemporary one but this one had me totally engaged with both. I highly recommend you read this one!

*I was given a copy by the publisher for the purpose of review without compensation or expectation. I have given my honest opinion.

Reviewed by Cindy Thomson

www.cindyswriting.com

Meet Hanna Strauss from Melanie Dobson’s The Curator’s Daughter

~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment

Novel PASTimes: Thanks for joining us, Hanna. Your work as an archaeologist is very intriguing . . .

Hanna: I’ve always enjoyed learning about the past and preserving artifacts for the future. Sadly, my career as an archaeologist was put on hold in 1940 due to the changes in my organization. Under Heinrich Himmler and the Third Reich, women are no longer allowed to work for the Ahnenerbe.

Novel PASTimes: I’ve never heard of the Ahnenerbe. 

Hanna: It’s difficult for me to talk about, as you can imagine, but it’s a research and teaching society of about fifty institutes that study the German heritage, including the Aryan people. Our group was moved under the umbrella of the powerful Schutzstaffel, otherwise known as the SS. Only men are allowed to study the German ancestry now. 

Novel PASTimes: What have you been doing since you were released from the Ahnenerbe?

Hanna: You probably read about my recent marriage to an SS officer. That was one of the lowest seasons of my life. Then I’ve been sorting through the valuable collections of those who seem to have disappeared from Nuremberg. I’ve been curating their things and preserving the stories.

Novel PASTimes: What kind of stories?

Hanna: I’m afraid I can’t tell you about the stories. I shouldn’t have even mentioned them. It’s much too dangerous in Germany to talk of such things. Speaking the truth can get you shot or transported on the next train headed east, no matter who you’ve married. 

Novel PASTimes: So your job has been taken away and you have been forced to marry an SS officer. Are you able to find any kind of happiness in your life?

Hanna: Well, it’s the strangest thing. I’ve never wanted to be a parent, but a little girl named Lilly has worked her way into my life. I’d do just about anything to protect her, especially from a monster like my husband. 

Novel PASTimes: Why can’t you leave your husband?

Hanna: Kolman travels most of the time with the SS, but I can’t leave him without severe consequences for Lilly and me. He would be shocked to find out what Lilly and I are doing, what we are hiding, while he is gone. 

Novel PASTimes: I’m very concerned about you, Hanna. 

Hanna: Don’t worry about me, but please—I beg of you, of anyone who will listen—take care of Lilly when I’m gone.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of more than twenty historical romance, suspense, and time-slip novels, including The Curator’s Daughter, which releases from Tyndale House Publishers in March 2021. Melanie is the former corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family and owner of the publicity firm Dobson Media Group. When she isn’t writing, Melanie enjoys teaching both writing and public relations classes. Melanie and her husband, Jon, have two daughters and live near Portland, Oregon.

Interview with Jozefien van Rees from Melanie Dobson’s Memories of Glass

~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to Novel Pastimes, Jozefien.

Please call me Josie. The other name brings back some hard memories.

Thank you for sharing with us today, Josie. It must be very difficult for you to talk about the past.

I’m glad to be here, especially after all that’s happened. I’m—

We don’t want to give away too much of your story right now. Just a glimpse.

Life is just a glimpse, isn’t it? A few lines to remember the beginning, middle, and end.

We’re glad to learn more than just a few lines about your journey. Could you tell us where you grew up?

In a beautiful village called Giethoorn. Idyllic, really. Do you know where that is?

I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the Netherlands.

We called it Holland back then, but yes, it’s on the east side of the country. Near Kamp Westerbork and the German border. Klaas and my brother, Samuel, and I would play for hours along the canals. The houses in our village were built on little islands, separated by the waterways. We’d have to cross over on bridges or with our canoes or, my personal favorite, swimming. And the flowers—I forget some things, but I could never forget the gardens of Giethoorn.

Now you had a relationship with Klaas . . .

We were friends, nothing more.

But he seemed to think there was more.

I suppose, in hindsight. If only he hadn’t chosen to . . .

That’s part of the ending, isn’t it?

I only want readers to forgive him. They didn’t know him like I did.

Did he know you were helping the Dutch resistance during the war?

I’m not certain when he found out, but I don’t think he knew when I was delivering money. Only when Samuel and I started to help the children.

You lost a lot as a result of your choice to help those kids.

I only wish I could have rescued more. We had no idea at the beginning of the war where the Jewish children were taken when they left Amsterdam. When we found out, we had no choice except to help.

You were a hero.

I was terrified! We all were. None of us thought of ourselves as heroes, but God’s call was quite clear on our lives.

Do you have any regrets?

I don’t think about regrets anymore. Once Samuel and I and all the others stepped into the horror, we had to press right through it. I don’t want to forget what happened, but I want to embrace all that is good now, not focus on what I should have done so long ago.

I can understand that. How do you recommend that our readers remember the Holocaust?

The Dutch lost more than a hundred thousand of their Jewish citizens during World War II. It’s impossible to remember all the names, but I pray we can honor their collective legacy by remembering their stories.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of nineteen historical romance, suspense, and time-slip novels, including Hidden Among the Stars, Catching the Wind, Chateau of Secrets, and Shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor. Four of her novels have won Carol Awards, Catching the Wind won the Audie Award for inspirational fiction, and The Black Cloister won the Foreword magazine Religious Fiction Book of the Year.

Melanie is the former corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family and owner of the publicity firm Dobson Media Group. When she isn’t writing, Melanie enjoys teaching both writing and public relations classes.

Melanie and her husband, Jon, have two daughters. After moving numerous times with work, the Dobson family has settled near Portland, Oregon, and they love to hike and camp in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and along the Pacific Coast. Melanie also enjoys exploring ghost towns and abandoned homes, helping care for kids in her community, and reading stories with her girls.

Visit Melanie online at www.melaniedobson.com.

Review: Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson

~ Cindy Thomson ~ Leave a comment

978-1-4964-1732-9In most dual-time period novels I prefer the historical line more than the contemporary one. In Melanie Dobson’s new novel, Hidden Among the Stars, I was deeply immersed in both. In the contemporary line we meet Callie, a bookstore owner who reads stories to children and is comfortable living in the secluded nest of Mount Vernon, Ohio. This appealed to me because I live nearby. The author has definitely been here as everything she described was completely accurate from the hiking trail to the Ohio State campus. That was a bonus, however, because the world of children’s stories and the compelling backstory of Callie and her sister and their mysterious but loving mentor Charlotte kept me turning pages.

Likewise the stories of Annika and the boy she admires Max and the girl he longs to marry Luzia set in Austria at the onset of WWII was so vividly drawn and compelling that I could not say which storyline I preferred.

The stories are tied together at the beginning. We know what the mystery is about: A bookstore owner discovers a cryptic list in an old book and finds herself linked to the story of a mysterious Austrian castle, where priceless treasures were hidden in the early days of WWII. We, along with Callie, suspect that Charlotte, who spent time in an orphanage in France during the war, has some connection to this old book that no one yet understands, not even Charlotte. All the characters, even Josh the man that Callie finds herself drawn to, have pasts that make it hard for them to trust and love again, and that makes a reader root for them all.

The faith element is clear in this novel and the characters cling to the hope that Jesus brings into their lives. If I have any complaint, it’s very slight. I thought the first time Josh tells Callie about his faith it seemed more like a sermon than a conversation. However, when it comes up later it flows naturally within the story. And when you are dealing with personal loss (contemporary) and persecution of the Jews (historical) clinging to one’s faith is expected. The novel did not come off preachy in my opinion.

In the Author’s Note, Melanie explains that she indeed has been to the places she writes about. From a bookstore in a small Ohio town to a castle beside a lake in Austria, these places spoke to her and they certainly spoke to me as I read the story, not just as interesting locations, but as places where common people lived, loved, and did the best they could to overcome obstacles and evil. I loved this book. I think you will too!

pic_FULL_Dobson_MelanieMelanie Dobson is the award-winning author of more than fifteen historical romance, suspense, and time-slip novels, including Catching the Wind and Chateau of Secrets. Three of her novels have won Carol Awards, and Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana won Best Novel of Indiana in 2010. Melanie loves to explore old cemeteries and ghost towns, hike in the mountains, and play board games with her family. She lives near Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Jon, and two daughters.

An advance copy of Hidden Among the Stars by Melanie Dobson was provided to me by the publisher for the purpose of review without any requirements. I have given my honest opinion.

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Cindy Thomson is the author of eight books, including her newest novel, Enya’s Son, third in the Daughters of Ireland series based on ancient legends. Being a genealogy enthusiast, she has also written articles for Internet Genealogyand Your Genealogy Today magazines, and children’s short stories for Clubhouse Magazine. She has also co-authored a baseball biography. Most everything she writes reflects her belief that history has stories to teach. Cindy and her husband live in central Ohio near their three grown sons and their families, and can be found online at www.cindyswriting.com, on Facebook www.facebook.com/cindyswritingand on Twitter: @cindyswriting.