Remembering You by Tricia Goyer

As much as I love Tricia Goyer’s Amish fiction I’ve reviewed recently, nothing compares to her World War II historical fiction. Her current novel, Remembering You, is no exception. Tricia has an incredible talent for taking the familiar, but rather sterile, events of World War II and making them real. Perhaps it is her own love for the history, but I think it has more to do with her love for the people. God has opened doors for Tricia to develop relationships with some of the men who served in World War II. She has listened to their stories and experienced firsthand the extent of their friendship and loyalty to one another. And those stories, true stories, have found their expression in her novels. It almost isn’t fair to call her works fiction. The names might be made up and the specific details created in her imagination, but the incidents are all based in the truth of the stories these men have shared. The last of these men are seeing their last years on earth, but their stories will live on through Tricia’s writing.

Most of Tricia’s World War II fiction is set in the 1940’s during the war. But, Remembering You is different. It is contemporary. World War II veterans Jack and Paul, best friends since the war, have their hearts set on journeying through Europe one last time before they die. Accompanying the men are their two grandchildren, Dennis and Ava. On the surface, the trip seems simply to be one last reunion opportunity, this one being a tour through Europe that ends at Mauthausen in Austria, a Nazi death camp liberated by Jack and Paul’s division. But, as the journey begins, Dennis and Ava quickly discover that the trip is about much more than a stroll down memory lane. It is about confronting nightmares and taking one more step toward the healing of old wounds. But, it is also about new life, a truth that is especially important to Dennis and Ava.

Once again, Tricia Goyer has created a masterpiece. She has not only succeeded in weaving a beautiful story, but she also stirs a desire to remember these men and their sacrifice. To know them while there is still time. And to keep their story alive even as they depart this earth.

This book was sent to me in exchange for my honest review. (But I probably would have bought it anyway!)