A Brighter Dawn

A Brighter Dawn is the first book in a new series (Amish Memories) by Leslie Gould. If the subsequent books are as good, I can not wait to read them. Readers are quickly drawn into the story with the unexpected death of Ivy's parents and the interest does not let up. Gould does a wonderful job fleshing out her characters so that the reader truly feels like they are real people with very real struggles and heartaches. This book has a story within a story as Ivy's great-great aunt reveals the account of another young girl who visited Germany in the late 1930s. Clare's story is just as compelling as Ivy's and the author does a marvelous job of stopping at just the right point in one story to pick up in the other. Gould has researched this story well and gives good historical information on World War II and the contemporary issues of the war in Ukraine. I was especially intrigued by some of the Mennonite and Christian organizations' reactions to Hitler and the Nazis. A Brighter Dawn is a story of grief and courage, family and friends, and a coming-of-age journey as a young woman yearns to find out where she belongs. Readers who enjoy historical fiction and 'unputdownable' (I read it in less than 2 days!) books will not want to miss reading Leslie Gould's book. I read a complimentary copy of the book and was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are my own.