Homeward My Heart (Pella, Judith)

Rating:
Summary: exciting look at the beginning of the Cold War
Review: By 1946, the euphoria felt by World War II ending has changed to dread as a Cold War has gripped the globe. Churchill describes it quite well with his Iron Curtain speech splitting Europe between western democracies and communism. People deal with the aftermath of the global conflict and the new confrontation in different ways.

American Cameron sits in a restaurant in Nuremberg, Germany while her beloved husband Alex does likewise in Moscow pretending that they are dining together. The US Embassy has served as an intermediary, but soon afterward Alex is imprisoned in a Soviet prison.

Her sister Jackie raises her three and a half years old daughter Emi by herself as her Japanese spouse died during the war. Friends and even family have cut off Jackie and Emi because of the Japanese connection that remains raw.

The third sibling Blaine cannot cope with a half-Japanese niece as Emi reminds her of being tortured in the Philippines leading to a miscarriage. However, the three sisters band together with the common goal of freeing Alex from his Soviet prison.

HOMEWARD MY HEART is an exciting look at the beginning of the Cold War and the aftermath of World War II on an American family. The story line grips the audience once readers understand that Cameron and Alex are dining "together" at a distance that parallels the coast to coast of the United States. The sisters are delightful as they struggle to find a commonality, which turns out to be the rescue of Alex. Though there are some unrealistic twists, everyone will agree with the siblings of his father when he toasts his wonderful daughters and their melting pot spouses.

Harriet Klausner