When Twilight Breaks By Sarah Sundin

Summary

Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent as determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession as she is to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country--or worse. If she fails to truthfully report on major stories, she'll never be able to give a voice to the oppressed--and wake up the folks back home.

In another part of the city, American graduate student Peter Lang is working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party--to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can't get off his mind.

Positives

My favorite thing about this book was how she depicted Evelyn’s struggle in the journalism world as a woman. The “jokes” that Evelyn lived through brought to mind some teasing and not so teasing remarks I have received. Not only did this have me rooting for her character, but it encouraged me as well as I watched Evelyn excel at what she did and prove them all wrong.

The plot was brilliantly done.  It never got boring between their missions of espionage, the threat of being expelled if they spoke the wrong word, and their escape from Germany. (Several times I found myself wondering how the author had crafted such a smooth plot.) The inclusion of Peter as Evelyn’s informant drew me in even more.

I loved how much Peter had to sacrifice throughout the book. So many stories (I’m looking at some of my drafts, too) leave that element out.  It really does make for a brilliant book when the characters have to give up something they love dearly to make a better choice.

Negatives

While handled extremely tactfully, those teasing remarks I mentioned above are still cruel jokes about a woman nonetheless.

I was slightly confused by Peter at the beginning. At first, he just seemed like a guy with a lot of hurt in his past he was struggling to overcome. Then it seemed like I was smacked with the fact he bought into Nazi ideology in the next chapter he appeared in. But, to be fair, first chapters aren’t easy, and there was a lot of ground to cover. Meaning this could have easily been pushed to the next chapter. The important thing was I did figure out his beliefs early in the story and it didn’t confuse me for long.

Truly, my only real complaint is . . . the title has nothing to do with the story. Unless I missed something. But I asked someone who is an even greater fan of Sarah Sundin than I am, and she was confused as well. It is a beautiful title, though.

Conclusion

All that to say, When Twilight Breaks still remains a shining star in World War II fiction.