And to me at that moment, I was walking among the everyday folk in America and Great Britain, among the kind of people who figured that anything that was not New York or London wasn’t worth a thought about. You see, I’d just read a stirring chapter in Vienna Prelude. Didn’t they understand the deeper things in life? Was it just all about themselves? People milled in and out of the glass doors, wandered to and from their hot, sticky vehicles. The music playing in front of the MacDonald’s was so light, so happy, focused on love and feelings. I stepped out of our car at the rest stop on the long drive from Sacramento to LA. "Vienna Prelude" is a good historical novel that can be enjoyed regardless of ones personal religious beliefs. There were a few "convenient coincidences" at certain plot points but not enough to really complain too much about. The story drew me in and kept reading for hours at a time, wanting to know what would happen next. The novel also shows how the International community (mainly British and to some extent American) failed to do anything about the situation. It has strong characters finding themselves in the midst of the political turmoil and the increasing spread of violent antisemitism outside of Germany into neighboring Austria at the time leading up to the Anschluss. evil" mentality when trying to explain the motivation of the nazis, instead of trying to describe the real historical and sociological causes behind antisemitism and the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.īut the story is fascinating, "Vienna Prelude" is a captivating read. My one complaint might be the author's tendency to fall into the simple "good vs. And yes, the novel clearly is Christian and contains discussions about God and faith, as well as good and evil, and even heaven and hell, but for the most part it doesn't come off as preachy and as a reader you can choose to agree with the religious aspects of it, or to just view them as part of the characters' way of dealing with their problems and the situations they find themselves in. "Vienna Prelude", set in Austria and Germany during 1936-1938, is marketed as a Christian novel and, since I'm not a Christian, I didn't know what I'd think about it but decided to give it a chance, because of the many glowing reviews. The details are not explicit but were borderline at times.Įven though each of the books in this series is long, they can be hard to put down as I have discovered before! I recommend this series, but it might be better to approach it from an historical novel perspective rather than as a Christian book to avoid disappointment. There is violence and some scenes of torturous conditions and death in a concentration camp. There are also questionable scenes in relation to the various romances that occur-nothing especially graphic, but just worldly suggestions and thinking that could have been handled more appropriately. The discussions also seem to have a Catholic rather than an Evangelical flavour, probably due to the cultural context. There are even Gospel principles and themes at times, but this is not present throughout. It has some faith discussions and some of the characters clearly have a strong faith in God. I wouldn't describe this as an overtly Christian book. The main characters are a Jewish family who become involved in smuggling documents and moving Jewish people out of the kill zone. I studied the in-depth history of the two world wars at school so found the book was well researched and remarkably accurate historically. The story is spread across Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Poland during the reign of Nazi terror. I've just started into this series for the second time and found it just as readable as the first time around 5 years ago. Their sons, Jake and Luke, are carrying on the Thoene family talent as the next generation of writers, and Luke produces the Thoene audiobooks.īodie and Brock divide their time between London and Nevada. John Wayne described her as “a writer with talent that captures the people and the times!” She has degrees in journalism and communications.īodie and Brock have four grown children-Rachel, Jake Thoene, Luke Thoene, and Ellie-and five grandchildren. She also worked for John Wayne’s Batjac Productions (she’s best known as author of The Fall Guy) and ABC Circle Films as a writer and researcher. News and World Report, The American West, and The Saturday Evening Post. Eventually her byline appeared in prestigious periodicals such as U.S. These best sellers have sold more than 10 million copies and won eight ECPA Gold Medallion Awards.īodie began her writing career as a teen journalist for her local newspaper. BODIE AND BROCK THOENE (pronounced Tay-nee) have written over 45 works of historical fiction.
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