Bread Upon The Waters, by Anne de Graaf

The war that had brought them together was now pulling them apart. Would they forever be scattered like-Bread Upon the Waters?

German by nationality, Polish by allegiance. Hanna Muller is involvedwith her family in the dangerous business of working for the Nazis while helping her Polish neighbors. Tadeusz Piekarz is a young engineer, a Polish prisoner forced to labor for the Germans in Hanna's father's firm. Their growing love surprises them both and brings them improbable joy in German-occupied Krakow.

Jacek Duch is an American spy, a perpetual lost soul working under deep cover in occupied Poland. During the war, he has managed to construct a life based on an intricate web of loyalties to his American "handlers," to his Polish comrades, and to the beautiful women he leaves behind.

But then the tide of war turns, and Soviet soldiers advance savagely over the same territory the Nazis have held in an iron grip. Hanna and her mother must flee for their lives, and Tadeusz must face the Soviets with his crippled father-in-law, now branded as a Nazi collaborator. Torn by events they can't control but bound by love and faith, they struggle against all odds to survive, to find each other again. And again and again, through it all, they find their lives strangely intertwined with the American spy who comes to find himself in the cause of Polish liberty only to lose himself again.

My thoughts:

This book was published by Bethany House Publishers in 1995. It was written by author, Anne de Graaf, who has written over 80 children's books and 4 adult novels. This book is the first in her series, The Hidden Harvest.

This book has been on my shelf for years and I really don't know why I didn't pick it up until recently. I have always been a history buff and this one really indulged me. The historical accuracy of the novel is astounding. A lot of research went into making it as authentic as possible. Most novels about WWII are set in Germany or Austria but not usually Poland. I found the settings and the descriptions very interesting.

The three main characters were compelling and made you become invested in what happened to them. You could sympathize with Hannah and Thadeusz as they parted at the train station. You could feel Hannah's desperation when she lay down with the knife. You could almost see Jacek's pain as he burned the letter telling him of Barbara's death.

You could tell that the story was meant to continue. There was no real stopping point. Jacek's story just sort of abruptly ends and we aren't sure what has happened to him. Hannah and Thadeusz's story continued to the end of the book and left you wondering what would happen to their little family as they moved on.

Even though this is an older book. I really liked it and look forward to reading the second novel in the series, called "Where The Fire Burns."

I give it 4/5 apples from my bookbag!