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German wasn’t a good thing to be in 1917 Washington, D.C. Liesel Bonner lost her job because of her name, because her parents were Germans–because her country had just declared war against the land her father had chosen to leave. Liesel was born and bred American, wants only to serve the United States in any way she can, but no one will give her a chance. At last she has a job offer, but it comes with a condition–she has to pretend to be her friend Katie, her non-German sister-in-law, in order for her application to be processed. It grates against her conscience, but she really needs the job, and her boss assures her it’ll only be temporary. Liesel agrees, but she can’t bring herself to tell anyone, not her family or her nearly-fiancé Josef. It would just distress her parents, and Josef. . . well, Josef was away so much, and he was already upset at how Germans were being treated. He didn’t need anything else to disturb him. David de Serre was a cautious man, a patient one. There were others in the newly formed Bureau of Investigations that were quick to arrest anyone suspected of espionage, whether the evidence would hold up against them or not. But David knew how deeply a false accusation could hurt a family–his best friend’s father had lost his life just because he was Spanish at the wrong time–so he took a slower approach. Still, he had a feeling he was on the right track with the man he was following. And when the man’s girlfriend was apparently working under a false name, his suspicions turned her way. In Pieces of Silver, the oft forgotten era of the Great War is brought into vivid life, taking the reader back to those uncertain days when loyalties were divided and love wasn’t such a simple thing. Within the first pages I fell equally in love with the strong and dedicated Liesel, who wanted only to serve her country and help her family, and the quiet and relentless David, who sought justice only behind faith. Both of them were so sincere, so very realistic in their yearnings and sorrows and mixed emotions that it’s impossible not to identify with them. When David forces an unwanted truth about Josef on Liesel, her responses are expectantly reluctant, but she also can’t deny what is obvious. David is as gentle as he can be, and the fact that they both share a very strong faith strengthens the bonds between them when otherwise they never would have been anything but enemies. I started this book without having a clue what it was about, but by the time I finished it I was so caught up in the world Lang created that I could barely stand to put it down. The very feel of the story is one of betrayal offset by love, sacrifice teamed with the hope for more. It made me ask myself how far I would go to fight a system I deemed unfair. . . and who I might work against when they committed a crime I could never condone, though I might understand it. This is a story as complicated as life, as beautiful as love, and as real as the faith that guides the characters. I’m still amazed by it long after I’ve turned the last page; the character insights are profound, the action is gripping, and the understanding of matters of the heart and soul are so full that I feel like I learned something, not only about history, but about humanity. I highly recommend Pieces of Silver to absolutely anyone; you’ll not leave it disappointed.
Publication Date: February 2006 Buy it now from our affiliate Bookstore CrossPurposesBooks.com
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