By Way of the Moonlight
This is a dual-timeline romance set in Atlanta during the present and the World War II home front. Allie Massey thought she had it all: a loving fiancé, and a plan to open an equine therapy center at Hickory Hill, the estate her grandmother promised to bequeath to her. Inexplicably, though, Nana Dale sells the land to a developer just before dying. Now Allie is trying desperately to find the last thing Nana Dale left for her, sure that it holds the key to her future. But in her obsession to save the farm, her engagement fails, and Allie is about to lose everything.
In the 1930s, headstrong Barbara Dale Butler’s life is all about two things: horses and her best friend, Tommy. When America enters the war, Dale decides she cannot put her dreams aside, so she follows Tommy to war, becoming one of the mounted patrol soldiers on the Georgian beaches known as the Sand Pounders. During this time, there is much danger, adventure, and a few secrets that alter Dale’s life forever.
Musser cohesively entwines the third-person narrative of Allie’s grandmother Dale, spanning the 1930s and 1940s, with Allie’s first-person present narrative. The two plots, while very different, meld together in the end with a satisfying conclusion. While slow to start, the intrigue builds midway through and becomes hard to put down. Dale’s story is by far the more intriguing, although Allie’s search for answers will satisfy mystery lovers. Recommended for anyone interested in equine history, an interesting perspective on the WWII home front, and romance.
