Hope Rising
American nurse Evelyn Gray works safely behind the lines during World War I, at a château converted to a hospital. She’s devastated at the recent death of her fiancé, but finds strength in the unborn child she’s carrying, a child she must keep secret or risk losing her job, her friends, and her reputation.
Corporal Joel Campbell arrives at the hospital with shaken faith and a battle injury that leaves him unable to start a family. He’s drawn to Evelyn, especially when she divulges her secret and makes an unconventional proposal.
Joel and Evelyn’s relationship slowly builds, with more emphasis placed on their emotional and spiritual connection than physical. Henrie has written two determined, fallible characters and placed them very firmly in their era. This is one of her strengths, to write of the past as more than a setting or a plot point, but as the foundation upon which her characters stand. Never for a moment was there a sense of modern characters in a historical setting. Though her details of the era are excellent, it’s the ease through which Henrie’s characters move through that era that lets this shine as a historical novel.
