I'd never heard of Bodie Thoene before last Autumn, when I happened to read a few of her books. I found them a bit over-violent in places, but with very good characters and exciting plots. So I was pleased when a friend gave me several more of her books, on moving away from Cyprus.
I've just finished reading 'The Gates of Zion', which is the first in the 'Zion Chronicles' series. It's set in Palestine in 1947, just after the end of the second world war, including the time when Israel was granted political status as a nation.
It mainly features Ellie, a young American photographer, who has been staying with her uncle - an archaeologist - and photographing some artefacts. Unknown to her, his assistant Moshe is an active Zionist, smuggling Jewish people (many of them holocaust survivors) into the country on a ship.
The start of the book is very political, and quite confusing with a large number of characters. It took me a while to get into it; I nearly gave up a couple of times, and that's unusual for me. However I persevered, and by about half way through the story had become more interesting; once again the main characters were good, and mostly believable, and the plot exciting enough that I wanted to know what happened.
I did skim some of the political discussion, and much of the fast action - mainly rioting and violence - so as to focus on what was, for me, the more interesting part of the story: what would happen to Ellie, to a young lad who helps her, and to a young woman who is a refugee?
The ending was satisfying, albeit including a rather huge (although predictable) coincidence, and a few unlikely last-minute escapes. So I'm glad I finished it, although I'm not exactly in a hurry to read the next in the series.
The writing is good - fast-paced and crisp, without too much explicit detail of blood and gore. I did find myself annoyed that the book seemed so pro-Jewish and anti-Muslim, but I suppose that's the general American slant on Middle Eastern politics. There are good Muslims in the story (mostly as shadowy minor characters), and one or two Jews who turned traitor, but it still felt rather unbalanced to me.
I also found myself surprisingly annoyed by the bias against the British shown by the author. The ugly non-word 'Britisher' is used several times, as is the assumption that all Brits are well-meaning but clumsy and boorish. Some of them are even described as 'slurping' their coffee. Ugh.
The Highland Infantry soldiers speak with what looks like Cockney accents, and it seems bizarre to me that while the Arabs and the Polish Jews seem able to speak in regular English, all the Brits in the story are described explicitly as having 'thick' accents. This even includes a BBC radio presenter, in days when strong accents were never used on the radio - only 'Kings' English' was allowed.
It's a pity that these comments were allowed into the story; I'm no patriot, but all these subtle anti-British snubs jarred rather strongly, as did the idea that the Americans 'won' World War II. Perhaps this book isn't really intended for anyone outside the USA (where that myth still holds true in some circles).
Still, in many ways this novel is an eye-opener to the kinds of situations that probably did happen, and on the whole is very well-researched, so I should probably ignore the strongly American slant.
There's a Christian theme too, and I thought the author managed this very well, in context, without preaching or over-emphasizing her points.
Recommended in a low-key sort of way to anyone who enjoys historical novels and doesn't mind US bias.
Review copyright © Sue's Book Reviews, 22nd June 2008
I just finished reading the Shiloh Legacy trilogy by Bodie Thoene. The final book of the series, 'Say to this Mountain' draws together many threads from the first two books, and ends in a very encouraging and satisfying way.
I should have been satisfied. But I saw, in the library I was visiting, another book, written by Bodie and her husband Brock Thoene together. They collaborated on the trilogy of books, but Bodie was the primary writer. This one, apparently, was a more equal project.
So I picked up 'Shiloh Autumn', which is in fact complete in itself although it's also a sequel to the Shiloh trilogy. It features the same people, but doesn't expect the reader to have met them before. The authors managed this well, making the book interesting for someone like me who had just read the series, without continual flashbacks or repetition.
The story, once again, features folk in Shiloh, Arkansas, as the American economy collapses in the early 1930s. Capitalism fights with struggling workers as the bank gives mortgages with very unfair conditions, and the rich become richer - generally by dishonest means.
Brock Thoene is a historian, and I assume his research was accurate. Certainly the people and situations all seemed real - sometimes shockingly so. The writing is good, and there are some very moving moments as tragedies strike, people suffer, and the poor lose even what little they have. There's a Christian message running throughout, too. It occurs to me that this may be somewhat unusual in a book so opposed to capitalism in the USA.
I found the book interesting, and liked catching up on the characters of the Shiloh Legacy series. On the other hand, in a way I wish I hadn't read it since some of the characters became a great deal unhappier in this book and there was less of a 'happy ever after' feeling when I had finished it, although it was basically hopeful.
This is the third in the Shiloh Legacy trilogy by Bodie Thoene.
'Say to this Mountain' draws together threads from the first two books, 'In my Father's House', and 'A Thousand shall Fall'. Max and his son David are on the run from hitmen after the Wall Street crash in the USA in 1929, and decide to visit Max's cousin Trudy and her husband Birch in Shiloh, Arkansas.
Shiloh, meanwhile, is just recovering from a tornado, which ripped up some of the train tracks, and destroyed the home of JD, Birch's unlikeable cousin.
Then there's Ellis, barely mentioned in the second book, who is a doctor. He is struggling with serious debt after some bad investments, and doing extra private work just to make ends meet. He gets asked to do something unethical and has to struggle with his conscience.
Ellis lives in the same town as Willa-Mae and Hock, who also struggle to make ends meet. Yet even they are better off than Frank and John, two boys in the same apartment block, whose mother sells herself to make a few dollars each night.
Willa-Mae hasn't seen her son Jefferson for ten years, and has no idea if he's alive. But in fact he's working for Birch and Trudy, and trying desperately to find out if his parents are still living.
The novel revolves around all these scenarios and others, gradually interweaving people's lives. There's a low-key Christian theme running throughout - of hope, even when life seems to be falling apart, and of trusting God even when terrible crises or tragedies happen.
The story, like the others in the series, was eye-opening to me, from an American history point of view. It's probably best to read it after at least one of the others in the series, as the sheer number of characters and sub-plots would otherwise be overwhelmingly confusing.
I thought the book was very well-written with believable people and situations, and a satisfying ending to the series. It was difficult to put down, once I had started.
This book in the Shiloh Legacy trilogy is the first sequel to 'In my Father's House'. Bodie Thoene is a powerful writer, all the more so, perhaps, because her husband Brock is a historian who helps with her research.
'A thousand shall fall' mainly features Max, who is now a well-known financial journalist in the days leading up to the Wall Street crash of 1929. It also features his nine-year-old son David, whom he has never met. Indeed, he doesn't even know that David exists at the start of this book.
The other main characters in this book are Birch, Max's friend from the First World War, and Birch's wife Trudie who is Max's cousin. They have three small sons, and have decided to return to Birch's family home after the death of his alcoholic father.
There's lots of excitement in this book, which is less violent than the first in the series, and could easily be read on its own. It's a great picture of life in the USA in the late 1920s - at least, I assume so, given the historical credentials of the author's husband. It certainly helped me to understand what the Wall Street crash meant for ordinary people in America, and how far-reaching its effects were.
As well as the main plot-lines, there are horrors of high-up financial crooks, connected with illegal bootleggers in the days of prohibition. There's also still some racism in the South of the country, where few white people, even then, treated black people as human beings.
There's an over-riding theme of the need to trust in God no matter what one's circumstances, and also of knowing which people to trust.
Well-written, exciting and believable, if a bit too finance-orientated for my tastes in places.
I hadn't previously read anything by Bodie Thoene, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. According to the introduction to the book, she and her husband Brock work together on novels - she creates the character and does the bulk of the writing, but he does all the historical research.
This novel is set mainly in the USA in the aftermath of World War I. Three young men - Ellis, Max and Birch - become friendly in the trenches, despite very different backgrounds. They survive many horrors, and return home.
Max goes back to his Jewish grandparents in New York; Ellis goes to his farming family and sweetheart Rebecca. Birch, however, has only his drunken father, after losing his mother in the flu pandemic that swept the world in this period.
There's also Jefferson, a huge black man who has also fought in the war, and who returns to his large and loving family, travelling in the same train as Birch. Unfortunately, segregation was still rife in the Southern USA in the earlier part of last century, fuelled by the sinister Ku Klux Klan. So although Jefferson is considered a hero in Paris, he is still treated like dirt when he returns to America.
There is drama, violence, loss and heartache in this fast-moving book. It paints a horrific picture of life in the USA eighty years ago, where racism was rife, as bad (apparently) as the apartheid years in South Africa.
I found the book confusing at first, as there are so many people and the story keeps switching between different viewpoints. However it was very well-written and believable, and eventually I found I could remember who was who without having to track back to the previous time they appeared.
I found this very readable overall, and quite gripping by the end. There's a distinct Christian influence within the book, but it's not pushy at all.
