The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews Review and GIVEAWAY

I'm pretty sure this is going down as one of my favorite books. I absolutely loved it!

Andrews weaves a story of finding German WWII artifacts buried in a can on his ocean front property and Josef and Helen's journey to find peace and forgiveness. Andrews offers photos of buttons, a couple of photographs, a ring, and a medal he found digging up the roots to an old tree. He then seeks to find the story for these items being deposited on the beach.

What he discovers is really quite shocking. German U-boats were always present in the waters serving the American soldiers, including the Gulf of Mexico. During the war, much debris washed up on the shores from U-Boat carnage. They submarines shot all ships they could to smithereens. There were, however, a number of Germans rather than Nazis. They asked the crew to please exit the vehicle, blew it up, then approached the life boats to offer canteens of water and directions to the nearest landfall.

Apparently, this is documented to be true.

Also true is that some of the soldiers chose to be listed as "Missing In Action" or presumed dead rather than return to Germany where Adolf Hitler reigned his horrors and there was nothing to return. They integrated into society, although not without some help, I'm certain.

This is the story of Josef, a German, and Helen, a widow. The story is incredibly well told and draws the reader into a believable realm. Told with empathy, the journey of Josef's and Helen's hearts is hopeful. Both have suffered great loss. Both learned how to forgive and relinquish to God.

Loved it.

If you want it (and you should), leave me a comment. Include email address. U.S. only, no post office boxes.

Ends June 9th

This book was offered to me by Thomas Nelson Group for an honest review.