Catching the Wind

by Melanie Dobson
Dakota County Library paperback 387 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

I read this in an afternoon and evening! So glad to have a book club book that I enjoyed so much. And this is the first I've read from this author, which bodes well for other titles!

The 1940s story is about Dietmar and Brigitte, 13- and 10- year old neighbors and friends. The 2017 story is about Dietmar (now Daniel Knight) hiring journalist Quenby Vaughn to find Brigitte, or what happened to her. Quenby's own life story becomes tangled up in Daniel's quest. She also gets involved with his lawyer, Lucas Hough.

Page 74 - I love when they're firing Bible verses at one another. It's a good scene, and very natural - not preachy at all. Ending with "We each choose between good and bad in our hearts, and our actions follow."

Page 96 - "Here in the storm, tears could fall freely down his cheeks, mixing with the torrent of God's grief falling from the sky. On days like this, he thought God must surely be crying over the destruction mankind unleashed on one another. At the sight of His children entrenched in violent bitterness and jealousy, their barbaric quest for power detached from Him." Yes, that seems pretty accurate whether you're looking at what the Nazis did, or at what people are capable of doing today.

Page 96 - "Youth today didn't understand a world before social media and mobile phones, before one could search the Internet for a missing person or post their picture on screens around the world. And many people - today and from years past - didn't understand or honor faithfulness. A deep commitment to those you loved, to persevere no matter what. One didn't just forget a lost friend." This is so true! On so many levels!

Page 327 - The descriptions of Disney and the magic of the place made me think of Kim Enfield! I hope she's at book club!

Page 348 - Ugh. I kind of saw this coming, but as soon as I read the name "Jocelyn" in Hannah's narrative . . . I exclaimed out loud. (Sorry if this spoils it for other readers, but it is kind of pathetic.)

Page 370 - "There's power in story . . . We may be powerless at times in this life, but on paper, we can chase our demons away." I love this observation by Bridget (Brigitte) and the fact that they had refugee children write their own stories.

Page 391 (in the author's note) - "Catching the Wind was written with a grateful heart to all those who've helped abandoned, orphaned, and refugee children begin a new story." She goes on to list some organizations that help care for kids:
remembernhu.org
hearthecry.org
worldorphans.org
runministries.org
worldrelief.org
prayforthem.com

I'm so looking forward to book club in just over a week!