Long Way Home

by Lynn Austin

Hennepin County Library hardcover  371 pages

Published: 2022

Genre: Christian Historical Fiction (WWII)

We had a wonderful book club meeting about this book last week. I was late because I had to finish reading it! Such a good book! It alternated between Peggy's story in 1946 and Gisela in 1938 (both stories moved forward from that point in time and connected, of course, by the end of the book). I marked a LOT of pages and I need to get this back to the library.

Page 29: a conversation between a young Peggy and her neighbor Jimmy

"The minister prays for sick people every Sunday and asks God to heal them, right? But some of them die anyway. My mama went to Mass every week and lit candles when she prayed, yet she and our baby both died. Why do people pray if God doesn't answer them?"

Jimmy let out a long whistle. He took off his cap and scratched his head. "I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer that," he'd replied, "but I'll tell you what I do know." He settled his cap on his head again. "Praying isn't only about asking for a bunch of things on a list. It's about talking to God the same way you talk to someone you love, telling Him what's bothering you and thanking Him for the good things He gives us. God really likes hearing what we have to say. And we feel better after talking with Him."

There's more to this conversation, but I love how Austin brings up ideas that people genuinely struggle with and shines a light on what prayer is. 

Page 109: Peggy's thoughts as her dad's girlfriend tries to insinuate that Peggy should go with Joe.

I opened my mouth to explain that we were trying to help Jimmy get well, then closed it again. Why bother? Donna was writing her own version of this story and probably envisioned us riding off into the sunset on Joe's motorcycle. I wanted to tell her that Joe Fiore might be charming and good-looking, but he drank too much. And I'd spent a lifetime with people who drank too much.

I'm glad that Peggy had open eyes and a good idea of what she wanted out of life. The Bennetts had a huge impact on this neighbor girl's life!

Page 121: Although I preferred Peggy's storyline to Gisela's, both women were fantastic characters. In this scene, Gisela and Sam are commiserating as Belgium is in danger of being overrun with Nazis. 

"All we have is today, Sam. That's true whether there's a war or not. We have our families and each other and we're together. We have enough food to eat and a roof over our heads, and that's all that we need for now. It isn't up to you or Vati or anyone else to figure out a way to save us. God was the One who parted the Red Sea, not Moses and not us."

 

Her faith in God was definitely shaken by what she experienced in being persecuted, but she and Sam bolstered one another throughout their ordeal. (Side note: thinking of a young Jewish girl's sixteenth birthday in Berlin on Kristallnacht . . . how horrifying!)

 

 

Page  181: When Gisela met with Sister Veronica to help her little sister Ruthie go into hiding.

"If there's anything else we can do to help you," Sister Veronica told Sam, "I hope you won't hesitate to ask."

"I don't have words to tell you how deeply grateful I am," Sam replied. "I don't know anything about the Christian faith, but the Christians I've met have been unfailingly kind to us in our time of crisis, taking great risks to hide us, giving us money and food, even when both have been scarce."

"It's what our Savior taught us to do," the nun said with a smile. "You can come to me anytime. . . . "

I love Sister Veronica! Yes, that's what our Savior teaches - to help those in need!

Page 192: When Peggy goes to help the horse Persephone give birth and has to get her hands inside to turn the foal . . . I thought of my daughter-in-law! It made me smile. People who love animals are often very kind and loving people.

Page 197: Peggy talks with Dr. Greenberg, who knew Jimmy during the war. 

"May I ask you one more question? You saw the same things that Jimmy did day after day - how were you able to get past the war and resume your life again? Because Jimmy hasn't been able to do that."

Again, he took a moment to reply. "It helped that I had a job and a family waiting for me back home. Both required my full attention and didn't leave me much time to contemplate the horrors I'd seen. I'd also had the unfortunate experience of losing patients before the war. It never gets easy, but it destroys any illusions one has about the permanence of life and the finality of death. Jim may not have been prepared for those lessons."

"Any illusions one has about the permanence of life and the finality of death" - this line really grabbed me. So often, we drift along in a cloud of blissful ignorance about how precious and short life is.

Page 243: Peggy met with Art Davis, who served as a medic with Jimmy as they liberated a concentration camp.

"We eventually set up a hospital in the former SS barracks and attended to the survivors who were closest to death. Jim would look each person in the eye, and he would ask their name. He would remember them all, too, and call everyone by name whenever he took care of them. They had been treated like animals for so long, Jim said, that he wanted to let them know they were still living people with names and a soul. He said we needed to restore their dignity and humanity as much as we needed to restore their bodies."

Oh my. Dignity and humanity. As precious as food and rest.

Page 266: It was easy to dislike Donna! Peggy is an amazing young woman. She's talking to her dog, Buster (aka "Tripod").

"This is only temporary. I'll find us a place to live - I promise." I heard him whine as I hurried away and tried with all my heart not to hate Donna. A desert began to grow inside me as I drove across town to my lonely room in the guesthouse. Grief howled through my heart like a savage wind. I hadn't felt this bad since Mama and our baby died. It was one thing to leave home voluntarily and quite another to be pushed out of the only home I'd ever known. I felt unloved. Unworthy of love.

Austin is such a good writer! She evokes moods and inspires ideas.

Page 319: the whole page . . . Jim explaining to Gisela about losing his faith in God. 

"I can't shake off the darkness that I've experienced over here, and I don't want to bring that darkness home with me. I love them (his parents) too much to contaminate their idyllic world with the world of my nightmares. I'll go home for a visit and see them briefly, but I don't want to stay there and poison them."

If you haven't read this book, you really should! It is full of heartbreak and joy, doubt and faith.

Page 349: Peggy has a heart to heart with Jimmy. Again, this whole section is great and I'm just sharing a tiny excerpt. Go, Peggy!

"What if every Christian had written a letter to the president, offering to take one of those families on that ship home with them?"

She's talking about the real life event when a ship filled with 900 refugees escaped Nazis, only to be turned away from Cuba and the United States. She's talking about each one of us doing what we can to make a difference. She's talking about the importance of caring and not turning aside in indifference. It makes me think about a lot of recent historical events . . . what am I doing to make a difference?

Page 350: Still Peggy and Jimmy talking.

"The people wanted Hitler as their leader and they got him. Americans chose to turn our backs on Hitler's evil until one day it was out of control. If we learn anything at all from this horrible war, it's that followers of Jesus need to speak up and to act."

Yes! Amen, sister!

Page 353: Bill, Jimmy, and Peggy went up into the mountains for a view, fresh air, and a chance to talk. This time Bill brought it!

"Of course, the spiritual realm is invisible. God's actions behind the scenes are invisible. So all we had to rely on was what we were seeing. But our enemy wasn't just the Nazis. Satan's ploy is to spread evil throughout the world and let it drive a wedge between us and God. His evil is most painful and most dangerous when it seems purposeless to us. When we can't see how God can possibly bring anything good from it."

I almost dislike using these excerpts because there's so much more context and detail in the book!

Page 370: Jimmy shares with Peggy the slip of paper Bill had given him in that big mountaintop conversation.

"I've always wondered. What was written on that paper Chaplain Bill gave you to carry in your pocket? I remember that he told you to use it like a splint for your broken spirit."

Jimmy stopped walking and reached into his shirt pocket, then handed me the wrinkled, tattered page. "I still carry it and read it every day."

It was Romans 8:38-39! Scripture has power!