Even If We Cry

Author: Terrie Todd
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Even If #1
Pages: 309
Release Date: December 5, 2024
Publisher: Mountain Brook Ink

Can Nina keep her family together while a world war threatens to rip them apart?

Warned they “mustn’t cry,” British teenager Nina Gabriel and her two young siblings board a ship bound for Canada as part of the WWII child evacuee program in 1940. Nina’s mischievous brother and seasick sister test her limits on the long voyage—but her burden of responsibility grows still heavier in Canada.

Determined to fulfill her promise to her parents, Nina battles to keep the siblings together through what they all hoped would be no more than one school term. Months turn into years. Unfamiliar Canadian customs, a foster sister who resents them, the mysterious deaths of their host family’s other children, and the birth of a new brother back in England complicate Nina’s world. It doesn’t help when David, the boy she’s grown to love, enlists in the air force with no end to the war in sight.

When a telegram arrives after a London bombing, will Nina find a way to fulfill her promise for the brother she’s never met? Will the Gabriel siblings learn that each of them is loved, even if they cry?

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Reviewer: Adriann Harris

Terrie Todd has crafted a masterpiece! Her newest book, Even if We Cry, is about family, fortitude, and faith during unbearable times. She draws her readers into this character driven story from the very first paragraph, never letting them go, and even after the end, this heartfelt story will linger in your mind.

The letters of the children to their parents and vice versa were both endearing and heartbreaking. This is a heavy-hearted story, as one would expect, but like all stories written by Todd, she included moments of humor that kept the story from feeling too despairing.

Even if We Cry, like all of Terrie Todd’s stories, is meticulously researched and written to make you feel like you are amid the most profound moments in her characters’ lives. I am in awe of her work and am truly grateful to have been able to read this remarkable book, which I highly recommend.

I will leave you with the moral Todd wove throughout this heart-wrenching story that Nina must come to terms with. “I’ve needed for a long time to learn that everything doesn’t depend on me. That God places others in our lives to help us along our journeys, and sometimes that help comes from where we least expect it.”

A complimentary copy of this awesome story was provided by Mountain Brook Ink through Interviews & Reviews. I was not obligated to write a favorable review, and all opinions are my own.

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