More Than Conqueror (The Grace Livingston Hill Ser: N0.11)

Rating:
Summary: Glorious! One of GLH's very best.
Review: Grace Livingston Hill's books are always inspirational romantic tearjerkers in the best sense, but this one may take first prize for that description. It is quixotic in its idealism, but carries you right along inside the vision.

Charlie, near the closing days of WWII has volunteered for a suicide mission and decides that just before he leaves, he must visit Blythe and confess his lifelong love for her. They have but a few moments to speak in person. Just long enough for the amazing revelation that this idealistic love has captured them both. After Charlie leaves, they have time for two phone calls and letters before he starts his mission expecting to never return.

There will be no surprises about the ending, but the journey along the way is about how the attempt on both their parts to live up to the highest ideals of their (doomed) love propels them to acts of mercy and understanding of God. They experience awestruck wonder at many of the revelations that this relationship unveils. Family and friends are swept along in the life-changing rush of emotional and spiritual derring-do.

Very much a product of its time and plenty of romance, patriotism, and Godliness. You will be entertained, moved and inspired.

Rating:
Summary: Glorious! One of GLH's very best.
Review: Grace Livingston Hill's books are always inspirational romantic tearjerkers in the best sense, but this one may take first prize for that description. It is quixotic in its idealism, but carries you right along inside the vision.

Charlie, near the closing days of WWII has volunteered for a suicide mission and decides that just before he leaves, he must visit Blythe and confess his lifelong love for her. They have but a few moments to speak in person. Just long enough for the amazing revelation that this idealistic love has captured them both. After Charlie leaves, they have time for two phone calls and letters before he starts his mission expecting to never return.

There will be no surprises about the ending, but the journey along the way is about how the attempt on both their parts to live up to the highest ideals of their (doomed) love propels them to acts of mercy and understanding of God. They experience awestruck wonder at many of the revelations that this relationship unveils. Family and friends are swept along in the life-changing rush of emotional and spiritual derring-do.

Very much a product of its time and plenty of romance, patriotism, and Godliness. You will be entertained, moved and inspired.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars all the way!
Review: I am a fan of Grace Livingston Hill, although I haven't yet read all of her books, but of the ones I've read, this is one of the best! Her deep, personal faith in Jesus Christ comes shining through in each of the characters and is absolutely beautiful and lovely in the face of the death and destruction of war, and in comparison to the selfishness of the new, modern generation emerging.

Charlie Montgomery has loved Blythe Bonniwell for years, since they attended school together. But Charlie has always been poor and shy, and despite earning honors in academics and athletics, considers himself beneath the beautiful, wealthy Blythe. But on the eve of his departure for a dangerous war mission, he gathers his courage and visits her, to tell her that he has always loved her, and to say goodbye.

Blythe's family has always been conservative church-goers, kind and generous, raising her in love although not in personal faith. But because of her loving nature and her upbringing, she is able to recognize the purity of Charlie's love, and with wonder and sincerity, she returns his affections with an innocent passion. Charlie is surprised, overjoyed and in utter despair--he had volunteered for a mission that he will most likely never return from. Because his mother is dead, he thought he had nothing to return for, and his patriotism and courage made him ideal for such a suicide assignment. But now, with Blythe's love following him to the continent, his entire outlook has changed and he wonders what will happen to them. They exchanged no vows, no engagement plans--Charlie does not expect to ever see her again.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, Blythe busies herself with Red Cross work and befriends Mrs. Blake, a woman from the "other side of town", who also has a son in the army, Walter. While many of the other women ignore or scorn the woman and her poverty, Blythe makes her feel welcome and enjoys her company. Her friendship rewards itself, for Walter Blake has befriended his hometown hero Charlie on the other side of the world, and is able to send a last message from Charlie to his beloved through Mrs. Blake.

But Dan Seavers, a rich, spoiled classmate of Blythe and Charlie, is courting Blythe with careless yet single-minded attentions. He is the colorful, harsh portrait of selfishness that the "modernism" of the world has wrought in the younger generation, denigrating the "old-fashioned-ness" of faith in God and love and respect. Blythe thinks of Dan as nothing but a childhood playmate, but he is persistent in his pursuit. Meanwhile, another of Blythe's classmates, Anne, pursues Dan just as avidly as he chases Blythe, and her petty jealousy blankets Blythe's optimism and hope with mocking scorn and despair.

On the war front, Charlie has gone to listen to a travelling speaker, Link Silverthorn, who convicts Charlie of the sin he had never acknowledged he had, and who also brings to his eyes a vision of Christ that moves and awakens him. Silverthorn answers Charlie's questions and introduces him to the love in the eyes of his Savior, and the *recognition* Charlie sees in the face of Jesus brings him hope and peace as he sets off for certain death. Charlie is comforted by the deep-seated knowledge that he *belongs* to Christ, and that God has mapped out his steps, and is also watching over the precious girl he has left at home.

Dan Seavers is threatening Blythe's parents with an elopement, still conceitedly unaware that Blythe does not return his so-called affections. The people of the town make known their own opinions, but a letter from Charlie arrives in the midst of the fray, describing his new-found awareness of Christ, and Blythe and her parents are themselves changed by the joy and sincerity of his words.

But Dan Seavers is still lurking, Anne is still grasping and catty... And then Charlie is missing in action...

I love this book and hope you will, too. Grace Livingston Hill is a master with words that bring to life the goodness of Christ, the blazing glory of real love, and the hope that sustains in the midst of war.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars all the way!
Review: I am a fan of Grace Livingston Hill, although I haven't yet read all of her books, but of the ones I've read, this is one of the best! Her deep, personal faith in Jesus Christ comes shining through in each of the characters and is absolutely beautiful and lovely in the face of the death and destruction of war, and in comparison to the selfishness of the new, modern generation emerging.

Charlie Montgomery has loved Blythe Bonniwell for years, since they attended school together. But Charlie has always been poor and shy, and despite earning honors in academics and athletics, considers himself beneath the beautiful, wealthy Blythe. But on the eve of his departure for a dangerous war mission, he gathers his courage and visits her, to tell her that he has always loved her, and to say goodbye.

Blythe's family has always been conservative church-goers, kind and generous, raising her in love although not in personal faith. But because of her loving nature and her upbringing, she is able to recognize the purity of Charlie's love, and with wonder and sincerity, she returns his affections with an innocent passion. Charlie is surprised, overjoyed and in utter despair--he had volunteered for a mission that he will most likely never return from. Because his mother is dead, he thought he had nothing to return for, and his patriotism and courage made him ideal for such a suicide assignment. But now, with Blythe's love following him to the continent, his entire outlook has changed and he wonders what will happen to them. They exchanged no vows, no engagement plans--Charlie does not expect to ever see her again.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, Blythe busies herself with Red Cross work and befriends Mrs. Blake, a woman from the "other side of town", who also has a son in the army, Walter. While many of the other women ignore or scorn the woman and her poverty, Blythe makes her feel welcome and enjoys her company. Her friendship rewards itself, for Walter Blake has befriended his hometown hero Charlie on the other side of the world, and is able to send a last message from Charlie to his beloved through Mrs. Blake.

But Dan Seavers, a rich, spoiled classmate of Blythe and Charlie, is courting Blythe with careless yet single-minded attentions. He is the colorful, harsh portrait of selfishness that the "modernism" of the world has wrought in the younger generation, denigrating the "old-fashioned-ness" of faith in God and love and respect. Blythe thinks of Dan as nothing but a childhood playmate, but he is persistent in his pursuit. Meanwhile, another of Blythe's classmates, Anne, pursues Dan just as avidly as he chases Blythe, and her petty jealousy blankets Blythe's optimism and hope with mocking scorn and despair.

On the war front, Charlie has gone to listen to a travelling speaker, Link Silverthorn, who convicts Charlie of the sin he had never acknowledged he had, and who also brings to his eyes a vision of Christ that moves and awakens him. Silverthorn answers Charlie's questions and introduces him to the love in the eyes of his Savior, and the *recognition* Charlie sees in the face of Jesus brings him hope and peace as he sets off for certain death. Charlie is comforted by the deep-seated knowledge that he *belongs* to Christ, and that God has mapped out his steps, and is also watching over the precious girl he has left at home.

Dan Seavers is threatening Blythe's parents with an elopement, still conceitedly unaware that Blythe does not return his so-called affections. The people of the town make known their own opinions, but a letter from Charlie arrives in the midst of the fray, describing his new-found awareness of Christ, and Blythe and her parents are themselves changed by the joy and sincerity of his words.

But Dan Seavers is still lurking, Anne is still grasping and catty... And then Charlie is missing in action...

I love this book and hope you will, too. Grace Livingston Hill is a master with words that bring to life the goodness of Christ, the blazing glory of real love, and the hope that sustains in the midst of war.