This Shining Land

Rating:
Summary: it will enrapt you
Review: I really enjoy Rosalind Laker's books, but this one has a nice charm about it, considering that it is partly a true story, based on her husband. Very interesting spy/love story.

Rating:
Summary: The double-sided storyline of love and war
Review: Rosalind Laker's This Shining Land is a book that encompasses a story of love and pride during the struggling and trying times of german-occupied Norway in WWII. Unlike other books set during wartime, the author uses her husband's experiences in the Norwegian resistance movement to create a realistic and desparate love story that draws the reader to grasp her every word.
Young Johanna Ryen's life is forever changed when the Germans invade her city, Oslo, Norway. During the early days of occupation as Johanna struggles to live a normal existence, she crosses paths with Steffen Larsen, who later becomes a resistance fighter and the love of her life. As everything around her morphs into Nazi occupied territory, Johanna is forced to pack her few belongings and flee to her family home Ryendal, in the fjord countryside of western Norway. It is while she is there that she once again meets Steffen and is influenced to join the underground resistance movement. This Shining Land chronicles Johanna's emotional and often dangerous experiences and strifes of living and fighting for a country under seige. While Laker describes in great detail the pains of war, she creates an addictive romance between Johanna and Steffen, who's love seems to only survive in the dark shadows of the underground movement.
A book that is thrilling and even enchanting, This Shining Land is perfect for anyone who has an interest in wartime history, Northern Europe and romantic storylines. This Shining Land is a far cry from a romance novel, but instead is a non-traditional love story that will entangle every reader in its double-sided storyline of love and war. A definite must-read for those who are soft at heart and are looking for something exciting and different!

Rating:
Summary: The double-sided storyline of love and war
Review: Rosalind Laker's This Shining Land is a book that encompasses a story of love and pride during the struggling and trying times of german-occupied Norway in WWII. Unlike other books set during wartime, the author uses her husband's experiences in the Norwegian resistance movement to create a realistic and desparate love story that draws the reader to grasp her every word.
Young Johanna Ryen's life is forever changed when the Germans invade her city, Oslo, Norway. During the early days of occupation as Johanna struggles to live a normal existence, she crosses paths with Steffen Larsen, who later becomes a resistance fighter and the love of her life. As everything around her morphs into Nazi occupied territory, Johanna is forced to pack her few belongings and flee to her family home Ryendal, in the fjord countryside of western Norway. It is while she is there that she once again meets Steffen and is influenced to join the underground resistance movement. This Shining Land chronicles Johanna's emotional and often dangerous experiences and strifes of living and fighting for a country under seige. While Laker describes in great detail the pains of war, she creates an addictive romance between Johanna and Steffen, who's love seems to only survive in the dark shadows of the underground movement.
A book that is thrilling and even enchanting, This Shining Land is perfect for anyone who has an interest in wartime history, Northern Europe and romantic storylines. This Shining Land is a far cry from a romance novel, but instead is a non-traditional love story that will entangle every reader in its double-sided storyline of love and war. A definite must-read for those who are soft at heart and are looking for something exciting and different!