Promise Me This is the first book I've read by two-time Christy Award-winning author, Cathy Gohlke. But from her research details to her easy-reading writing style, I can see why she's received the honors.
Promise Me This is historical fiction that spans from the voyage of the Titanic to the end of World War I. Sweeping and involved, this story is filled with memorable characters — from the self-sacrificing Owen Allen to the self-centered Aunt Eleanor, each one drove the story to its hard-fought end.
Annie Allen, a girl of fourteen at the book's beginning, has the most spiritual growth while Michael Dunnagan, a scrawny, starving lad of fifteen when he stows away upon the Titanic, grows emotionally into a man worthy of Annie's love.
Delightful secondary characters include Aunt Maggie and Daniel McKenica in America and the Spragues in England, each one showing another facet of God's amazing love.
Long, with one hardship heaped upon the characters after another, the plot climaxes on the French battlefield with Annie and Michael separated once more. But during that dark separation is when they find the deep truths of God. Annie (nor any of us) can be salvation for another. And for Michael, he grasped that the laying down of one's life for another goes even beyond dying that the friend might live. To sacrifice and count it only gain.
I doubt you will find reading this book much of a sacrifice, and I suspect you will gain much through experiencing the lives of these characters.
