Since You Went Away — Dean Hughes

Wally Thomas didn't know how many days and nights he had been marching up the coast of the Bataan Peninsula. He was almost too numb to think, too full of pain. He tried to keep a steady pace, but the guards pressured the prisoners to keep moving, forced them close together, and in their exhaustion the men stumbled and knocked each other off stride. When that happened, the extra effort was almost overwhelming; there were times when Wally though he would go down â€" and not get up â€" the way so many other prisoners had already done. With each day getting worse in the Bataan death march, Wally could die of hunger, exposure, or even violence. Will his growing faith be enough to pull him through? Bobbi, now a nurse in the navy, meets a handsome young officer. She's not sure how she feels about him, however, or whether he feels anything at all for her. Alex is in training as a paratrooper, but can he stick it out? And even if he can, how can he bring himself to fight the German people, whom he learned to love on his mission? Even young Gene knows he'll be joining the service, but he wonders what kind of a soldier he'll make. In Since You Went Away, the second volume of the Children of the Promise series, author Dean Hughes continues his saga of the Thomas family as they struggle to survive World War II. If you're interested in Church of world history, or if you're simply looking for a powerful LDS novel, you won't want to miss Since You Went Away.