Monday, August 25, 2014

Review: Safe Haven by Anna Schmidt

 
 


Safe Haven takes place near the end of World War 2 and tells the story of refugees whom President Roosevelt had invited to come to the United States.  There were not quite 1000 of them, but they came to a town called Oswego in New York.  Under the terms that President Roosevelt had set up, they were allowed to live in the USA until the war was over, then they had to return to their own country or to another country that would accept them.  They were allowed some freedoms with passes they had to obtain and they lived in a fenced-in fort.  To too many of the refugees, it brought back horrible memories of concentration camps, but the Americans in charge of the fort really wanted to make them feel at home and safe.  However, how safe and at home can you really feel when after the war was over, you did not know where you would go or if you even had a home to go to?  Suzanne Randolph, a journalist with a past, has been assigned to write the stories of the refugees.   There she meets Theo Bridgewater, a farmer and Quaker, whose uncle, aunt, and cousin are among the refugees.  He is there for support and to try to convince those in charge that they have a home in Wisconsin with their extended family.  Over a period of time, both Suzanne and Theo realize how important it is that the USA let these families have a chance to stay.  Working at a common goal, Theo and Suzanne start to fall in love with each other.  However, Suzanne sees another side of the story that she would like to pursue and write about as well, that does not make Theo happy.  This was a very interesting story about a piece of history that I had not heard about before.  Just what happened to those refugees that were invited to the United States and their place in history?  You will need to read the book for yourself and find out.  It was very interesting to learn and read about considering what is happening at our borders now.  I received this book from the The Book Club Network (TBCN) and the opinions are my own.


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