About the Book

Book: A Promise of Home: A WW2 Family Saga

Author: Kathryn Spurgeon

Genre: Historical Fiction

Release Date: November 21, 2022

What did WW11 look like for those who remained in the U.S? As the war heats up, hundreds of young men from Fremont’s hometown of Shawnee, Oklahoma, enlist, or get drafted. Word filters in about the wounded, the missing in action, and those who have died overseas.

Fremont Pope has not been drafted, but to do his part, he finds a job at an ammunition plant in Colorado Springs. His wife, Sibyl, hopes to teach women at a new church. They’re glad to get away from their cantankerous family, and then their family follows them to Colorado!

When the plant begins to close down, Fremont’s boss offers an amazing promotion back east. Their other choice is to move to New Mexico for mission work. Which will it be? Plunge ahead to a lucrative corporate job or help a small new church grow?

Ultimately, they yearn to go home, but where is home? Are they willing to give up their dreams and begin again?

As the couple stays in touch with people in their hometown, they learn of numerous war-time tragedies. Their return to Shawnee coincides with soldiers returning home. Based on a true story, footnotes and author’s notes are included.

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My Thoughts:

This novel continues the family saga of Fremont and Sybil Pope. This especially follows Sybil and her doubts and her feelings of uselessness as her world and the world at large is at war with itself.

Very pregnant Sybil, Fremont, and their three children have packed up and moved from their hometown in Oklahoma to a new place in the state of Colorado. Sybil is feeling the stress and at times the depression that would come along with that scenario. Not to mention the fact of the loss of a baby and their house and everything they owned in Oklahoma burned to the ground. Sybil looks forward to the new start, yet she can't help missing family, even if that family can sometimes be more trouble for her.

Sybil has trouble acclimating to her new home and church. Wanting to be useful in ministry, the church they attend has no place for her. Not only that but Fremont is working, at times, crazy hours. This story also takes place during WW2 and the very real threat of Fremont getting drafted is a fear that lays on her heart continuously. Not to mention all the fear for their family and friends who are already affected by the war.

This is Sybil's story, her trials at home, with family, and the concerns of finances, and war. A story that shows the same concerns we have today. There is a great deal of history packed in and it is based on a true story.

I was provided with copy of this book from the author. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Kathryn Spurgeon, an inspirational biographical writer. She’s won many awards including an Illumination Book Award. Publishing over a hundred stories, articles, and poems, she’s also published four novels. She grew up on an Oklahoma farm before moving to South Korea, where she adopted two children. She and her husband, Bill, now live in Oklahoma and have six children and fourteen beautiful grandchildren.