REVIEW: Codes of Courage (Falcon Point Historical, #1) by A. L. Sowards
1940: Austrian refugee Karl Lang has lost everything—his country, his home, and his family. All that is left to him is a burning ambition to see the Nazis defeated. Desperate for work and a way to help the war effort, he finds the one place that will take a refugee like him: a supply steamer traversing a deadly path past enemy U-boats.
Since their first meeting, Millie Stevens has felt an undeniable connection to Karl. As the war rages, she shares his determination to oppose the Nazis and finds work at the British codebreaking center at Bletchley Park. There she uses all her intellect and determination to break German codes and read U-boat transmissions—or risk losing the man she loves.
Rolf Denhart will do anything to defend the Fatherland, including long patrols in a cramped U-boat. But rumors from Germany leave him uneasy, forcing a choice between loyalty to his homeland, the safety of his family, and his peace of conscience.
In the midst of war, three lives are woven together to create an epic tapestry of love and loss, joy and pain, sacrifice and courage.
Dear Ms. Sowards,
I had bought this book intending to eventually get to it when I realized that your upcoming book would be part of a series with it. With the clock ticking, it was time to pull it out. I’m going to do a bit of spoilering and warn readers that parts of the book are bittersweet. There, that’s all I’ll say.
There’s a lot of action that occurs in the story. Mille Stevens, the daughter of a US diplomat and a British mother, is in London with her father when her Uncle, a Royal Naval officer, connects her love of crossword puzzles and fluent German with an opportunity to help the British war cause. During a blackout walk through London, she sees an Austrian man she and her father had helped in Zurich. Karl Lang’s family has been murdered or scattered by the Nazis and he’s eager to join the fight against them. But due to his nationality, he can only join the merchant marine fleet bringing desperately needed supplies to Britain while being hunted by the U-boat wolf packs. Meanwhile on one of those U-boats is Rolf Denhart, convinced that he’s doing his part for his country, even if his young wife has other ideas of what is the humane thing to be doing.
Everyone has a lot to do in their war efforts. The action ranges from the ship convoys crossing the north Atlantic, the often frustrating efforts of those at Bletchley park to crack the Enigma codes, and the cramped and odiferous confines of the U-boats. And yet despite all this, the story has a sometimes slower, more thoughtful feel.
The romance between Karl and Millie begins gently, developing from friendship over the course of a year to something deeper. Karl has, he believes, lost his entire family – his father and his two younger sisters. Finding Millie and being welcomed by her family, after some diplomatically done vetting by her father, is everything to him. But he’s also found a family among the merchant sailors who took him under their wings. Everything isn’t always hunky dory as Karl makes no secret of the fact that he wants to fight back against the German submarines instead of being hunted by them. The sheer number of times that poor Karl and his crewmates get torpedoed stretched belief after a while.
Millie is first intrigued by what little her uncle can say to her and then pulled in by the efforts going on at Bletchley. Just some typing, is what she fobs her family off with but she loves feeling that she’s making an effort even before the US gets pulled into the war. While Karl feels as if Millie and her family are the only one he has left, she is amazed that this thoughtful and gentlemanly man thinks her intelligence is wonderful rather than odd.
Meanwhile, Rolf is thrilled with fatherhood, though he can only see little Ilsa on short leaves, but dismayed by what he learns his wife is doing – and it isn’t cheating on him. If anyone discovered this, his daughter could be left motherless. He’s always thought he was doing the right thing, fighting for Germany but more and more, he wonders as he hears disturbing things.
Historical facts are woven into the threads of these peoples’ lives though, as I mentioned earlier, lots of people survive lots of torpedoing and depth charging. Many people also cross paths several times. In order to see what plays out for everyone, okay, I’ll go with it as this book’s “gimme.”
Religion is a deep part of Karl’s and Millie’s lives. They pray, think about how God has arranged the paths of their lives, and take to heart following the impulses they feel they get from God. They are not preachy though. Some characters die over the course of the book but this is a story set in dangerous waters in dangerous times. I’m looking forward to the next book but leave this one feeling that perhaps there were one too many ships sunk with our characters on board. B-
~Jayne
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